Patent ID: 7660327

Claim:
A method of operating in a network in which a plurality of stations communicate over a shared medium, the method comprising having the stations contend for access to the shared medium using a contention procedure that relies on a priority level, wherein transmissions with a lower priority level have a reduced chance of gaining access to the shared medium during a contention process; at each of a plurality of selected stations, temporarily promoting the priority level of transmissions that at least some of the selected stations are attempting to make to effect access to the shared medium without waiting for indication that the at least some of the selected stations have access to the shared medium, wherein the priority level is increased during an interval used by the selected stations for transmission of traffic not suited for the contention procedure, to reduce a chance that other stations gain access to the shared medium during that interval, and the priority level is restored to a normal level following the interval; and at each of the at least some of the selected stations, transmitting traffic over the shared medium.