Patent ID: 8179815

Claim:
A method of reporting communication channel conditions for a wireless device adapted to operate in a wireless network, the method comprising the acts of: for each of one or more selected communication channels among a plurality of communication channels over which the wireless device is adapted to communicate, performing a plurality of energy detection scans to obtain a plurality of energy values each corresponding to a maximum energy detected in the corresponding communication channel during an energy detection period; for each of the selected communication channels, calculating at least one statistic from the energy values obtained in the plurality of energy detection scans; for each of the selected communication channels, determining at least one metric related to the communication channel's availability for communications, based on the at least one statistic; and reporting the at least one metric for each of the selected communication channels to at least one other wireless device in the wireless network, wherein the at least one statistic includes at least one selected from the group consisting of: an average of a lowest P energy values obtained in the plurality of energy detection scans; an average energy value obtained by excluding an M highest energy values and a lowest P energy values obtained in the plurality of energy detection scans; a difference between a maximum energy value and a minimum energy value obtained in the plurality of energy detection scans; a percentage of the energy detection scans where the energy value obtained was greater than a threshold value; and a percentage of the energy detection scans where the energy value obtained was less than a threshold value.