Patent ID: 8442445

Claim:
A cognitive radio communications system, comprising: a cognitive device, the device including: a Data Plane including Physical (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) Layers operatively coupled to one another; a Management Plane having a Management Information Base (MIB) configured to interface with each of the MAC and PHY Layers and storing primitives used to configure the system, and one or more modules configured to interface the MIB to at least one of a Station Management Entity (SME) and a Network Control and Management System (NCMS) configured to control operation of the system; a Cognitive Plane having a Spectrum Manager (SM) and one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the Management Plane, the Cognitive Plane configured to interface with the MIB and determine whether additional resources including a wireless spectrum are available to enable communication; and at least one of a Service Access Point (SAP) and/or an informal interface separating the Cognitive Plane from the Management Plane and the Data Plane, such that the Cognitive Plane and its functions are partitioned from and implemented separately from the Management Plane and the Data Plane, thereby allowing interoperability between cognitive devices and non-cognitive devices such that a non-cognitive device may receive information on spectrum access from a cognitive device.