Patent ID: 7953053

Claim:
A method of communication in a wireless communication system in an ad hoc mode, the system having a first station and at least a second station wherein each of the stations for at least a part of the time controls the communication within the system, the method comprising: the first station encoding and transmitting messages having a first format in a single antenna transmit mode using at least one communication channel or having a second format in a second multiple antenna transmit mode using one communication channel, wherein the single antenna transmit mode and the multiple antenna transmit mode both include a header comprised of a first common part and a second part, said first common part being included as part of packets transmitted at a low throughput data rate, and wherein said second part is transmitted at a higher throughput data rate relative to said low throughput data rate, said first common part further comprising at least reservation information pertaining to one or more upcoming transmissions of the first station, wherein reservation information comprises at least one of: reservation period, duration, traffic category, and reservation channel, wherein the at least second station is only capable of receiving and decoding messages transmitted from the first station in one of the multiple antenna transmit mode or single antenna transmit mode and is capable of receiving and decoding at least the first common part of messages transmitted in either the single antenna transmit mode or multiple antenna transmit mode.