Patent ID: 8811420

Claim:
A method of communication in a wireless network comprising non-access point wireless devices, the method comprising: determining, by a non-access point wireless device having a directional antenna system in the wireless network, whether a wireless channel is available for establishing a peer-to-peer link by: sensing whether the channel is idle in a first direction during a first slot time period by orienting the directional antenna system toward the first direction, and sensing whether the channel is idle in a second direction different from the first direction during a second slot time period by orienting the directional antenna system toward the second direction; transmitting, by the wireless device, multiple requests in different directions for establishing a peer-to-peer link, wherein one or more of the multiple requests comprise a modified request-to-send (mRTS) format that includes end time information; and establishing the peer-to-peer link between the wireless devices by contention-based channel access, wherein the wireless devices are free to contend any time for accessing a wireless channel.