Methods and apparatus for selecting a device to perform shared functionality in a deterministic and fair manner in a wireless data communication system

A first wireless transceiver device of multiple wireless transceiver devices in a wireless data communication system, the first wireless transceiver device comprising:

• a microprocessor;
• and
• one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, implement a deterministic fair selector to:
• obtain a synchronization value for the wireless data communication system, the synchronization value comprising a value used to facilitate keeping the multiple wireless transceiver devices synchronized;
• generate, for each of the multiple wireless transceiver devices and based on the synchronization value, a device rank for the wireless transceiver device for a given time in a deterministic and fair manner that results in each of the multiple wireless transceiver devices having a highest device rank within a threshold amount of the same number of times over a given time range;
• and
• select, based on the generated device ranks, whether the first wireless transceiver device is to perform shared functionality at the given time, the performance of the shared functionality being distributed among the multiple wireless transceiver devices.

A non-transitory computer-readable memory device comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, implement a system in a first wireless transceiver device of multiple wireless transceiver devices in a wireless data communication system to:

• obtain a synchronization value for the wireless data communication system, the synchronization value comprising a value used to facilitate keeping the multiple wireless transceiver devices synchronized;
• generate, for each of the multiple wireless transceiver devices and based on the synchronization value, a device rank for the wireless transceiver device for a given time in a deterministic and fair manner that results in each of the multiple wireless transceiver devices having a highest device rank within a threshold amount of the same number of times over a given time range;
• and
• select, based on the generated device ranks, whether the first wireless transceiver device is to perform shared functionality at the given time, the performance of the shared functionality being distributed among the multiple wireless transceiver devices.