Patent ID: 7796566
Filing Date: 2010-09-14
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for dynamic channel switching comprising: during a first contention-free interval of a wireless network, deciding at an access point to configure a dynamic bandwidth change for the wireless network from a first data transmission bandwidth to a second data transmission bandwidth for a subsequent contention-free interval of the wireless network, wherein stations of the wireless network are to transmit during the subsequent contention-free interval using the second data transmission bandwidth, and the second data transmission bandwidth differs from the first data transmission bandwidth; transmitting from the access point to the stations of the wireless network during the first contention-free interval a first frame at the first data transmission bandwidth to initiate the dynamic bandwidth configuration change, the first frame including a first field to identify a first channel and a second field to identify a second channel; transmitting from the access point to the stations of the wireless network a second frame at the second data transmission bandwidth to end the first contention-free interval and to activate the initiated dynamic bandwidth configuration change of the wireless network to the second data transmission bandwidth; and sending a clear-to-send frame on the first channel when the first channel was not previously being used by the wireless network after waiting a time duration that is at least a short interframe spacing plus a switching time.