RADIO LOCAL AREA NETWORK

A radio local area network(LAN) comprises a plurality of plug and play operating devices(OD1 to OD4), such as TV, STB, VCR and PC, one of which devices functions as a central controller(CC) which sets up time division digital data links between the operating devices in response to activating a suitable man/machine interface, for example an infra-red TV remote controller(RC). Those of the operating devices capable of operating as a central controller have stores(32) for storing power-on data so that in the event of the current central controller becoming de-energised an arbitration process is invoked whereby the operating device having the best power-on history becomes the new central controller.In a refinement, the arbitration process may be invoked when an operating device joins the radio LAN but in order to deter too many changes in central controllers the history of the current central controller is weighted.