System and method for performing fast channel switching in a wireless medium

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for performing fast channel switching in a wireless local area network (WLAN). The method generally includes the steps of: determining that the wireless medium has been idle during a PCF interframe space (PIFS) period, transmitting a first management frame during a slot time following the PIFS period; wherein the transmission at said slot time substantially guarantees priority access said wireless medium; and performing fast channel switching in the network in accordance with directives contained within the management frame. Fast channel switching as defined herein includes one of quieting the current channel and/or switching from a current channel of operation to a new channel of operation. The method overcomes the latencies associated with contention based services, such as the DCF service. The method may further include the additional step of transmitting one or more additional management frames, whose format is identical to said first management frame, each additional frame preferably separated by the PIFS interframe space to provide a higher degree of transmission reliability. The method is preferably performed at an access point (AP) in an infrastructure network or in an STA in an ad-hoc network.