Patent ID: 7623542
Filing Date: 2009-11-24
Classification: H04B,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of operating in a network in which a plurality of stations communicate over a shared medium, comprising using a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) service for ordinary communication between the plurality of stations; having a first station that desires to establish a first session of regularly repeated contention-free transmissions broadcast information descriptive of a regularly repeated contention-free interval and an allocation of time within the contention-free interval for the first session to the other stations, wherein the first station can be any of the plurality of stations; having the other stations that receive the broadcast from the first station defer from transmitting during the contention-free interval; and having a second station that desires to establish a second session of regularly repeated contention-free transmissions add the second session to the contention-free interval by broadcasting information descriptive of the second session taking into account the information descriptive of the first session, wherein the second station can be any of the plurality of stations.