Patent ID: 6888805

Claim:
A method for transmitting data from a plurality of cells in a wireless communication system, comprising: defining time slots for a plurality of cells to transmit data to access terminals on a code division multiple access (CDMA) channel, wherein each time slot corresponds to a predetermined time interval; associating the time slots with N different phases, wherein N is greater than one, wherein each successive group of N time slots includes N time slots respectively associated with the N different phases; selecting a data transmission rate for at least one cell; based on the selected data transmission rate, staggering data transmissions by (a) assigning a first set of one or more cells to transmit data in a first phase of the N phases and (b) assigning a second set of one or more cells to transmit data in a second phase, wherein a higher selected data transmission rate corresponds to a lower number of cells assigned to a phase; and enabling each cell to transmit data on the channel in the cell's assigned one or more phases, and preventing each cell from transmitting data on the channel in phases not assigned to the cell.