CONTENTION ACCESS TO A COMMUNICATION MEDIUM IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

摘要

A method of providing contention access to a communication medium in a communications network includes transmitting priority information with each of a plurality of network nodes prior to a shared-contention transmission opportunity. The priority information for each node indicates a priority level of a frame that the node intends to transmit on the communication medium during the shared-contention transmission opportunity. At least one of the nodes is assigned to a contention window of a plurality of contention windows within the transmission opportunity based on the transmitted priority information.