DISTRIBUTED MEDIUM ACCESS PROTOCOL FOR WIRELESS MESH NETWORKS
First Claim
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1. A method of medium access control in a network, the method comprising:
- dividing a time interval into a first phase and a second phase, the second phase including a beacon period;
dividing the beacon period into one or more slots, where a plurality of devices in the network may use the slots to dynamically enlarge their corresponding beacons;
dynamically defining a slot length for each of the slots in the beacon period; and
defining a beacon period duration.
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Abstract
This invention defines a medium access protocol for the support of mesh networking in wireless communications. It defines a phase for intra-cell and a phase for inter-cell traffic. During the inter-cell traffic a beacon phase is used for the reservation of transmissions. In this phase also information about the mesh topology is included and parallel transmission are supported. Even though this medium access protocol is intended to be proposed in standardization of IEEE 802.11 mesh networks (802.11) it could be used in any wireless mesh network.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of medium access control in a network, the method comprising:
- dividing a time interval into a first phase and a second phase, the second phase including a beacon period;
dividing the beacon period into one or more slots, where a plurality of devices in the network may use the slots to dynamically enlarge their corresponding beacons;
dynamically defining a slot length for each of the slots in the beacon period; and
defining a beacon period duration. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
- dividing a time interval into a first phase and a second phase, the second phase including a beacon period;
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14. A wireless network comprising:
- a plurality of master modules; and
a plurality of slave modules, said master modules and said slave modules communicating using a medium access point protocol (MAC) for a wireless distribution system;
said MAC comprising;
a first phase for intra-BSS traffic and a second phase for intra DS traffic, said second phase comprising a beacon period;
the beacon period being divided into one or more slots that dynamically define a slot length for each of a plurality of slots in the beacon period, a duration of said plurality of slots being at least a portion of a beacon period duration. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- a plurality of master modules; and
Specification