Patent ID: 7738476

Claim:
A method for scheduling packet transmissions on a data channel of a base transceiver station serving a plurality of wireless terminals, wherein the base transceiver station supports a plurality of media sub-streams available for transmission toward the wireless terminals, wherein each of the media sub-streams is associated with a respective media sub-group having a plurality of wireless terminals associated therewith, the method comprising: updating a plurality of average data rates for the respective media sub-streams; computing, for an available timeslot, a plurality of utilization evaluation values for the respective media sub-streams, wherein, for each media sub-stream, the utilization evaluation value for the media sub-stream is computed using data rate feedback information from wireless terminals associated with the media sub-group of the media sub-stream and the average data rate of the media sub-stream; selecting one of the media sub-streams having an associated utilization evaluation value indicative of a best available channel utilization for the data channel; and transmitting, by the base transceiver station, a packet from the selected media sub-stream.