Patent ID: 7796632

Claim:
A method of dynamically selecting one of a default channel bandwidth and an alternate channel bandwidth for transmitting information over a wireless communication link which couples a transmitter node, designed to transmit at the default channel bandwidth and the alternate channel bandwidth, to a receiver node, designed to receive at the default channel bandwidth and the alternate channel bandwidth, the method comprising: transmitting, from the transmitter node to the receiver node, a request message at the default channel bandwidth comprising a requested channel bandwidth which the transmitter node requests to use for transmitting the information to the receiver node, wherein the requested channel bandwidth comprises one of the default channel bandwidth and the alternate channel bandwidth; changing a transmission bandwidth at which the transmitter node is transmitting from the default channel bandwidth to the requested channel bandwidth within a first Short InterFrame Spacing period when the requested channel bandwidth is different from the default channel bandwidth after the transmitter node transmits the request message; transmitting, from the receiver node to the transmitter node responsive to the request message, a response message at the default channel bandwidth comprising an acknowledgement indicator when the channel bandwidth requested by the transmitter node is available to transmit the information to the receiver node; transmitting, from the receiver node to the transmitter node responsive to the request message, a response message at the default channel bandwidth comprising a denial indicator when the channel bandwidth requested by the transmitter node is not available to transmit the information to the receiver node; and changing the transmission bandwidth at which the transmitter node is transmitting from the requested channel bandwidth to the default channel bandwidth within a second Short InterFrame Spacing period when the denial indicator is received at the transmitter node.