Patent ID: 8355734

Claim:
A method of allocating radio resource within a frame structure in a cellular wireless network using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, the network comprising a plurality of base stations and a plurality of relay stations, the frame structure comprising a plurality of first radio resource elements, formed from a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing subcarriers, for the communication of payload data, the method comprising: allocating one or more elements of the plurality of first radio resource elements formed from a first sub-set of the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing subcarriers for communication of payload data by the base stations; and allocating one or more different elements of the plurality of first radio resource elements formed from a second sub-set of the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing subcarriers, different from the first sub-set, for communication of payload data by the relay stations, wherein a division of the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing subcarriers into the first sub-set and the second sub-set is determined adaptively according to load conditions.