Polling

In telecommunication, the term polling has the following meanings:

Network control in which the control station invites tributary stations to transmit in the sequence specified by the control station.
In point-to-point or multipoint communication, the process whereby stations are invited one at a time to transmit.
Sequential interrogation of devices for various purposes, such as avoiding contention, determining operational status, or determining readiness to send or receive data.
In automated HF radio systems, a technique for measuring and reporting channel quality.

Also, polling can be done to survey the public opinion on a (usually political) certain issue.

See Also: poll