Counter controlled remote station transmission to central data collecting station

Claim 1

A TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEX COMMUNICATION SYSTEM OF THE TYPE HAVING A MESSAGE SIGNAL TRANSMISSION CARRIER MEANS COMMON TO ALL OF THE STATIONS THEREOF, COMPRISING: A CENTRAL STATION AND A PLURALITY OF REMOTE STATIONS, EACH OF SAID STATIONS INCLUDING TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING FACILITIES, SAID STATIONS BEING ARRANGED IN AN ARIBTRARY SEQUENCE FOR POLLING PURPOSES; A PLURALITY OF MESSAGE TRANSMISSION MEANS, ONE FOR EACH OF SAID REMOTE STATIONS, EACH SETTABLE TO A MONITOR CONDITION OR TO A TRANSMIT CONDITION, ALTERNATIVELY, EACH OPERATIVE WHEN SET TO SAID TRANSMIT CONDITION TO CAUSE THE TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES FROM THE RESPECTIVE CORRESPONDING ONE OF SAID STATIONS ON SAID CARRIER MEANS, EACH OF SAID MESSAGE TRANSMISSION MEANS OPERATIVE WHEN SET TO SAID MONITOR CONDITION TO PREVENT THE TRANSMISSION OF THE MESSAGES FROM THE RESPECTIVELY CORRESPONDING STATION; A PLURALITY OF GO-AHEAD RECOGNITION MEANS, ONE FOR EACH OF SAID REMOTE STATIONS, EACH INCLUDING A COUNTING DEVICE RESPONSIVE TO THE PRESENCE OF A CARRIER SIGNAL TO ADVANCE ITS SETTING BY ONE FOR EACH INITIATION OF TRANSMISSION ON SAID CARRIER MEANS BY ONE OF SAID REMOTE UNITS; A PLURALITY OF COUNT SELECTING MEANS, ONE CORRESPONDING TO EACH OF SAID COUNTERS, EACH RESPONSIVE TO A SELECTED COUNT IN THE RELATED COUNTER TO GENERATE A SELECTED COUNT SIGNAL, SAID SELECTED COUNT IN ANY ONE REMOTE STATION BEING DIFFERENT FROM THAT IN ANY OTHER REMOTE STATION, SAID SELECTED COUNT BEARING A DIRECT CORRELATION WITH THE POSITION OF SAID REMOTE STATION IN SAID POLLING SEQUENCE, A COUNT FOR ONE STATION BEING LOWER THAN THAT FOR A STATION SUBSEQUENT THERETO IN SAID SEQUENCE; AND A PLURALITY OF START MEANS, ONE FOR EACH OF SAID REMOTE STATIONS, EACH RESPONSIVE TO A SELECTED COUNT SIGNAL FROM THE RELATED ONE OF SAID RECOGNITION MEANS AND TO THE ABSENCE OF A TRANSMISSION ON SAID CARRIER MEANS TO ISSUE A TRANSMISSION START SIGNAL, SAID TRANSMISSION START SIGNAL SETTING THE RESPECTIVELY CORRESPONDING MESSAGE TRANSMISSION MEANS INTO SAID TRANSMIT CONDITION.