Patent ID: 7697457
Filing Date: 2010-04-13
Classification: H04W,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A wireless communication apparatus comprising: a transmission buffer configured to store packets addressed to one or more communication nodes in the network until a transmission timing; a requesting interval determination unit configured to determine a listen interval for each of the communication nodes based on an amount and/or a priority of packets accumulated in the transmission buffer; a transmission unit configured to transmit a request frame to each of the communication nodes to request said each of the communication nodes to receive a beacon from the wireless communication apparatus at the determined listen interval; and an interval determination unit configured to determine a second listen interval for the wireless communication apparatus itself when a request for changing a currently used listen interval is transmitted from at least one of the communication nodes to the wireless communication apparatus, wherein if the determined second listen interval is shorter than the currently used listen interval, the transmission unit transmits a response frame to the request immediately after the reception of the request, independently from the beacon.