Patent ID: 7813295

Claim:
A method comprises: providing, by an access point, a request for co-location interference information to at least one multiple protocol device, the request including an auto response enable field to enable an automatic response from the at least one multiple protocol device in providing the co-location interference information to the access point and the request also including a report timeout field to limit a rate at which the co-location interference information is provided to the access point; obtaining, by the at least one multiple protocol device, co-location interference information in response to the request, the at least one multiple protocol device using a first communication protocol to communicate with the access point and a second communication protocol to communicate with another device; providing, by the at least one multiple protocol device, the co-location interference information to the access point pertaining to co-location interference between the first and second communication protocols; and using the co-location interference information to control operation of the access point to permit the access point to communicate with the at least one multiple protocol device using the first communication protocol at a different time than when the at least one multiple protocol device communicates with the another device using the second communication protocol, in order to reduce collisions between the first and second communication protocols.