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US005331318A
United States Patent [19] [ii] Patent Number: 5,331,318
Montgomery [45] Date of Patent: Jul. 19,1994
4,684,947 8/1987 Zimmer 340/855.5
4,718,011 1/1988 Patterson, Jr 364/422
4,739,325 4/1988 MacLeod 340/855.5
Primary Examiner—J. Woodrow Eldred
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Cox & Smith Incorporated
[57] ABSTRACT
The present invention relates to a communications pro-» tocol for a digital telemetry system which enables more efficient digital data transmission between a plurality of digital communications nodes. The protocol is implemented using uplink and downlink packets and superpackets. Each node forms an uplink packet which contains node data and protocols. Those packets are packaged into uplink superpackets and transmitted to a control node. Downlink superpackets containing information signifying which of the uplink superpackets were received correctly are formed and transmitted to the individual nodes. In response, any uplink superpacket received incorrectly is retransmitted. Additionally, the communications protocol also time stamps messages received from the nodes to provide for digital communications time correlation.
5 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets
Data Acquisition Procataor (Main CPU) Y
