A two wire exchange system is disclosed that enables a gaming machine
having one communication port to function as a gaming machine having a
plurality of communication ports. The two-wire exchange system allows a
gaming machine having only a single communication port to connect to two
or more system hosts simultaneously. The two wire exchange system is an
intelligent multiplexer that communicates using the same protocol as the
system hosts to which it is connected. The two-wire exchange system has
the ability to respond to a poll from the system host by indicating that
the gaming machine is busy, and that the system host should poll the
gaming machine again. This is provided to avoid and to prevent data
collisions.