Patent ID: 7917135

Claim:
A method of operating a wireless communications system, the method comprising: transmitting from a device information using a plurality of forward link cells each one of which is associated with a service region, wherein the plurality of forward link cells comprises a plurality of forward frequency reuse clusters, each one of which comprises at least one forward link cell of the plurality of forward link cells, and each one of which uses a set of forward link frequencies such that a set of forward link frequencies that is used by a first forward frequency reuse cluster over a first forward service region is also used by a second forward frequency reuse cluster over a second forward service region that does not overlap with the first forward service region; and receiving information using a plurality of return link cells each one of which is associated with a service region, wherein the plurality of return link cells comprises a plurality of return frequency reuse clusters, each one of which comprises at least one return link cell of the plurality of return link cells, and each one of which uses a set of return link frequencies such that a set of return link frequencies that is used by a first return frequency reuse cluster over a first return service region is also used by a second return frequency reuse cluster to provide communications over a second return service region that does not overlap with the first return service region; wherein each one of the plurality of return frequency reuse clusters comprises a number of return link cells that is greater than a number of forward link cells that is included in each one of the plurality of forward frequency reuse clusters.