| 摘要 |
A medium access control (MAC) protocol for use in a wireless network, that efficiently supports automatic and timely frequency assignment. The MAC protocol accomplishes this by providing periodic "quiet intervals". During these intervals, all transmissions in a corresponding broadcast region are halted, thereby enabling the base station controlling the broadcast region to measure interference over a number of potential frequency carriers. The interference measurements can then be used by an automatic frequency assignment algorithm to reassign frequencies, if necessary, to the various base stations which make up the wireless network. When a base station is reassigned a new frequency, the MAC protocol also provides a period during which the base station can tune to a newly assigned frequency, and thereafter, a period during which the wireless terminals associated with the base station synchronize themselves to the base station and the generation of MAC frames over the newly assigned frequency. |
