Link Establishment In A Wireless Communication Environment

摘要

A mechanism facilitates the establishment of connections between a wireless communication terminal belonging to a short-range wireless network and an external wireless communication device not belonging to the short-range wireless network. Virtual carrier sensing is employed to protect a connection between the wireless communication terminal and the external wireless communication device. When the connection is to be established, the wireless communication terminal sends a protection frame indicating to other members of the network that the common medium is reserved, thus protecting the link to the external wireless communication device.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
sending a protection frame from a first wireless communication terminal, the protection frame including duration information used for virtual carrier-sensing in an infrastructure network; and in response to the sending, communicating data with a second wireless communication terminal; wherein one of the first and second wireless communication terminals is operating in the infrastructure network, wherein the other one of the first and second wireless communication terminals is external to the infrastructure network, and wherein at least one of the first and second wireless communication terminals is configured for both ad-hoc communication over a Bluetooth link and communication over a wireless local area network.