Frame removal mechanism for token ring networks

Claim 2

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: A. information frame transmitting means for transmitting one or more information frames onto said computer network; B. strip delimiter frame transmitting means, responsive to said information frame transmitting means, for transmitting one or more strip delimiter frames on to said computer network after said information frame transmission; B. strip delimiter frame detecting means for detecting strip delimiter frames on said computer network; and D. frame stripping means, responsive to said information frame transmitting means and said strip delimiter frame detecting means, for stripping from said computer network information frames received after said information frame transmission is begun by said information frame transmitting means and until said strip delimiter frame detecting means detects one of said strip delimiter frames.

Claim 3

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: A. transmitting means for transmitting one or more information frames on the network; B. originating means responsive to said transmitting means for originating one or more strip delimiter frames and transmitting said delimiter frames on to the network at the end of the information frame transmission; C. strip delimiter frame detecting means for detecting said strip delimiter frames on the network; D. token detecting means for detecting a token on the network; E. network error condition detecting means for detecting error conditions on the network; and F. frame stripping means responsive to said transmitting means, and said strip delimiter frame detecting means, said token detecting means and said network error condition detecting means for stripping from the network information frames received after frame transmission is begun and before: i. the detection of one of said strip delimiter frames is detected, ii. the detection of a token, or iii. the detection of a network error condition.

Claim 4

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: A. transmitting means for transmitting one or more information frames on the network; B. originating means responsive to said transmitting means for originating one or more strip delimiter frames and transmitting said delimiter frames on to the network at the end of the information frame transmission; C. strip delimiter frame detecting means for detecting said strip delimiter frames on the network; D. token detecting means for detecting a token on the network; E. network error condition detecting means for detecting error conditions on the network; and F. frame stripping means responsive to said transmitting means, and said strip delimiter frame detecting means, said token detecting means and said network error condition detecting means for stripping from the network information frames received after frame transmission is begun and before: i. the detection of one of said strip delimiter frames is detected, ii. the detection of a token, or iii. the detection of a network error condition.

Claim 7

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: A. information frame transmitting means for transmitting one or more information frames on the network; B. strip delimiter frame transmitting means, responsive to said information frame transmitting means, for transmitting one or more strip delimiter frames following said information frame transmission; B. strip delimiter frame detecting means for detecting said strip delimiter frames on said computer network; D. token detecting means for detecting a token on the network; E. network error condition detecting means for detecting error conditions on the network; F. frame stripping means, responsive to said information frame transmitting means, said strip delimiter frame detecting means, said token detecting means, and said network error condition detecting means, for stripping from said computer network information frames received after said information frame transmission is begun and stopping said stripping upon: i. the detection of one of said strip delimiter frames by said strip delimiter frame detecting means, or ii. the detection of a token by said token detecting means, or iii. the detection of a network error condition by said network error condition detecting means.

Claim 8

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: A. information frame transmitting means for transmitting one or more information frames on the network; B. strip delimiter frame transmitting means, responsive to said information frame transmitting means, for transmitting one or more strip delimiter frames following said information frame transmission; B. strip delimiter frame detecting means for detecting said strip delimiter frames on said computer network; D. token detecting means for detecting a token on the network; E. network error condition detecting means for detecting error conditions on the network; F. frame stripping means, responsive to said information frame transmitting means, said strip delimiter frame detecting means, said token detecting means, and said network error condition detecting means, for stripping from said computer network information frames received after said information frame transmission is begun and stopping said stripping upon: i. the detection of one of said strip delimiter frames by said strip delimiter frame detecting means, or ii. the detection of a token by said token detecting means, or iii. the detection of a network error condition by said network error condition detecting means.

Claim 9

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: means for granting permission to said station to transmit at least one information frame onto said network; means, responsive to said grant of permission to transmit, for said station to transmit at least one information frame followed by at least one strip delimiter frame onto said network; and means for stripping frames from said network, beginning with said grant of permission to said station to transmit and ending with receipt of at least one of said at least one strip delimiter frame.

Claim 10

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: means for granting permission to said station to transmit at least one information frame onto said network; means, responsive to said grant of permission to transmit, for said station to transmit at least one information frame followed by at least one strip delimiter frame onto said network; and means for stripping frames from said network, beginning with said grant of permission to said station to transmit and ending with receipt of at least one of said at least one strip delimiter frame.

Claim 11

The apparatus as in claim 5 wherein said means for stripping frames from said network further comprises: means for stripping all frames arriving at said station from said network, regardless of any addressing information contained in said all frames arriving at said station.

Claim 12

The apparatus as in claim 5, wherein said means for stripping frames ends stripping only upon receipt of an error free strip delimiter frame.

Claim 13

The apparatus as in claim 5 wherein said means for granting permission to said station to transmit at least one information frame onto said network further comprises: means for detecting that a token was received by said station; and means, responsive to said means for detecting that a token was received by said station, for granting said permission to said station to transmit at least one information frame onto said network.

Claim 14

The apparatus as in claim 5, said means for stripping frames further comprising: means for ending stripping upon detection by the station of a token.

Claim 15

The apparatus as in claim 5, said means for stripping frames further comprising: means for ending stripping upon detection by the station of a network error.

Claim 16

The apparatus as in claim 5, said means for stripping frames further comprising: means for ending stripping upon detection by said station of a beacon frame.

Claim 17

The apparatus as in claim 5, said means for stripping frames further comprising: means for ending stripping upon detection by said station of a claim token frame.

Claim 18

The apparatus as in claim 5, said means for stripping frames further comprising: means for ending stripping upon detection by said station of a frame indicating a network error condition.

