Centralized contention and reservation request for QoS-driven wireless LANs

A method for providing quality of service (QoS)-driven channel access within a basic service set (BSS) in a wireless network, the method comprising steps of:

• sending a contention control (CC) frame from a point coordinator (PC) station of the BSS, the CC frame containing information relating at least one of a priority limit for a next centralized contention interval (CCI), a length of the next CCI, a permission probability associated with the next CCI and information relating to a reservation request (RR) successfully received by the PC station in a previous CCI;
• and
• receiving no RR frames at the PC in the CCI following the CC frame.

A system for providing quality of service (QoS)-driven channel access within a basic service set (BSS) in a wireless network, the system comprising:

• a point coordinator (PC) station in the BSS, the point coordinator station sending a contention control (CC) frame from a point coordinator (PC) of the BSS, the CC frame containing information relating to at least one of a priority limit for a next centralized contention interval (CCI), a length of the next CCI, a permission probability associated with the next CCI and information relating to a reservation request (RR) frame successfully received by the PC in a previous CCI;
• and
• at least one non-PC station in the BSS sending a non-colliding RR frame to the PC in the CCI following the CC frame, a received RR frame being sent from a non-PC station in the BSS when at least one centralized contention opportunity (CCO) is available during the CCI after the CC frame, and an RR frame indicating that the non-PC station sending the RR frame has at least one buffered data frame for transmission.