Patent ID: 8855046

Claim:
A method for reducing interference in a wireless communication system comprising: estimating signal-to-interference plus noise ratios (SINRs) for uplink transmissions from terminals in a first and second sector; based on the estimated SINRs, pairing a first terminal in the first sector with a second terminal in the second sector such that the first terminal and the second terminal transmit uplink during a same time and frequency slot, wherein uplink transmissions from the first terminal have a lower estimated SINR compared to uplink transmissions from the second terminal; after pairing the first terminal with the second terminal, increasing a transmit power of the first terminal in combination with decreasing a transmit power of the second terminal; receiving a first signal comprising the uplink transmissions from the first terminal and the uplink transmissions from the second terminal at the first sector; receiving a second signal comprising the uplink transmissions from the first terminal and the uplink transmissions from the second terminal at the second sector; and combining the first signal and the second signal, wherein the first signal and the second signal are combined using at least one of maximum ratio combining, likelihood ratios, and zero-forcing nulling.