Patent ID: 7519371

Claim:
A method of scheduling communications, comprising: selecting first and second terminal pairs, the first terminal pair having a first transmitting terminal and a first receiving terminal, and the second terminal pair having a second transmitting terminal and a second receiving terminal; determining whether a first direct signal transmission from the first transmitting terminal to the first receiving terminal simultaneously with a second direct signal transmission from the second transmitting terminal to the second receiving terminal does not satisfy both a target quality parameter for the first receiving terminal and a target quality parameter for the second receiving terminal; scheduling, based on the determining step, a first signal transmission from the first transmitting terminal to an intermediate terminal, the first signal transmission being destined for the first receiving terminal; scheduling, simultaneously with the first signal transmission, a second signal transmission from the second transmitting terminal to the second receiving terminal; and scheduling a power level for each of the first and second signal transmission that satisfies a target quality parameter for the intermediate terminal and the target quality parameter of the second receiving terminal.