Method and apparatus for accessing a computer network communication channel
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Admission to a computer network is provided by having a network device listen to a communication channel communicatively coupling two or more components of the computer network. In some cases, the network device may then transmit a connection request to a controller of the computer network within a designated time slot of the communication channel. In other cases, the connection request may be transmitted without requiring the network device to be polled. The connection request may be confirmed by transmitting the connection request from the controller to network device periodically, until a response from the first network device is received by the controller. Upon confirmation, the controller may send to the network device, a connection agreements package, which includes information regarding time slots within the communication channel to be used by the controller for transmitting information to the first network device. The connection agreement packet may further include information regarding time slots within the communication channel to be used by the network device when transmitting information to the controller. Thus, during normal communications, data from the network device destined for the controller may be transmitted in the time slots designated in the connection agreement packet. In some cases, the information sent between the network device and the controller includes packets and, in such cases, the connection agreement may include information regarding a maximum number of bytes the network device can send or expect to receive in each packet, for each type of data included in a packet.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1-34. -34. (canceled)
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35. A method for a new client joining a wireless network for accessing multimedia data and services from a server, the method comprising:
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monitoring the wireless network to determine the presence of network frames, each frame having a duration approximately equal to the duration of a frame of video, and including a server transmission interval for transmissions from the server;
a client transmission interval for transmissions from existing clients to the server; and
a quiet interval during which neither the server nor the existing clients transmit;
transmitting, by a new client, a connection request message to the server during the quiet interval of the network frame;
receiving from the server an indication that the connection request message has been received by the server;
determining bandwidth requirements of the client;
assigning subintervals within the server transmission and client transmission intervals to the new client for communication between the new client and the server responsive to the bandwidth requirements of the new client and the availability of bandwidth in the wireless network. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification