Patent ID: 7983231

Claim:
A method for reducing an interference between overlapping first and second wireless cells in a medium, each wireless cell including a respective plurality of member stations, comprising: coordinating by a first member station in the first wireless cell a periodic sequence of first contention-free sessions, each of the first contention-free sessions including multiple bursts with other member stations in the first wireless cell, and retaining a control of the medium by the first member station by using interframe spaces between the multiple bursts such that the multiple bursts appear to contending stations to be a single instance of activity in the medium during a session; listening by a second member station in the second wireless cell to the activity in the medium and detecting an end to one of the first contention-free sessions indicated by an interval longer than an idle interval following an end to the activity in the medium; setting a post-backoff delay by the second member station to periodically transmit after the first contention-free sessions of the first member station; and coordinating by the second member station in the second wireless cell a periodic sequence of second contention-free sessions, each of the second contention-free sessions including multiple bursts with other member stations in the second wireless cell, and retaining the control of the medium by the second member station by using interframe spaces between the multiple bursts such that the multiple bursts appear to contending stations to be a single instance of activity in the medium.