Patent ID: 7889701

Claim:
A medium access control system in a wireless network, comprising: an access point equipped with a space division multiple access (SDMA) compatible multi-beam antenna and a plurality of transceivers that can respectively be simultaneously connected to different antenna beams and transmit data using a superframe, and one or more stations spaced apart in a reception space of a wireless local area network (LAN), wherein the superframe has a timing structure comprising: (i) a periodically transmitted beacon frame transmitted by the access point that reports existence of a wireless network and provides a timing reference to each station on the network; (ii) a supervised access mode that is a period in which the access point multi-beam antenna is configured in a directional pattern, the access point controls access to a wireless channel and adjusts transmission with a plurality of stations by utilizing multi-beam antenna characteristics such that simultaneous transmissions with the plurality of stations can be implemented on a same wireless channel, and each station follows predetermined rules defined by the access point or by a network coordinator; (iii) an unsupervised access mode that is a period in which the access point multi-beam antenna is configured in an omni-directional pattern, and each station executes rule-free, contention-based access to a wireless channel; and (iv) signaling whereby the access point starts or terminates the supervised access mode or the unsupervised access mode, wherein: the beacon frame provides each station with the multi-beam antenna characteristics of a directional pattern or omni-directional pattern; when the multi-beam antenna characteristic is the directional pattern, the unsupervised access mode is executed in order to detect a new station in the reception space; and when the multi-beam antenna characteristic is the omni-directional pattern, the unsupervised access mode is executed in a case where a rogue station is detected in the reception space.