METHOD FOR ACCESSING A COMMUNICATION MEDIUM

摘要

A medium access protocol which adjusts number of contention slots in a variable length frame and superimposes a variable window structure over the frame structure. The number of contention slots (24) in a frame (28, 30) is changed on a frame by frame basis by determining if a collision occurred in any contention slot (44). If not the contention slot is removed (48) and if so, the number of slots is increased (52). In high traffic situations, if the average load is greater than a threshold (107, 120) the number of frames in a window is increased (130). If the load drops below the threshold (120), the number of frames per window is decreased (124).