Invalidity dossier
US 7130289
Detecting a hidden node in a wireless local area network
Current assignee: NetScout Systems Inc
Added 9/24/2026, 12:01:53 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US7130289B2
Title: Detecting a hidden node in a wireless local area network
Inventors: Chia-Chee Kuan, Miles Wu, Dean Au
Original assignee: AirMagnet, Inc.; current assignee listed as NetScout Systems Inc.
Application: US10/099,222, filed 2002-03-14
Priority date: 2002-03-14
Publication: US20030174680A1 (2003-09-18); granted 2006-10-31
Legal status: Expired – Lifetime, adjusted expiration 2023-10-31
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US7130289](/patent/US7130289)/en
Purpose. The patent addresses the “hidden node problem” in a WLAN. Under IEEE 802.11, each station has a limited transmission range. Stations outside that range—hidden nodes—cannot detect a station’s transmissions, so their signals can collide with the station’s signals. Collisions interrupt messages, which must be resent under 802.11, delaying receipt and consuming additional bandwidth, thereby creating performance and reliability problems.
Plain-language scope. The invention relates to detecting a hidden node in a WLAN having a first station, a second station, and an access point (AP). In one arrangement, the first station sends a message as a data frame; the AP sends the message to the second station; the second station receives it and sends an acknowledgement to the AP as a control frame; and the first station monitors for that acknowledgement. In another arrangement, the AP sends a message to the second station as a data frame, the second station acknowledges with a control frame, the first station detects the AP’s message, and the first station monitors for the acknowledgement. The specification situates IEEE 802.11 at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model and describes figures covering an extended service set, station states, the hidden node problem, frame-exchange sequences, a detection process flow, and a frame header.
What the excerpt does not establish. The supplied text is an excerpt and includes no claims, no enumerated prior-art references, no detailed component/algorithm description, and no litigation, ownership-transfer, validity, or infringement information. It therefore does not establish the exact claim scope, the specific detection logic, or any legal conclusions.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:32:06 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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