Patent ID: 7349338

Claim:
A method for scheduling transmissions to a plurality of users in a communication network, comprising: assigning a first target minimum throughput for receiving a next transmission to at least one of the plurality of users based on a quality of service (QoS) class of the user, the first target minimum throughput being greater than a second target minimum throughput assigned to another of the plurality of users, and the quality of service class of the user being-specified by the network; prioritizing the plurality of users for transmission in the communication network; assigning, to the user, a data rate for receiving the next transmission based on the prioritizing step, the assigned data rate being between the first target minimum throughput and a target maximum throughput, the target maximum throughput being associated with the quality of service class of the first user; and downgrading a priority for scheduling the user if the average data rate reported by the user is less than the target minimum throughput.