Patent ID: 7359675

Claim:
A method for reducing interference, the method comprising: selecting a network having a plurality of wireless cells; each one wireless cell of the network comprising at least two directional antennas that each transmits and receives radio signals within a respective physical sector, each one physical sector having an angle of coverage less than about 270 degrees, wherein the directional antennas are positioned in such a way that the physical sector of at least one of the directional antennas of the each one wireless cell overlaps the physical sector of at least one of the other directional antennas of the same wireless cell, wherein the directional antennas whose physical sectors overlap are assigned different channels, and wherein each wireless cell has an area of coverage; determining a threshold value of an interfering signal; selecting a preliminary wireless cell of the network as a selected wireless cell; scanning for the interfering signal through each one of the antennas of the selected wireless cell; marking the selected wireless cell when any one of the antennas of the selected wireless cell detects the threshold value of the interfering signal; selecting a next wireless cell of the network as the selected wireless cell; repeating detecting, marking, and selecting the next wireless cell until all of the wireless cells of the network have been tested; and replacing each of the marked wireless cells with a plurality of smaller wireless cells each having an area of coverage smaller than the area of coverage of the marked wireless cell, wherein an cumulative area of coverage of the smaller wireless cells equals about the area of coverage of the marked wireless cell.