Patent ID: 7688783

Claim:
A method of merging Basic Service Set (BSS) and mesh traffic comprising: sharing a same channel for mesh traffic and BSS traffic, the sharing a channel comprising at least one of a group consisting of: reserving a channel for BSS traffic by a Mesh Access Point (MAP), said reserving comprising sending one of a group consisting of a CC-RTS and a CC-CTS addressed to said MAP; and blocking use of the channel by a BSS station when the channel is not reserved, said blocking use of the channel comprising said MAP sending a frame setting a NAV in the BSS, wherein said blocking use of the channel by a BSS station comprises said MAP sending a frame on the BSS channel that sets the NAV of the stations in the BSS, wherein said MAP sending a frame comprises said MAP sending a QoS CF-Poll frame addressed to said MAP, and wherein MPs hearing said QoS poll, said QoS poll having a same first address and second address field in a MAC header of said frame and wherein said frame has a non-zero duration field, disregard said frame.