Patent ID: 8233413

Claim:
A method for dynamically changing a downlink-uplink allocation, comprising: establishing a communication link between a base station and a user equipment, wherein the communication link comprises downlink intervals for the base station to transmit to the user equipment and uplink intervals for the user equipment to transmit to the base station; and generating a mute interval to replace a downlink interval or an uplink interval in a previous flame to effect a change in a downlink-uplink allocation ratio for a subsequent frame, the mute interval indicating that transmissions during the mute interval should cease; and transmitting a location of the mute interval to the user equipment using a frame structure; operating a core network to send a mute request to the base station to initiate the change in the downlink-uplink allocation ratio; operating the base station to send a mute response to the core network; and operating the core network to send a mute recovery request to the base station.