Patent ID: 8085652

Claim:
A transmission method for use in a multi-hop wireless communication system, the system comprising a source apparatus, a destination apparatus and two or more intermediate apparatuses, said source apparatus being operable to transmit information along a series of links forming a communication path extending from the source apparatus to the destination apparatus via each intermediate apparatus, and each intermediate apparatus being operable to receive information from a previous apparatus along the path and to transmit the received information to a subsequent apparatus along the path, the system having access to a time-frequency format for use in assigning available transmission frequency bandwidth during a sub-frame period, said format defining a plurality of transmission windows within such sub-frame period, each window occupying a different part of that sub-frame period and having a frequency bandwidth profile within said available transmission frequency bandwidth over its part of that sub-frame period, each said window being assignable for such a sub-frame period to one of said apparatuses for use in transmission, the format including a particular transmission window and a subsequent transmission window and the method comprising: employing said format for more than one such sub-frame period to transmit information along at least three consecutive said links as a set of successive transmission signals, link by link, each said signal being transmitted in an available transmission window of said sub-frame period; the method further comprising: prior to said transmission, employing said format: to assign the particular transmission window of a first sub-frame period to a first said apparatus along said consecutive links for transmission of the information to a second said apparatus one link along the path from the first apparatus, to assign the subsequent transmission window of the first sub-frame period to the second apparatus for transmission of the information to a third said apparatus one link along the path from the second apparatus, and to assign the particular transmission window of a second sub-frame period being the next such sub-frame period after said first sub-frame period to said third apparatus for transmission of the information to a fourth said apparatus one link along the path from the third apparatus.