Patent ID: 7706350

Claim:
A method for allocating a frequency spectrum to a plurality of users, the spectrum having a first number of segments, each segment having a second number of clusters associated with a certain sector/cell, the method comprising: assigning a first cluster of frequency sub-carriers within a first segment to a first user in a first sector/cell, the first cluster arranged according to a first sub-carrier assignment pattern; and assigning a second cluster of frequency sub-carriers within the first segment to a second user in a second sector/cell, the second cluster arranged according to a second sub-carrier assignment pattern, such that the first sub-carrier assignment pattern includes at least one overlapping sub-carrier that overlaps with a corresponding sub-carrier in the second sub-carrier assignment pattern, and such that the first sub-carrier assignment pattern includes at least one non-overlapping sub-carrier that does not overlap with a corresponding sub-carrier in the second sub-carrier assignment pattern.