Patent ID: 8301139

Claim:
A method of determining available wireless communication channels, comprising: determining unreserved frequency bands in a location; selecting a first channel within one of the determined unreserved frequency bands; monitoring signals received on the first channel for a time duration; estimating a power spectral density of the signals during the time duration; determining a spectral moving average of the estimated power spectral density; determining a detection threshold for the first channel; normalizing the spectral moving average of the estimated power spectral density; determining a percentage of a bandwidth of the spectral moving average of the estimated power spectral density that exceeds the detection threshold; in response to the determined percentage being less than a selected percentage, storing data indicating the first channel is available; and in response to the determined percentage being greater than or equal to the selected percentage: determining whether the normalized spectral moving average of the estimated power spectral density is consistent with a selected signal shape; and in response to determining the estimated averaged power spectral density is not consistent with the selected signal shape, storing data indicating the first channel is available.