Patent ID: 8098666

Claim:
A method for providing a priority-based, low-collision distributed coordination function in a wireless network comprising a plurality of stations, the method comprising: estimating a load for each of the plurality of stations, wherein the stations communicate according to the priority based, low collision distributed coordination function, wherein the priority based, low collision distributed coordination function uses a selection weight calculation interval (SWCI) based on the estimated load to select a next high priority station, each station operable to identify itself as a high priority station during its service period and as a low priority station during service periods of other stations; allocating a service period for each station from which a TXOP-ending data frame has been received and based on the SWCI, wherein the SWCI comprises information related to the beacon interval of the independent infrastructure basic service set, wherein each station which is allocated a service period is added to a neighbor list; and transmitting a broadcast management message to the stations, the message comprising the service periods for each station.