Patent ID: 8456997

Claim:
A communication system comprising: a communication network configured to employ an IEEE 802.11 protocol 802.11-QoS including quality of service extensions, the communication network including: at least one wireless access point, and a plurality of stations configured to wirelessly communicate with the at least one wireless access point via the 802.11-QoS protocol, the stations including at least one station communicating patient data and at least one station communicating content other than patient data, the 802.11-QoS protocol configured to communicate a medical data parameter that provides at least one of: (i) faster communication for the at least one station communicating patient data relative to the at least one station communicating content other than patient data, and (ii) communication at a lower error rate for the at least one station communicating patient data relative to the at least one station communicating content other than patient data; wherein the 802.11-QoS protocol defines a plurality of allowable values for the medical data parameter that are indicative of whether a communication link is for communicating patient data, the plurality of allowable values including: at least one allowable value for the medical data parameter that indicates the communication link is not for communicating patient data, and one or more additional allowable values for the medical data parameter each of which indicates the communication link is for communicating patient data, the one or more additional allowable values including: a second allowable value for the medical data parameter that indicates the communication link is for communicating routine patient data, and a third allowable value for the medical data parameter that indicates the communication link is for communicating non-routine patient data having a higher priority than routine patient data.