Patent ID: 8687499

Claim:
A method of selecting a path for forwarding a data packet in a wireless communication system, the wireless communication system including at least one base station, at least one relay station, and at least one mobile station, the method comprising: calculating a system capacity versus delay impact curve for a direct path to a mobile station, the direct path having a first capacity cost determined according to a communication quality of a direct link between a base station and the mobile station; shifting the system capacity versus delay impact curve by a predetermined time to produce a projected capacity curve for a relay path, the predetermined time delay corresponding to an additional delay over the relay path, the relay path including the at least one relay station and having a second capacity cost determined according to a combined measure of signal quality of multiple links in the relay path; multiplying the second capacity cost by a capacity cost ratio to produce a relay capacity curve; and selecting one of the direct path and the relay path for forwarding the data packet, the path selection based a comparison of the system capacity versus delay impact curve and the relay capacity curve at a point in the curves corresponding to a quality of service requirement of the data packet.