Patent ID: 8811312

Claim:
A method of accessing a channel in a wireless local area network, the method comprising: configuring, by an access point (AP), a first bonding channel and a second bonding channel, the first bonding channel including a first 20 MHz primary channel and a first 40 MHz secondary channel, and the second bonding channel including a second 20 MHz primary channel and a second 20 MHz secondary channel, determining, by the AP, whether the first 20 MHz primary channel or the second 20 MHz primary channel is idle; and transmitting, by the AP, data using the first bonding channel or the second bonding channel to a receiving station in a basic service set only after the AP determines that the first 20 MHz primary channel or the second 20 MHz primary channel is idle, wherein the first 20 MHz primary channel overlaps with the second 20 MHz primary channel, wherein the first 40 MHz secondary channel is adjacent to the first 20 MHz primary channel, but is not adjacent to the second 20 MHz secondary channel, and wherein transmitting the data includes: transmitting first data using the first bonding channel when the first 20 MHz primary channel and the first 40 MHz secondary channel are idle only after the AP determines that the first 20 MHz primary channel is idle; and transmitting second data using the second bonding channel when the second 20 MHz primary channel and the second 20 MHz secondary channel are idle only after the AP determines that the second 20 MHz primary channel is idle.