Verfahren zur Erzeugung einer Verbindungs-Redundanz für ein serielles Kommunikationssystem mit einer Mastereinheit und einer Mehrzahl von Slaveeinheiten, die untereinander als Aneinanderreihung von Punkt-zu-Punkt-Verbindungen in Linientopologie verbunden sind, sowie korrespondierendes serielles Kommunikationssystem

The system has a master unit (M) and a number of slave units (SL1,..) connected together as a sequence of point-to-point connections in a linear topology. An additional connection is provided between the two line end users, especially from the slave unit in the line furthest from the master unit to the master unit, which takes over communications to the isolated slave units if an interruption occurs in the line topology. Independent claims are also included for the following: a method of producing connection redundancy for a serial communications system.