Patent ID: 8233876

Claim:
A method comprising: transmitting, by an apparatus to at least a first node, a second node, and a third node, a frame identifying uplink and downlink transmission periods, at least one downlink start time and duration for the first node, at least one downlink start time and duration for the second node, at least one uplink start time and duration for the second node, and at least one uplink start and duration for the third node, during a frame sequence for at least the first node, the second node, and the third node in a wireless network, all of the uplink transmissions being scheduled after all of the downlink transmissions within the frame sequence, with the first node having only scheduled downlink transmissions during the frame sequence having its downlink start time for downlink transmissions scheduled at or near the start of the downlink transmissions, and with the third node having only scheduled uplink transmissions during the frame sequence having its uplink start time for uplink transmissions scheduled at or near the end of the uplink transmissions, and with the second node having scheduled both downlink and uplink transmissions during the frame sequence having its downlink start time and its uplink start time for transmissions scheduled near a transition from downlink to uplink transmissions.