Patent ID: 7120126

Claim:
A method for a local device to determine media qualities of a plurality of transmission paths between the local device and a plurality of remote devices in a wireless network, each of the local device and the remote devices being assigned at least one of a plurality of management time slots in a superframe rotation, comprising: transmitting a local frame from the local device to a network coordinator during each of the management time slots assigned to the local device, the local frame being transmitted according to a set of transmission criteria; receiving a remote frame during each of the management time slots assigned to one of the remote devices, the remote frame being received according to a set of reception criteria; determining quality information about a transmission medium between the local device and the remote device that transmitted the remote frame; determining a modified set of transmission criteria in the local device for transmissions to the remote device based on the quality information; determining a modified set of reception criteria in the local device for transmissions from the remote device based on the quality information; and storing in the local device the modified set of transmission criteria and the modified set of reception criteria as new transmission criteria and new reception criteria, respectively, wherein the local frame is a management frame if the local device has management data to send to a network coordinator, or a null frame if the local device has no management data to send the coordinator.