Abstract: A slot token protocol for establishing and terminating data-links over a serial bus shared by multiple devices with low overhead, no supporting hardware, a low collision rate, and fast collision resolution. Of the devices sharing the serial bus, one device is designated as the master device with the remaining devices being designated as slave devices. The master device is responsible for controlling allocation of the serial bus between each of the slave devices so that only one slave device controls the bus at a time. The master device achieves this by requiring slave devices to submit bus requests before the requesting slave device is allocated control over the serial bus. In addition, a busy bus line may be included to reduce the likelihood of a data collision on the serial bus by connecting the master an slave devices with a bus busy line and allowing a slave device to signal to the other slave devices over the bus busy line that it intends to transmit a bus request.

Abstract: A bus resolution system and method for resolving bus contention is used on a serial bus shared by multiple devices that broadcast data over the serial bus between the devices, giving rise to the possibility of data collisions. Of the devices sharing the serial bus, one device is designated as the master device with the remaining devices being designated as slave devices. The master device is responsible for controlling allocation of the serial bus between each of the slave devices so that only one slave device controls the bus at a time. Further, the master device is responsible for resolving bus collisions when multiple slave devices attempt to transmit at the same time and their data overlaps in time. Upon detecting a bus collision, the master device quickly and deterministically resolves the collision by identifying one of the colliding slave devices so that its data can be transmitted successfully.