Patent ID: 7983232

Claim:
A method of distributed dynamic bandwidth allocation, comprising: time-slotting a communications channel into superframes of a superframe duration, wherein the superframes comprise control frames, data frames and busy periods, wherein the busy periods comprise contention-free periods and contention-free bursts; assigning each busy period an arbitration-time inter-frame space; further assigning an enhanced distributed coordination function station arbitration-time inter-frame space values according to a priority classification of the enhanced distributed coordination function station; further assigning contention-free periods and contention-free bursts a first arbitration-time inter-frame space value; further assigning available channels to a plurality of cells; polling stations within a cell of the plurality of cells by an access point to determine if the stations within the cell have communications traffic to transmit; and attempting to gain access to one of the available channels by using a reservation packet by the access point if the access point determines that the stations within the cell have communications traffic to transmit.