Patent ID: 7826853

Claim:
A method for transmitting signals in a multi-user communications network, in which the multi-user communications network includes a plurality of base stations, and in which each base station is associated with a cell, and in which each cell includes a plurality of mobile stations, comprising the steps of: determining, for each of the plurality of base stations in the multi-user communications network, pre-coding matrices for full-cooperation, for semi-cooperation and for non-cooperation; determining, for each of the plurality of base stations, a sum rate SR full for full-cooperation, a sum rate SR semi for semi-cooperation, and a sum rate SR non for non-cooperation; determining, for each of the plurality of base stations, if (SR full −SR semi )/SR semi is greater than a predetermined threshold T full , and if true selecting the pre-coding for full-cooperation, otherwise if false, determining if (SR semi −SR non )/SR non is greater than a predetermined threshold T semi , and if true selecting the pre-coding matrices for semi-cooperation, and otherwise, if false, selecting the pre-coding matrices for non-cooperation; and transmitting the signals from each base station to the mobile stations in the corresponding cells according to the selected pre-coding matrices.