Patent ID: 7813744

Claim:
In a wireless local area communications network comprised of at least one access point for communicating with a wireless communications device over at least one channel shared with a radar signal, a method for the wireless communications device to determine an availability of the at least one channel shared with the radar signal comprising the steps of: the wireless communications device sensing the wireless medium on at least one of the channels shared with the radar signal for a qualified transmission; the wireless communications device receiving a qualified transmission over one of the channels shared with the radar signal and setting a timer dedicated to the channel; the wireless communications device transmitting at least one probe signal on the channel over which the qualified transmission was received only while the timer dedicated to the channel has not expired; and the at least one wireless communications device receiving a probe response signal to the at least one transmitted probe signal on the channel over which the qualified transmission was received, using the probe response signal to reset the timer dedicated to the channel and to measure and store an indication of a signal quality associated with the channel; the wireless communications device transitioning into the call state, transmitting an association request to the at least one access point over the channel and the wireless communications device receiving an association response from the at least one access point over the channel; and the wireless communications device establishing a communications session with the at least one access point over the channel only during the time that the timer dedicated to the channel has not expired.