Patent ID: 6400697
Filing Date: 2002-06-04
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
A method for scheduling communications in a communications system having a service region divided into a plurality of irregularly shaped cells, comprising the steps of:scheduling transmissions, within a fixed wireless communications system, for communications sites within a first irregularly shaped cell, each communications site being located in one of a plurality of labeled sectors within the first irregularly shaped cell, each sector being labeled to avoid an unacceptable amount of interference from any other sector and each irregularly shaped cell having at least two sectors that share same label, wherein each communications site is scheduled to communicate said transmissions in a channel associated with the label of the communications site's sector; communicating said transmissions according to said scheduling using a multi-beam smart antenna and a directional terminal antenna; and wherein the number of sectors in the first cell can be dynamically and flexibly changed by reconfiguring the smart antenna, without fixed, pre-assignment of channel patterns and antenna replacement after the communications system has been installed, while maintaining an even number of sectors, for increasing capacity and reducing interference in the system.