US Patent 7738846 Shared scanning in distributed networks

Various embodiments are described relating to sharing scanning operations among nodes in a wireless network, such as a WiMedia ultra-wideband (UWB) network. In an example embodiment, a message may be sent from a first node to one or more other nodes in a wireless network indicating that the first node is configured to perform a scanning operation on a wireless medium in substitution of scanning the wireless medium at the one or more other nodes. The wireless medium may be scanned, for example, by the first node to obtain scanning results for the one or more other nodes. The scanning results may be sent, for example, by the first node, to the one or more other nodes.