Patent ID: 8744339

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; memory storing computer program code; wherein the memory storing the computer program code is configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: receive at least one local fairness parameter originating at a multihop relay node with which a base station communicates using a wireless link of a first type, the base station also communicating with at least one user device using a wireless link of a second type, wherein said local fairness parameter represents the fairness of a distribution of radio resources of the multihop relay node over individual data flows in a combined data flow comprising multiple individual data flows relating to one or more of different services provided by a wireless network and user devices served by the wireless network, wherein the local fairness parameter is obtained through periodic performance of a local fair scheduling procedure; and execute a global fair scheduling procedure for determining a fair distribution of available radio resources of a base station over said at least one wireless link of the first type and said at least one wireless link of the second type, wherein the local fairness parameter is used as a parameter in said global fair scheduling procedure, wherein said global fair scheduling procedure comprises calculating a utility function depending on the scheduled data rates and using the utility function to optimize the fairness of the distribution of the radio resources under the constraint that the available radio resources are exploited and wherein values of the utility function are exchanged between nodes.