Patent ID: 8437333

Claim:
A method for contention based beamforming in a wireless communications network which comprises a plurality of stations and an Access Point (AP), the method comprising: synchronizing a beamforming initiator station (BFIS) and a beamforming responder station (BFRS) during an initial synchronization stage; and responsive to the BFIS and the BFRS being synchronized, conducting beamforming training between the BFIS and the BFRS during a subsequent beamforming stage; wherein at the end of the synchronization stage communications between the BFIS and the BFRS are synchronized; and wherein the beamforming training stage comprises an initial substage during which the BFIS transmits a Transmit Sector Sweep (TXSS) signal that is received by the BFRS and a second substage during which the BFRS transmits a TXSS signal that is received by the BFIS.