Patent ID: 7640022
Filing Date: 2009-12-29
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: (a) participating in a distributedly controlled wireless communications network where responsibility for control of a communication resource is equally shared among a plurality of devices participating in the distributedly controlled wireless communication network, wherein each device participating in the distributedly controlled wireless network transmits beacon transmissions during a portion of the communication resource allocated to non-payload transmission for exchanging networking information with other devices participating in the distributedly controlled wireless network; (b) receiving data transmissions from a transmitting device participating in the distributedly controlled wireless communications network, the data transmissions corresponding to a reservation with the transmitting device occurring within a reserved portion of the communications resource allocated to payload transmission; (c) detecting an interference condition in the data transmissions, wherein the interference condition includes an allocation of the communications resource for a neighboring device overlapping with the reserved portion; (d) transmitting a beacon transmission during the portion of the communication resource allocated to non-payload transmission including a notification to the transmitting device, the notification including an availability element (AIE) indicating the presence of overlapping reservations in the reserved portion of the communications resource; and (e) receiving a distributed reservation protocol information element (DRP IE) from the transmitting device, the DRP IE reserving a new portion of the communications resource to receive data transmissions from the transmitting device.