Patent ID: 8130736

Claim:
A method of operation of a node to facilitate channel measurements in a communication network, comprising: at the node in the communication network: contending for a control channel to reserve a logical subchannel of a data channel, wherein the control channel operates in a first frequency band and the data channel operates in a second frequency band, wherein contending for the control channel comprises: requesting a centralized controller to reserve the logical subchannel of the data channel, wherein the centralized controller coordinates the reservation of the data channel among the nodes in the communication network, and concluding that the contention for the control channel is successful upon receiving a response from the centralized controller specifying that the centralized controller has reserved the logical subchannel of the data channel for the node; sending an announce message on the control channel for announcing a reservation of a particular time period of the logical subchannel of the data channel when the contention for the control channel is successful; sending a channel sense message on the logical subchannel of the data channel at the particular time period to facilitate at least one other node to perform channel measurements based on the channel sense message; and monitoring the logical subchannel of the data channel and performing channel measurements based on at least one other channel sense message received from the at least one other node when the contention for the control channel is not successful.