Patent ID: 8031744

Claim:
A method of accessing a shared communication medium with a transceiver device having a transmitter circuit and a receiver circuit, comprising: receiving a data packet header on the shared communication medium at the receiver circuit; responsive to receiving the data packet header determining if a further data packet is waiting to be sent, wherein: if a further data packet is not waiting to be sent then transmitting a busy tone, and if a further data packet is waiting to be sent then selecting a recipient for the further data packet and initiating transmission of an output signal comprising the further data packet from the transmitter circuit on the shared communication medium; concurrently with the transmission of the output signal from the transmitter circuit on the shared communication medium, receiving an impaired data signal at the receiver circuit on the shared communication medium, wherein the impaired data signal comprises a data packet payload and interference from the output signal; deriving a cancellation signal from the output signal; combining the cancellation signal with the impaired data signal to remove the output signal and recover the data packet payload; and determining if the data packet payload is still being received and in the case that the data packet payload is still being received, completing the transmission of the further data packet and then transmitting a predefined sequence of symbols, and in the case that the data packet payload has been fully received, transmitting an acknowledgement packet.