Patent ID: 7843870

Claim:
A method for operating a wireless communication system, the method comprising the acts of: deploying a first base station that operates according to a first time division duplexing (TDD) wireless communication technology; deploying a second base station that operates according to a second TDD wireless communication technology, wherein the first and second base stations operate in a same cell on a same carrier frequency; selecting a first time period for a frame of the first base station that includes a downlink subframe and an uplink subframe; selecting a second time period for a frame of the second base station that includes a plurality of downlink subframes and a plurality of uplink subframes; notifying mobile stations supported by the first base station of the first time period, wherein the act of notifying mobile stations supported by the first base station of the first time period comprises the act of sending a notification in an extended subheader; notifying mobile stations supported by the second base station of the second time period; and controlling communications of the first and second base stations in such a way that the first and second time periods are time-interlaced, wherein mobile stations communicating with the first and second base stations operate in a sleep mode in such a way that an availability interval for mobile stations supported by the first base station is an unavailability interval for mobile stations supported by the second base station, wherein the first time period is an unavailability interval for the mobile stations supported by the second base station and the second time period is an unavailability interval for the mobile stations supported by the first base station.