US Patent 7733841 Vehicle network with time slotted access and method

A vehicle network and method for communicating information within a vehicle. The network includes a plurality of network elements joined by communication links. A data frame is provided for communicating information between a first device and a second device attached to the network. A network element in the network is capable of mapping a first resource on an incoming communication link of the network element to a second link resource of an outgoing communication link of the network element. The network element further has ports for receiving the data frame from the first link resource of the incoming communication link and for communicating the data frame to the second link resource of the outgoing communication link. The mapping may be done statically or dynamically such as based on information stored in the network element or based on information stored in the data frame.