“Shield”: protecting high priority channel access attempts in overlapped wireless cells
First Claim
1. A method for reducing interference between overlapping first and second wireless local area network cells in a medium, each cell including a respective plurality of member stations, comprising:
- assigning an inter-cell contention-free period value to an access point station in the first wireless local area network cell, associated with an accessing order in the medium for member stations in the first and second wireless local area network cells;
transmitting by the access point station in the first wireless local area network cell, a shield packet to deter other member stations from contending for the medium; and
transmitting by the access point station in the first wireless local area network cell, a beacon packet containing the inter-cell contention-free period value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system reduce interference between overlapping first and second wireless LAN cells contending for the same medium. Each cell includes a respective plurality of member stations. An inter-cell contention-free period value is assigned to a first access point station in the first cell, associated with an accessing order in the medium for member stations in the first and second cells. The access point in the first cell transmits an initial shield packet to deter other stations from contending for the medium. The access point then transmits a beacon packet containing the inter-cell contention-free period value to member stations in the second cell. A second access point in the second cell can then delay transmissions by member stations in the second cell until after the inter-cell contention-free period expires. The beacon packet sent by the first access point station also includes an intra-cell contention-free period value, which causes the member stations in the first cell to delay accessing the medium until polled by the first access point. After the expiration of the intra-cell contention-free period, member stations in the first cell may contend for the medium based on the quality of service (QoS) data they are to transmit, using the Tiered Contention Multiple Access (TCMA) protocol.
105 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for reducing interference between overlapping first and second wireless local area network cells in a medium, each cell including a respective plurality of member stations, comprising:
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assigning an inter-cell contention-free period value to an access point station in the first wireless local area network cell, associated with an accessing order in the medium for member stations in the first and second wireless local area network cells; transmitting by the access point station in the first wireless local area network cell, a shield packet to deter other member stations from contending for the medium; and transmitting by the access point station in the first wireless local area network cell, a beacon packet containing the inter-cell contention-free period value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A wireless communications system having reduced interference between overlapping first and second wireless local area network cells in a medium, each cell including a respective plurality of access point stations, comprising:
a first access point station in the first wireless local area network cell having an inter-cell contention-free period value associated with an accessing order in the medium for member stations in the first and second wireless local area network cells, wherein the first access point station transmits a shield packet to deter other member stations from contending for the medium, and wherein the first access point station transmits a beacon packet containing the inter-cell contention-free period value. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Specification