LAN with message interleaving

A system for mobile communication, comprising:

• cables arranged to form a wired local area network (LAN);
• and
• a plurality of access points interconnected by the LAN and arranged in a wireless local area network (WLAN) to communicate on a common frequency channel with a mobile station, the access points being adapted to convey frames of data to and from the mobile station via the LAN, and, upon receiving at one or more of the access points an uplink signal transmitted over the WLAN by the mobile station on the common frequency channel, to send one or more messages over the LAN among the access points by interleaving the messages in one or more of the frames of the data, responsively to receiving the uplink signal, and to arbitrate among the access points based on the messages so as to select one of the access points to respond to the uplink signal, and to transmit a response from the selected one of the access points to the mobile station.

A system for network communication, comprising:

• cables arranged to form a wired local area network (LAN);
• and
• a plurality of nodes, which are linked together by the LAN and are adapted to convey frames of data among the nodes via the LAN in accordance with a first media access control (MAC) protocol, and which are further adapted to send a message among the nodes over the LAN using a second MAC protocol by interleaving the message in one of the frames of the data.

Node apparatus for deployment as one of a plurality of nodes in a local area network (LAN), the apparatus comprising:

• a physical layer interface, for connecting the node to the LAN;
• and
• processing circuitry, which is adapted to convey frames of data among the nodes via the physical layer interface over the LAN in accordance with a first media access control (MAC) protocol, and which is further adapted to send a message among the nodes over the LAN using a second MAC protocol by interleaving the message in one of the frames of the data.