Patent ID: 7280801

Claim:
A method for reducing interference between two or more communication systems that share a common wireless transmission medium, the method comprising: transmitting one or more first-standard messages conforming to a first communication standard associated with a first of the communication systems in a first-standard beacon period for the first communication standard, wherein: the one or more first-standard messages are designed to notify one or more nodes conforming to the first communication standard of (1) the existence of a contention free period (CFP) for the first communication system and (2) the existence of a contention access period (CAP) for the first communication system; and transmitting one or more second-standard messages conforming to a second communication standard different from the first communication standard, associated with a second of the communication systems in a second-standard beacon period for the second communication standard, wherein: the one or more second-standard messages are designed to notify one or more nodes conforming to the second communication standard of (1) the existence of a CFP for the second communication system and (2) the existence of a CAP for the second communication system; and timing of the CFPs and CAPs for the first and second communication systems is coordinated such that; a CFP for the first communication system spans (1) a CFP for the second communication system and (2) a second-standard beacon period; and a CAP for the second communication system spans (1) a CAP for the first communication system and (2) a first-standard beacon period.