Patent ID: 8649269

Claim:
A method of controlling resource usage at a communication node within a network, comprising: detecting, at the communication node, interfering communication nodes within the network that are causing interference on a resource shared between the communication node and the interfering communication nodes; sending, from the communication node, a message to a gateway, the message indicating the detected interfering communication nodes and a utility function of the communication node, the utility function representing a utility derived by the communication node as a function of an amount of the resource used by the communication node; receiving, at the communication node, resource usage price information from the gateway, the resource usage price information characterizing a cost associated with the communication node forwarding data using the resource at the expense of the detected interfering communication nodes forwarding data using the resource shared therebetween, the cost determined based on the utility function of the communication node and utility functions of the detected interfering communication nodes; and first determining, at the communication node, an amount of the resource for the communication node to use based on the received resource usage price information.