Patent ID: 7809013

Claim:
A method of operation in a communications node comprising: scanning, by the communications node, a first plurality of channels simultaneously to detect one or more beacon transmissions during a first period of time; selecting, by the communications node, a signal in a first channel of the first plurality of channels for signal processing; determining, by the communications node, that the signal in the first channel of the first plurality of channels persists beyond a duration of a beacon signal based at least in part on the signal processing; deselecting, by the communication node, the first channel of the first plurality of channels from simultaneous scanning for a remainder of the first period of time to prevent receipt of overlapping signals on the first plurality of channels; scanning, by the communication node, a second plurality of channels simultaneously to detect one or more beacon transmissions during a second period of time, wherein the first period of time is different than the second period of time; and detecting, by the communications node, a first beacon signal in a first channel of the second plurality of channels and a second beacon signal in a second channel of the second plurality of channels during the second period of time.