Patent ID: 8374140
Filing Date: 2013-02-12
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a cognitive radio (CR) communication network, comprising: operating the CR communication network using synchronized frames and superframes to provide communication services within cells of base stations of the CR communication network; using a communication link between the base stations; maintaining a schedule of assignments (SchAs) of frames, within a channel, to the base stations, wherein each frame is assigned to at most one base station for exclusive use for the communication services by the base station, communicating the SchAs between base stations on the communications link; and using a frame contention among a plurality of contending base stations to share use of a single channel by assigning frames to base stations for scheduled sole use for transmission; wherein the frame contention comprises making assignments, in the SchA, of individual frames of subsequent superframes of the single channel among the plurality of contending base stations by comparing spectrum contention numbers (SCN) which are randomly chosen from a finite set of numbers in which each number is equally likely; and wherein the frame contention further comprises frame acquisition, by which a base station acquires scheduled use of the individual frames of subsequent superframes.