Patent ID: 8577285

Claim:
A method for transmitting data at a relay station (RS) using a Time Division Duplex (TDD) frame structure comprising a plurality of TDD frames, each of the TDD frames comprising a downlink (DL) period and an uplink (UL) period, in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: communicating with at least one of a child station or a parent station using a TDD frame of the TDD frame structure, wherein the TDD frame includes a first DL zone of a plurality of DL zones of the DL period, wherein the first DL zone is used by the RS to transmit data to the child station, wherein the first DL zone is located at a beginning of the DL period, wherein the TDD frame further includes a second DL zone of the plurality of DL zones of the DL period, wherein the second DL zone is used by the RS to receive data from the parent station and the child station, wherein the TDD frame further includes a third DL zone of the plurality of DL zones of the DL period, wherein the third DL zone is used by the RS to transmit data to the parent station and the child station, wherein, in each of the plurality of TDD frames, a first gap zone of the DL period is located between the first DL zone and the second DL zone and a second gap zone of the DL period is located between the second DL zone and the third DL zone.