Patent ID: 8913560

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a baseband processing module configured to generate a frame that includes a signal field (SIG) that includes at least one bit therein set to indicate a restricted access window (RAW) corresponding to a time period in which at least one wireless communication device of a first class has access to a communication medium within a communication system that includes a plurality of wireless communication devices; and a radio configured to transmit the frame or a signal corresponding to the frame to at least one of the plurality of wireless communication devices, wherein: the plurality of wireless communication devices includes the at least one wireless communication device of the first class and at least one communication device of a second class; after an end of the RAW, the at least one wireless communication device of the second class has the access to the communication medium; during the RAW, no wireless communication device of the second class has the access to the communication medium and only the at least one wireless communication device of the first class has the access to the communication medium; and outside of the RAW, the at least one communication device of the second class and the at least one wireless communication device of the first class has the access to the communication medium based on carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA).