Patent ID: 8121085

Claim:
A method of allocating slots in a slot-based communication system having i) at least one base station and ii) a plurality of remote stations, wherein communication among the at least one base station and the plurality of remote stations is partitioned into a series of frames, each frame including at least a first frequency reuse zone having a first total number of slots, the method comprising the steps of: assigning, to each remote station of the plurality of remote stations, a first frequency reuse zone data rate for communication of that remote station using slots of the first frequency reuse zone; and providing, for each remote station, a respective slot allocation for communication between that remote station and the base station, wherein each respective slot allocation comprises a first number of slots of the first frequency reuse zone, wherein each remote station has a weighted data rate dependent on i) the first frequency reuse zone data rate assigned to that remote station and ii) the respective slot allocation of that remote station, and wherein a minimum of the weighted data rates of the plurality of remote stations varies with the respective slot allocations provided for the plurality of remote stations; and determining the respective slot allocations of the plurality of remote stations so as to maximize the minimum of the weighted data rates of the plurality of remote stations.