A method and a device for exchanging data in messages between at least two stations connected via a bus system, the messages containing the data being transmitted by the stations over the bus system and the messages being controlled over time by a first station in such a manner that the first station repeatedly transmits a reference message over the bus at at least one specifiable time interval and the time interval is divided into time windows of specifiable length, the messages being transmitted in the time windows, a reference message and the subsequent time windows until the next reference message being combined into a first cycle, and the first station interrupting the transmission at the end of a first cycle due to a stop request, in particular, a message of the at least second station.