Patent ID: 7826838

Claim:
A method for establishing a contention window range for a client device located in a wireless network, the method comprising: operating the client device within a contention window (CW) range having a minimum standard size; monitoring network conditions present in said wireless network; estimating the number of client devices in said wireless network by determining a number of client devices that transmit signals to the client device; determining that said wireless network is small based on the estimated number of client devices; reducing the size of said contention window range of the client device to a first range that is smaller than the minimum standard size when traffic in said wireless network is low based on the network conditions, wherein said traffic in said wireless network is designated as low if a predefined threshold number of transmissions originating from said client device to an access point in said wireless network is performed without interference; and thereafter, upon detecting a collision, increasing the size of said CW range of the client device to a second range that is above the minimum standard size.