DETAILED DESCRIPTION The Wireless Network FIG.
1 diagrams a wireless computer data network in which embodiments of the present invention may be used, and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 100.
The network 100 includes a plurality of wireless appliances represented by units 102, 103 and 104, and may also include at least one base station connected to the Internet, e.
g.
, represented here by a base station 105.
One or more of the wireless appliances may be mobile.
Network 100 preferably operates according to industry networking standards.
For example, the IEEE-802.
11 standard defines protocols for two types of networks, ad-hoc and infrastructure networks.
An ad-hoc network is a simple network where communications are established between multiple stations in a given coverage area without the use of an access point or server.
An infrastructure network uses an access point to coordinate communication between all stations in the WLAN, and allows for both fixed and mobile stations.
The access point also is used to handle traffic from the WLAN to the wired or wireless backbone, e.
g.
, an intranet or the Internet.
The license-free national information structure (U-NII) radio spectrum bands in the United States are assigned to 5.
15 5.
25, 5.
25 5.
35, and 5.
725 5.
825 GHz, and are preferred for use in the network 100 for wireless ad-hoc LAN communication.
The IEEE-802.
11 a protocol includes a training sequence built on a preamble that provides sufficient information to allow frequency and timing estimation as well as channel estimation to enable a receiver to lock-on to the carrier and allow data demodulation.
All transmissions occur in bursts, so the receivers must find lock each time a burst commences.
A physical layer interface (PHY) 106, 107, 108, and 110, provides each of the wireless interconnections.
A media access controller (MAC) 112, 113, 114, and 116, provide the next interface layer in a layered communications model.
A local area network controller 118, 119, and 120 is provided as a peripheral to a personal computer (PC) 123, 124 and, in this example, a printer 122
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