Patent ID: 7738378

Claim:
A method for setting up a side-stream communication session in a basic service set (BSS) in a wireless local area network, the communication session having a defined Quality of Service (QoS), the method comprising steps of: detecting a first Path message and a first Resv message of a RSVP protocol at a designated subnet bandwidth manager (DSBM) in a station having a point coordinator (PC station), wherein the DSBM performs admission control, the first Resv message originating from a RSVP agent of at least one destination non-PC station in the wireless local area network's BSS and requesting a resource reservation for setting up a side-stream session between a source non-PC station in the wireless local area network's BSS and said at least one destination non-PC station in the same BSS of the wireless local area network; extracting at the DSBM a QoS parameter set and a classifier from at least one of the first Path message or the first Rev message for the side-stream session; determining at the PC station's DSBM whether to admit the side-stream session to the wireless local area network based on the QoS parameter set defining the side-stream session and a channel status report on a medium access control (MAC) sublayer of the wireless local area network's BSS; when the side-stream session is admitted, setting up by a QoS management entity (QME) of the PC station in the wireless local area network's BSS a virtual side-stream (VSS) between the source non-PC station in the wireless local area network's BSS and the at least one destination non-PC station in the wireless local area network's BSS for transporting side-stream session traffic; wherein the DSBM is part of the QME in the PC station in the wireless local area network's BSS; assigning by the QME a virtual stream identifier (VSID) to the VSS; and instructing by the QME a frame scheduling entity (FSE) to create an entry corresponding to the VSS in a frame scheduling table of the FSE, the FSE being logically located in the MAC sublayer of the PC station, the entry in the frame scheduling table including the VSID and the QoS parameter set associated with the side-stream session.