Determining whether a wireless communication medium is idle

A first wireless communication device, comprising:

• a wireless network interface device comprising:
• one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices, and a network allocation vector (NAV) timer implemented on the one or more IC devices, wherein the NAV timer indicates whether a wireless communication medium is idle, and wherein the one or more IC devices are configured to:
• receive a packet that was wirelessly transmitted from a second wireless communication device, the packet including information indicating that the second wireless communication device is relinquishing control of the wireless communication medium,
• determine whether the packet was transmitted in a wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs,
• determine whether the NAV timer was most recently set in connection with a transmission from the wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs,
• in response to determining that i) the packet was transmitted in the wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs, and ii) the NAV timer was most recently set in connection with a transmission from another wireless network to which the first wireless communication device does not belong, determine that the NAV timer will not be reset in response to receiving the packet,
• in response to determining that i) the packet was not transmitted in the wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs, and ii) the NAV timer was most recently set in connection with the transmission from the wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs, determine that the NAV timer will not be reset in response to receiving the packet;
• wherein the wireless network interface device further comprises a memory device to store a flag associated with the NAV timer, the memory device implemented on the one or more IC devices, wherein the flag indicates whether the NAV timer was most recently set in connection with the transmission from the wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs;
• wherein the one or more IC devices are further configured to examine the flag associated with the NAV timer in the memory device to determine whether the NAV timer was most recently set in connection with the transmission from the wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs;
• wherein the packet is a first packet, and wherein the one or more IC devices are further configured to,
• receive a second packet prior to receiving the first packet;
• determine whether the second packet was transmitted in the wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs;
• in response to wirelessly receiving the second packet, set the NAV timer of the first wireless communication device;
• in connection with setting the NAV timer, set the flag in the memory device to a first value when the second packet is determined to have been transmitted in the wireless network to which the first wireless communication device belongs;
• and
• in connection with setting the NAV timer, set the flag in the memory device to a second value when the second packet is determined to be transmitted in another wireless network to which the first wireless communication device does not belong.