Claim 19

The apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising: means for ending stripping upon detection by said station of a beacon frame.

Claim 20

The apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising: means for identifying said at least one strip delimiter frame as having been transmitted by said station; and means, responsive to said means for identifying said at least one strip delimiter frame as having been transmitted by said station, for stripping said at least one strip delimiter frame only if said at least one strip delimiter frame is identified as having been transmitted by said station.

Claim 21

The apparatus as in claim 15 wherein said means for identifying said at least one strip delimiter frame as having been transmitted by said station further comprises: means for writing a source address of said station into a source address field of each said at least one strip delimiter frame.

Claim 22

The apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising: means for writing an identifying value into a frame control field of said strip delimiter frame.

Claim 23

The apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising: means for writing a source address of said station into a source address field of said strip delimiter frame; means for writing an identifying value into a frame control field of said strip delimiter frame; and means, responsive to a content of said source address field and responsive to a content of said frame control field, for identifying a received strip delimiter frame as having been transmitted by a different station, and for forwarding said strip delimiter frame transmitted by a different station.

Claim 24

The apparatus as in claim 5 wherein said means for stripping frames stops stripping frames from said network only upon receipt of a strip delimiter frame transmitted by said station.

Claim 25

The apparatus as in claim 5 wherein said means for stripping frames stops stripping only upon detection of an error free strip delimiter frame.

Claim 26

The apparatus as in claim 20 further comprising: said detection of an error free strip delimiter frame is made in response to a frame check sequence (FCS).

Claim 27

The apparatus as in claim 20 further comprising: said detection of an error free strip delimiter frame is made in response to a frame status.

Claim 28

The apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising: said at least one strip delimiter frame is equal to exactly one strip delimiter frame.

Claim 29

The apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising: said at least one strip delimiter frame is two strip delimiter frames.

Claim 30

The apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising: said at least one strip delimiter frame is a plurality of frames.

Claim 31

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: means for granting permission to said station to transmit at least one information frame onto said computer network; means, responsive to a grant of permission to said station to transmit, for transmitting at least one information frame onto said computer network; means, responsive to said means for transmitting at least one information frame for transmitting at least one strip delimiter frame onto said computer network after said transmission of said at least one information frame; means for stripping frames and frame fragments from said network, beginning with said grant of permission to said station to transmit and ending with receipt of at least one of said at least one strip delimiter frame; means for writing a source address of said station into a source address field of each one of said at least one strip delimiter frame; means for writing an identifying value into a frame control field of said strip delimiter frame.

Claim 32

A station on a computer network, said station comprising: means for granting permission to said station to transmit at least one information frame onto said computer network; means, responsive to a grant of permission to said station to transmit, for transmitting at least one information frame onto said computer network; means, responsive to said means for transmitting at least one information frame for transmitting at least one strip delimiter frame onto said computer network after said transmission of said at least one information frame; means for stripping frames and frame fragments from said network, beginning with said grant of permission to said station to transmit and ending with receipt of at least one of said at least one strip delimiter frame; means for writing a source address of said station into a source address field of each one of said at least one strip delimiter frame; means for writing an identifying value into a frame control field of said strip delimiter frame.

Claim 33

The apparatus as in claim 26 further comprising: means, responsive to a content of said source address field and responsive to a content of said frame control field, for identifying a strip delimiter frame transmitted by a different station, and for forwarding said strip delimiter frame transmitted by a different station.

Claim 36

The method of claim 28 further comprising: stripping all frames arriving at said station from said network, regardless of any addressing information contained in said all frames arriving at said station.

Claim 37

The method of claim 28 further comprising: stripping all frame fragments arriving at said station from said network, regardless of any addressing information contained in said all frames arriving at said station.

Claim 38

The method of claim 28 wherein said step of stripping frames ends stripping only upon receipt of an error free strip delimiter frame.

Claim 39

The method of claim 28 wherein said granting permission to said station to transmit at least one frame onto said network further comprises receiving a token from said network.

Claim 40

The method of claim 28 wherein said step of stripping frames ends stripping upon detection by the station of a token, said detection occurring during stripping.

Claim 41

The method of claim 28 wherein said step of stripping ends stripping upon detection by the station of a network error, said detection occurring during stripping.

Claim 42

The method of claim 28 further comprising: identifying said at least one strip delimiter frame as having been transmitted by said station; forwarding a strip delimiter frame identified as having been transmitted by a station other than said station.

Claim 43

The method of claim 35 wherein said identifying said at least one strip delimiter frame as having been transmitted by said station further comprises: writing a source address of said station into a source address field of said at least one frame.

Claim 44

The method of claim 28 further comprising: writing an identifying value into a frame control field of said strip delimiter frame.

Claim 45

The method of claim 28 further comprising: writing a source address of said station into a source address field of said strip delimiter frame; writing an identifying value into a frame control field of said strip delimiter frame; identifying a strip delimiter frame transmitted by a different station in response to a content of said source address field an din response to a content of said frame control field, and not stripping said strip delimiter frame transmitted by a different station.

Claim 46

The method of claim 28 wherein said step of stripping frames stops stripping of frames from said network only upon receipt of a strip delimiter frame transmitted by said station.

Claim 47

The method of claim 39 wherein said step of stripping frames stops stripping only upon detection of an error free strip delimiter frame.

Claim 48

The method of claim 28 further comprising: stripping all frames arriving at said station from said network.

Claim 49

The method of claim 28 further comprising: said at least one strip delimiter frame is a plurality of strip delimiter frames.