Patent ID: 7974225

Claim:
A method, comprising: transmitting an extended range preamble by a first extended range 802.11n device to a second extended range 802.11n device, wherein the first and second extended range 802.11n devices are part of a wireless neighborhood, the extended range preamble comprising: a high-throughput signal (HT-SIG) field, comprising a modulation coding scheme (MCS) rate field comprising an MCS rate and a payload length field, wherein the MCS rate is one of seventy-seven rates supported under a legacy standard; and an expanded preamble; and snooping the extended range preamble by a non-extended range device in the wireless neighborhood, wherein the non-extended range device: recognizes the MCS rate as being one of the rates supported under the legacy standard; waits an appropriate time period based on a payload length specified in the payload length field; and calculates an incorrect cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the extended range preamble, due to the non-extended range device not recognizing the expanded preamble; wherein the extended range 802.11n device transmits the packet to the second extended range 802.11n device during the processing operations performed by the non-extended range device.