Patent ID: 7277415

Claim:
A method for reducing interference between overlapping first and second wireless LAN cells in a medium, each cell including a respective plurality of member stations, comprising: coordinating by a first member station in the first cell a periodic sequence of first contention-free sessions, each said session including multiple bursts with other member stations in the first cell, and retaining control of the medium by said first member station by using interframe spaces sufficiently short between the bursts that the multiple bursts appear to contending stations to be a single instance of activity in the medium during a session until an end of a session; listening by a second member station in the second cell to said activity in the medium and detecting an end to one of said first contention-free sessions indicated by an interval longer than a PIFS idle interval following an end to said activity in the medium; setting a post-backoff delay by said second member station to periodically transmit a minimal interval after said first contention-free sessions of said first member station; and coordinating by said second member station in the second cell a periodic sequence of second contention-free sessions, each said session including multiple bursts with other member stations in the second cell, and retaining control of the medium by said second member station by using interframe spaces sufficiently short between the bursts that the multiple bursts appear to contending stations to be a single instance of activity in the medium during a session until an end of a session.