Patent ID: 7995544

Claim:
A method to enable overlapping first and second wireless local area network cells to have an equal chance at establishing a session on a medium, the first wireless local area network cell including a first plurality of member stations and the second wireless local area network cell including a second plurality of member stations, comprising: transmitting by a first member station in the first wireless local area network cell, a timing packet containing a timestamp value; receiving the timing packet at a second member station in the second wireless local area network cell; interrupting transmissions by the first plurality of member stations in the first wireless local area network cell and by the second plurality of member stations in the second wireless local area network cell at a global channel release instant based on the timestamp value; and permitting the first plurality of member stations in the first wireless local area network cell and the second plurality of member stations in the second wireless local area network cell to contend for access to the medium following the global channel release instant.