Patent ID: 8165149

Claim:
A communications station operating at a first channel in a multiple channel network having a plurality of different channels, the station adapted to: receive a medium-request signal; extract information explicitly conveyed within the medium-request signal; determine, from the extracted information, one of the plurality of different channels to be a requested channel to be reserved, wherein the requested to-be-reserved channel is different from the first channel; and compare the requested to be reserved channel with the first channel, wherein: if the station determines that the requested to be reserved channel is within a specified group of two or more channels corresponding to a subset of the plurality of different channels, then the station defers transmissions on the first channel for a specified duration as a result of receiving the medium-request signal; and if the station determines that the requested to-be-reserved channel is not within the specified group of two or more channels, then the station does not defer transmissions on the first channel for the specified duration as a result of receiving the medium-request signal.