Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing fair access to members of a group communication system in which the members experience differing signaling delays. Members of the communication system send a transmission request to an arbitration device when they wish to communicate with other members. The transmission requests are ultimately received by the arbitration device. A time window is opened by a processor located at the arbitration device at the time an initial transmission request is received. The time window is used to treat all transmission requests that are received within the time window as having been received at the same time. Any transmission requests that are received within the time window are included in determining which member should be granted an exclusive transmission privilege.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing fair access in a group communication system. Permission to transmit is based on a variable-level priority scheme. The variable priority level of each member in the system is based upon the number of event occurrences that have occurred in the past. In a first embodiment, the number of event occurrences is defined as the number of times that a member has been denied permission to transmit. The more denials that a member accumulates, the higher an corresponding priority level becomes. In a second embodiment, the priority level is based on the amount of time which has elapsed from when a net member was last granted the transmission privilege. The greater the time differential between when a member has last been granted the transmission privilege and a present access request, the greater the variable priority level becomes.