Patent ID: 8315645

Claim:
A method for scheduling a spectrum sensing operation, the method comprising: sensing an availability of a spectrum band; computing a duration of an inter-sensing time block based on the availability of the spectrum band, wherein the computing a duration comprises when the spectrum band is available, computing a duration of a data block in accordance with a conditional idle probability at an end of spectrum sensing if the spectrum band is detected as being unavailable, a conditional busy probability at an end of spectrum sensing if the spectrum band is detected as being unavailable, a transition rate of the spectrum band from busy to idle state, and a transition rate of the spectrum band from idle to busy state; and when the spectrum band is unavailable, computing a duration of a silent block in accordance with a conditional idle probability at an end of spectrum sensing if the spectrum band is detected as being available, a conditional busy probability at an end of spectrum sensing if the spectrum band is detected as being available, a transition rate of the spectrum band from busy to idle state, and a transition rate of the spectrum band from idle to busy state; and scheduling an occurrence of the spectrum sensing operation using the duration of the inter-sensing time block.