Patent ID: 8797983

Claim:
A scheduling method for allocating spectrum resources among a plurality of devices in a wireless communication network, comprising: determining a first estimated required number of resource blocks (N RB1 ) for a first device of said plurality of devices; determining a second estimated required number of resource blocks (N RB2 ) for a second device of said plurality of devices; calculating a first utilization weight associated with said first device based on N RB1 ; calculating a second utilization weight associated with said second device based on N RB2 ; and allocating spectrum resources among said first and second devices based on said first and second utilization weights, wherein determining N RB1 comprises: determining a number of resource blocks necessary to empty a buffer of said first device, determining a number of resource blocks sufficient to cause said first device to become power limited, determining if said number of resource blocks necessary to empty the buffer of said first device is less than said number of resource blocks sufficient to cause said first device to become power limited, and setting N RB1 equal to said number of resource blocks necessary to empty the buffer of said first device in response to determining that said number of resource blocks necessary to empty the buffer of said first device is less than said number of resource blocks sufficient to cause said first device to become power limited.