{
  "patent_number": "US 7352772",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Wireless Routers Manage Traffic Between Old and New Devices",
  "original_title": "Minimization of performance impact in overlying 802.11b and 802.11g networks",
  "summary": "A method for wireless access points to prevent older, slower Wi-Fi devices from clogging the network connection for newer, faster devices.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a traffic management system for wireless access points that handle multiple Wi-Fi protocols, specifically 802.11b and 802.11g. Because 802.11b devices cannot 'see' the signals used by faster 802.11g traffic, they often transmit data at the same time, causing collisions and slowdowns. The invention uses a flow controller to maintain specific timers for each protocol. By delaying traffic from the slower protocol until the timer for the faster protocol expires, the access point ensures that high-speed data packets are not interrupted by legacy devices.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover network traffic management that relies solely on hardware-level signal filtering without software-based timers.",
    "Does not cover protocols other than those utilizing physical vs. virtual carrier-sense mechanisms (like 802.11b/g).",
    "Does not cover client-side traffic management; it is strictly limited to the access point (router) side."
  ],
  "filed": "2003-12-19",
  "granted": "2008-04-01",
  "expires": "2023-12-19",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Lenovo Singapore Pte Ltd",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/lenovo-singapore-pte-ltd",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Daryl Carvis Cromer",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/daryl-carvis-cromer"
    },
    {
      "name": "Howard Jeffrey Locker",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/howard-jeffrey-locker"
    },
    {
      "name": "Philip John Jakes",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/philip-john-jakes"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 1,
  "tags": [
    "telecommunications",
    "consumer_electronics"
  ],
  "abstract": "A wireless network access point is described which provides the resources of a backbone network to wireless clients. The access point is able to minimize the performance impact on 802.11g clients in the presence of mixed in 802.11g/802.11b traffic by isolating wireless network traffic based on protocol. At least one 802.11g timer is maintained for 802.11g traffic. Request for transfers by 802.11b clients which are blind to 802.11g traffic are delayed until after the expiration of the 802.11g timer. Traffic for 802.11g clients proceeds unimpeded while the 802.11g timer is active. A similar timer is optionally maintained for 802.11b traffic.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7352772/minimization-of-performance-impact-in-overlying-80211b-and-80211g-networks",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7352772/minimization-of-performance-impact-in-overlying-80211b-and-80211g-networks/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US7352772",
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}