Patent ID: 7983165

Claim:
A method of operating a first device to communicate with a second device, the method comprising: transmitting a first transmission request from the first device to the second device, the first transmission request being a first request to transmit data to the second device during a first traffic interval; transmitting a second transmission request from the first device to the second device, the second transmission request being a second request to transmit data to the second device during the first traffic interval, transmitting of the second transmission request occurring subsequent to transmission of said first transmission request; detecting transmission request responses to requests to transmit during the first traffic interval that correspond to connections between devices other than said first and second device; generating an interference cost estimate based on the detected transmission request responses to requests to transmit during the first traffic interval that correspond to connections between devices other than said first and second devices; and making a decision whether or not to transmit data to the second device during said first traffic interval based on said generated interference cost estimate and whether a response to the second transmission request was received from the second device.