Patent ID: 7769050

Claim:
A method for providing wireless communication, the method comprising: providing a plurality of frequency channels in each of a plurality of portions of a service area, wherein the plurality of frequency channels are in an unlicensed frequency band, wherein a same frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels is provided for use in two or more adjacent portions of the service area; and mitigating interference associated with external interference sources by making particular channels of the plurality of channels available for use by network nodes disposed in the portions of the service area according to a two tier scheduling strategy, wherein a first tier of the scheduling strategy includes assigning the plurality of frequency channels to each portion of the service area at a relatively slow pace; wherein a second tier of the scheduling strategy includes allocating the assigned frequency channels resulting from the first tier of the scheduling strategy among the network nodes disposed in each portion of the service area in real-time; and wherein the network nodes are selected for simultaneous use of said particular channels as a function of spatial characteristic groupings of said network nodes.