Patent ID: 8233498
Filing Date: 2012-07-31
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for distributing contention among terminals in a Contention Access Period (CAP) of a superframe in regard to a Medium (or Media) Access Control (MAC) layer using a beacon-enabled mode, the method comprising: dividing the CAP of the super frame into a plurality of sub-periods, all having the same size; receiving an association request message from a relevant terminal; allocating one of the plurality of sub-periods to the relevant terminal, and transferring information on the sub-periods to the relevant terminal through a beacon frame, by a Personal Area Network (PAN) coordinator, wherein the PAN coordinator checks for an imbalance in a distribution of a number of terminals among the sub-periods at regular intervals by comparing a number of terminals allocated to each sub-period with one another; and causing a rearrangement of the distribution of the number of terminals among the sub-periods in response to detecting the imbalance.