Patent ID: 8155015

Claim:
A method to manage communications in a wireless network comprising at least one base station encompassing a first geographic region and at least one relay station encompassing a second geographic region, comprising: assigning a subscriber station in the wireless network into one of a plurality of zones, wherein the zones are characterized by an interference characteristic, wherein assigning a subscriber station in the wireless network into one of a plurality of zones comprises dividing the region into: zones which utilize time/frequency multiplexing, wherein different links between subscriber stations and at least one base station or relay station operate using separate time-frequency resources; and zones which utilize time-frequency resource reuse, wherein two or more links between subscriber stations and base station or relay stations operate simultaneously utilizing the same time-frequency resource; and encoding communication packets between the subscriber station and at least one of the base station or the relay station into a frame structure segment that is transmitted according to one of a time/frequency multiplexed protocol or a resource sharing protocol as a function of the one of the plurality of zones.