Patent ID: 8855063

Claim:
A system for scheduling response delivery across a multiple-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) network, wherein the system comprises: an access point (AP) in the MIMO network configured to schedule response traffic in a downlink multiple-user MIMO transmission, the AP configured to schedule one or more reverse direction grant (RD) transmissions during a transmission opportunity (TXOP) from two or more stations (STAs) using a duration determination from one or more medium access (MAC) layer header fields based on a network allocation vector (NAV) that maintains a prediction of future traffic based on the duration determination or one or more block acknowledgement request frames, wherein the two more STAs provide a queue size indicative of an amount of traffic buffered at each STA, wherein the AP uses the queue size to schedule one or more RD transmissions from the two or more STAs, and wherein an RD offset start field indicates the offset between the RD transmission start time and the time when the data frame is received by the AP, and the RD offset end field indicates the offset between the RD transmission end time and the time when a data frame is received, a determined difference between an RD offset start field and an RD offset end field providing an amount of time granted to the STA for an RD transmission.