Patent ID: 8432920

Claim:
A client station comprising: a communication circuit of the client station to establish an infrastructure mode wireless connection with a wireless client through a wireless access point, and establish a direct link setup (DLS) mode wireless connection with the wireless client; and a control circuit of the client station to select either an infrastructure mode or a DLS mode for communication with the wireless client based on at least one characteristic of the infrastructure mode wireless connection and the DLS mode wireless connection, and cause the client station to enter a power save mode when the DLS mode is selected, wherein the communication circuit exchanges frames of data with the wireless client using the selected mode, wherein the control circuit negotiates a communications schedule directly with the wireless client based on a common timer synchronization function (TSF) received from beacon signals transmitted by the wireless access point, wherein the communications schedule includes a series of communication windows for communication between the client station and the wireless client using the DLS mode wireless connection, wherein the communication windows are separated by fixed time intervals, wherein the communications schedule specifies a start time and a communication interval, and wherein the client station and the wireless client leave the power save mode at the start time, communicate during one of the communication windows, and then resume the power save mode.