Shared backoff generation for 802.11E compliant WLAN communication devices

摘要

A WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) communication device including a first buffer, a second buffer and a shared backoff generator and corresponding methods and integrated circuit chips provided. The first buffer is for queuing first data packets to be transmitted by the WLAN communication device after a transmission channel has been idle for at least a first backoff time. The second buffer is for queuing second data packets to be transmitted by the WLAN communication device after the transmission channel has been idle for at least a second backoff time. The shared backoff generator is adapted to generate a first and a second backoff start value used to determine the first and second backoff times, respectively. Embodiments may reduce the hardware consumption and thus manufacturing and product costs.