Patent ID: 8031666

Claim:
A method of allocating channel resources at a first device in a wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting a bandwidth request command to a coordinator for requesting channel resources, the bandwidth request command comprising an indicator indicating that the requested channel resources are bi-directional channel time blocks (CTBs), information associated with a number of CTBs to be allocated, and information related to a minimum schedule period and a maximum schedule period, wherein the bi-directional CTBs comprise a first CTB and a second CTB, and the first CTB is to be used by the first device to transmit a first message to a second device and the second CTB is to be used by the second device to transmit a second message to the first device in response to the first message; receiving allocation information for allocating the first and second CTBs in a superframe from the coordinator, wherein the allocation information comprises a first field indicating that the allocated first and second CTBs are the bi-directional CTBs; transmitting the first message to the second device using the first CTB; and receiving the second message in response to the first message by using the second CTB from the second device.