Patent ID: 8665866

Claim:
A method implemented at a base station in a wireless network comprising first and second user terminals and a relay node configured to relay data transmissions from the first and second user terminals to the base station, the method comprising: determining qualities of links between the user terminals and the base station; selecting a time division scheme from a plurality of time division schemes based on the determined qualities of the links, the time division schemes including time slots assigned to the first and second user terminals and the relay node, wherein the plurality of time division schemes includes: (i) a first time division scheme in which transmission time is divided into three equal slots with: a first equal slot assigned to the first user terminal, a second equal slot assigned to the second user terminal, and a third equal slot assigned to the relay node, and (ii) a second time division scheme in which transmission time is divided into three distinct slots with: a first distinct slot assigned to the first user terminal, a second distinct slot assigned to the relay node, and a third distinct slot, equal to a combined time interval of the first and second distinct slots, assigned to the second terminal; allocating, based on the selected time division scheme, transmission intervals and interval lengths to each of the first and second user terminals and the relay node; notifying the user terminals and the relay node of their respective allocated transmission intervals and interval lengths; and receiving from the relay node network-coded data transmitted to the base station based on the allocated transmission intervals and the interval lengths.