Patent ID: 8559343

Claim:
A radio network node for use in a radio communications network, comprising: electronic circuitry configured to: process data for or from a frame structure associated with a macro cell to which the radio network node is configured to provide service, wherein the frame structure includes one or more subframes preconfigured as downlink subframes, one or more subframes preconfigured as uplink subframes, and one or more flexible subframes each dynamically allocated to be an uplink subframe in one instance and a downlink subframe in another instance; and generate information for a radio terminal indicating how the radio terminal should interpret or use one or more of the flexible subframes; determine whether transmissions in the macro cell during a flexible subframe will interfere with transmissions in a pico cell located in the macro cell, radio receive circuitry configured to receive and process information sent by the radio terminal in a flexible subframe; and radio transmit circuitry configured to transmit information in a downlink direction using a flexible subframe as a downlink subframe, and wherein the radio network node is configured to use the flexible subframe for either uplink or downlink transmissions when transmissions in the macro cell during the flexible subframe will not interfere with transmissions in the pico cell.