Patent ID: 8605645

Claim:
A Relay Station (RS) apparatus in a multi-hop relay broadband wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising: a controller for identifying distribution of at least one relay link transmission interval of the RS within a frame by receiving a message including information that indicates the at least one relay link transmission interval of the RS at a time when the RS initially connects to an upper node; and a communication unit for receiving first control information for the RS from an upper node during a first relay link transmission interval among the at least one relay link transmission interval of the RS distributed within a frame, and transmitting second control information for a lower RS to the lower RS during a first relay link transmission interval among at least one relay link transmission interval of the lower RS distributed within a frame, wherein each of the first and second control information comprises a Relay-Frame Control Header (R-FCH), a DownLink MAP (DL-MAP), and an UpLink MAP (UL-MAP), and the at least one relay link transmission interval of the RS is at least one portion of the frame used for a relay link, and wherein the message includes information indicating a start point of the at least one relay link transmission interval of the RS, a length of the at least one relay link transmission interval, and a mode of the at least one relay link transmission interval of the RS, the mode indicating that a corresponding relay link transmission interval is used as one of a transmission mode where the RS transmits a signal, a reception mode where the RS receives a signal, and an idle mode where the RS suspends a transmission and a reception.