Patent ID: 8717965

Claim:
A wireless communication device comprising: a processor; a relay station module coupled to the processor; and a transceiver unit coupled to the processor and configured to transmit and receive downlink (DL) frames and uplink (UL) frames via an air interface, wherein each of the DL and UL frames includes a data portion having a first sub-portion and a second sub-portion; wherein the processor is configured to operate the wireless communication device as a subscriber station in a first mode for communication directly with a base station, and as both the subscriber station and as a relay station in a second mode for communication between another subscriber station and the base station; and wherein during operation in the second mode, the relay station module is configured to schedule the transceiver unit to receive first data for the wireless communication device from the base station during a first slot of the first sub-portion of a given DL frame, and to receive second data for the another subscriber station during a second slot of the first sub-portion of the given DL frame, wherein the relay station module is further configured to schedule the transceiver unit to transmit the second data to the another subscriber station during the second sub-portion of a DL frame that is subsequent to the given DL frame.