Patent ID: 9107221
Filing Date: 2015-08-11
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: communicating in a wireless network by a station (STA) having a media access control (MAC) layer that transmits data in a multiple-level beacon interval, comprising a contention-based period and at least a first discovery beacon and a second announcement beacon, the first discovery beacon arranged to be selectively transmitted omni-directionally at a first rate during discovery time which is used during actual communication among all STAs in a personal basic service set (PBSS) and the second announcement beacon arranged to be transmitted directionally at a second, higher rate to other personal basic service set (PBSS) STAs that are associated with the STA, to allow access to the wireless network using a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) protocol, wherein scheduling information for the contention-based period is transmitted in the multiple-level beacon interval prior to the contention-based period and wherein the contention-based period comprises a plurality of slots and a size of each slot in the plurality of slots is configurable, wherein either the first discovery beacon or the second announcement beacon is used for synchronizing the other PBSS STAs with the STA; and configuring the size of each slot in the plurality of slots based on whether request to send (RTS) and clear to send (CTS) transmissions are accomplished using multiple directional transmissions or a single quasi-omni transmission; wherein minimum and maximum contention windows for each contention-based period are configurable and wherein the STA serves as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point (PCP) or access point (AP) and the STA chooses minimum and maximum contention window values based on a number of collisions detected in the wireless network or a number of associated stations in the wireless network.