Patent ID: 8019351

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 an amount of data remaining to be transmitted between the first terminal pair and the second terminal pair and selecting a first data rate for the first terminal pair and a second data rate for the second terminal pairs; and determining whether a first direct signal transmission from the first transmitting terminal to the first receiving terminal at the first data rate simultaneously with a second direct signal transmission from the second transmitting terminal to the second receiving terminal at the second data rate satisfies a target quality parameter for the first receiving terminal and a target quality parameter for the second receiving terminal, if the target quality parameters for both the first receiving terminal and the second receiving terminal are not satisfied then scheduling a first signal transmission from the first transmitting terminal to an intermediate terminal, the first signal transmission being destined for the first receiving terminal.