Patent ID: 7944889

Claim:
A method of rate shifting a data rate for a wireless transceiver, comprising: operating the network at an original rate; acquiring data representative of a current retry rate as a measure of network load of the network operating at the original rate; acquiring data representative of a current received signal strength indication as a measure of a network channel condition of the network operating at the original rate; determining whether performance of the network channel has degraded based on the data representative of the current retry rate; responsive to determining that the performance of the network channel has degraded based on the data representative of the current retry rate, selectively determining whether signal quality of the network channel has degraded based on the data representative of the current received signal strength indication; shifting, during a predetermined transition period, the operating of the network from the original rate to a second rate responsive to: i) determining the performance of the network channel has degraded and ii) determining the signal quality of the network channel has degraded; and maintaining, during the predetermined transition period, the operating of the network at the second rate.