Abstract: A multinodal bus network protocol used in communication systems employing tokens to indicate the next interface unit to transmit, with cojoining of token addressing and data in one trasmission, organization of interface units into logical rings whose token-passing sequence is a function of network topology, adaptive learning by each interface unit of the next unit to receive the token as well as the number of addressees in the ring, organization of interface units into groups where only one unit may answer for the entire group, and adaptive learning by each unit in a group of its predecessor in that group as well as the number of units in its group.