The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 30, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 09, 1998
Fredric Kronestedt, Stockholm, SE;
Göran Malmgren, Hägersten, SE;
Lennart Nilsson, Onsala, SE;
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), Stockholm, SE;
Abstract
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.