Patent ID: 7406058

Claim:
A communications method, comprising: storing in memory a plurality of sets of information each set of information defining one of a plurality of different transmission segment types, said plurality of sets of information being stored prior to a segment corresponding to one of said transmission segment types being assigned to at least one of a plurality of transmitters; a first set of information in said plurality of sets of information defining a first transmission segment type, the first set of information defining a first number of transmission units to be transmitted per unit time in a segment of the first type, and information indicating a first total number of transmission units to be transmitted as part of a segment of the first type over a first period of time, said first period of time being segmented into time slots; a second set of information in said plurality of sets of information defining a second transmission segment type, the second set of information defining a second number of transmission units to be transmitted per unit time in a segment of the second type, and information indicating a second total number of transmission units to be transmitted as part of a segment of the second type over a second period of time, said second period of time being segmented into time slots; and transmitting information using segments of the first and second types at the same time.