Patent ID: 8599728

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a mobile station from a base station in a frequency division duplex (FDD) wireless network in which mobile stations are assigned to one of a plurality of FDD groups, a group Map for a current FDD group of mobile stations, wherein a different modulation rate and coding scheme (MCS) is used by the base station to send different group Maps; receiving, at the mobile station from the base station, a message including a group switch instruction instructing the mobile station to switch from the current FDD group to a new FDD group; attempting, by the mobile station, to switch to the new FDD group in response to receiving the group switch instruction; wherein the mobile station uses a timer and returns back to the current FDD group when the timer expires if the mobile station is unsuccessful in switching to the new FDD group; and sending, from the mobile station, an acknowledgement message that acknowledges either the success or failure of the attempting to switch to the new FDD group; wherein the current FDD group of mobile stations receives in a downlink direction from the base station while the new FDD group of mobile stations transmits in an uplink direction to the base station.