Patent ID: 8102807

Claim:
A base station comprising: a transceiver providing communication with a plurality of mobile stations; a memory storing a database indicating zones in which each mobile station is subscribed; a processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the processor implementing a scheduling module; wherein when the transceiver receives a request to connect from a first requesting mobile station of the plurality of mobile stations, the scheduling module determines whether a fully used zone of the base station is oversubscribed and whether a segmented zone of the base station is oversubscribed; wherein when the fully used zone is oversubscribed and the segmented zone is not oversubscribed, the scheduling module assigns a second mobile station having a largest CINR (carrier to interference and noise ratio) difference between the fully used zone and the segmented zone to the segmented zone; wherein when the fully used zone is not oversubscribed and the segmented zone is oversubscribed, the scheduling module assigns a third mobile station having a smallest CINR difference between the segmented zone and the fully used zone to the fully used zone; wherein when the fully used zone is not oversubscribed and the segmented zone is not oversubscribed, the scheduling module determines whether the segmented zone allows modulation and coding more spectrally efficient than the fully used zone; wherein when the fully used zone is not oversubscribed, the segmented zone is not oversubscribed, and the segmented zone allows modulation and coding more spectrally efficient than the fully used zone, the scheduling module assigns the first requesting mobile station to the segmented zone; and wherein when the fully used zone is not oversubscribed, the segmented zone is not oversubscribed, and the segmented zone does not allow modulation and coding more spectrally efficient than the fully used zone, the scheduling module assigns the first requesting mobile station to the fully used zone.