White space usage for wireless local area network devices
View Patent ↗A method and apparatus are described including defining a neighbor set for each access point, selecting a first clock in a first access point, the selected clock having a highest accuracy as a grand master clock, advising neighboring access points to synchronize with the selected grand master clock and transmitting a message to schedule a quiet period based on the grand master clock. Also described are a method and apparatus including receiving a beacon message, inspecting clock descriptors in the beacon message, selecting a best master clock responsive to the inspection and transmitting a message to schedule a quiet period based on the selected best master clock.
1. A method, said method comprising:
receiving a beacon message, said beacon message having a clock descriptor field, a master clock descriptor field and a quiet period scheduling field;
inspecting said clock descriptor field and said master clock descriptor field in said beacon message;
selecting a best master clock responsive to said inspection; and
transmitting a message to schedule a quiet period based on said selected best master clock, wherein said best master clock is one of most stable, most accurate, fastest and slowest.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said method operates in an access point.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said selection is performed by executing IEEE 1588 best master clock method.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein recipients of said transmitted message modify a time stamp in said messages responsive to time to receive and process said messages.
5. An apparatus comprising:
means for receiving a beacon message, said beacon message having a clock descriptor field, a master clock descriptor field and a quiet period scheduling field;
means for inspecting said clock descriptors field and said master clock descriptor field in said beacon message;
means for selecting a best master clock responsive to said inspection; and
means for transmitting a message to schedule a quiet period based on said selected best master clock, wherein said best master clock is one of most stable, most accurate, fastest and slowest.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said apparatus is an access point.
7. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said means for selection is performed by executing IEEE 1588 best master clock method.
8. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein recipients of said transmitted message modify a time stamp in said messages responsive to time to receive and process said messages.
9. An apparatus comprising:
a transceiver, said transceiver receiving a beacon message, said beacon message having a clock descriptor field, a master clock descriptor field and a quiet period scheduling field;
control logic, said control logic inspecting said clock descriptor field and said master clock descriptor field in said beacon message, said control logic in communication with said transceiver;
said control logic selecting a best master clock responsive to said inspection; and
said transceiver transmitting a message to schedule a quiet period based on said selected best master clock, wherein said best master clock is one of most stable, most accurate, fastest and slowest.
10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein said apparatus is an access point.
11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein said control logic selects said best master clock by executing IEEE 1588 best master clock method.
12. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein recipients of said transmitted message modify a time stamp in said messages responsive to time to receive and process said messages.