Patent ID: 7907540

Claim:
A method, comprising: transmitting packets in a wireless communication network comprising; at least one relay mobile station measuring channel quality between the relay mobile station and a destination mobile station in response to a request for at least one relay mobile station from a base station, each relay mobile station operating as a mobile station in the wireless communication network; the relay mobile station reporting a channel quality indicator to the base station if a channel quality for a link between the base station and the destination mobile station via the relay mobile station is greater than a predetermined channel quality; and the base station determining the relay mobile station that provides an optimal route for transmitting the packets from the base station to the destination mobile station based on the following equation: 1 CC ⁡ ( BS → D ) - 1 CC ⁡ ( BS → R ) + CC ⁡ ( BS → D ) - 1 CC ⁡ ( R → D ) > threshold in which the threshold is predetermined to compensate for the overhead of the relay mobile station, CC(BS→D) refers to the theoretical channel capacity for a communication link between the base station and the destination mobile station, CC(BS→R) refers to the theoretical channel capacity for a communication link between the base station and the relay mobile station, CC(R→D) refers to the theoretical channel capacity for a communication link between the relay mobile station and the destination mobile station.