A method is described including determining if a downlink data packet needs to be transmitted, transmitting the downlink data packet, determining if an uplink data packet has been received, determining if the received uplink data packet was transmitted by a protected station and performing scheduling. An apparatus is described including a scheduling module which controls access opportunities of protected uplinks and protected downlinks, the scheduling module is in communication with an uplink profiler and a medium access module, the uplink profiler module maintains statistics regarding the protected uplinks and the uplink profiler is in communication with the scheduling module and the medium access module performs actual transmission of data and the medium access module is in communication with the scheduling module.