Scheduling communications in a wireless network

Abstract

Systems and techniques are disclosed relating to wireless communications. The systems and techniques involve wireless communications wherein a module or communications device is configured to select a plurality of terminal pairs each having a transmitting terminal and a corresponding receiving terminal, determine a target quality parameter for each of the receiving terminals, and schedule simultaneous signal transmissions from each of the transmitting terminals to its corresponding receiving terminal, the scheduling of the simultaneous transmissions including selecting a power level for each of the signal transmissions that satisfies the target quality parameter for each of the receiving terminals.

1 . An integrated circuit, comprising:
 circuitry configured to:   select from a piconet of terminals a plurality of terminal pairs each having a transmitting terminal and a corresponding receiving terminal;   construct a piconet topology map, the piconet topology map comprising coordinate information concerning the terminal pairs;   obtain path loss information for the terminal pairs, the path loss information comprising: available path loss information and estimated path loss information, the estimated path loss information being based upon the piconet map;   determine a target quality parameter for each of the receiving terminals; and   schedule simultaneous signal transmissions from each of the transmitting terminals to its corresponding receiving terminal based upon the path loss information, the scheduling of the simultaneous transmissions including selecting a power level for each of the signal transmissions that satisfies the target quality parameter for each of the receiving terminals.   
     
     
         2 . The integrated circuit of  claim 1  further configured to:
 schedule a different spreading code for each of the signal transmissions.   
     
     
         3 . The integrated circuit of  claim 1  wherein the quality parameter comprises a carrier-to-interference ratio. 
     
     
         4 . The integrated circuit of  claim 1  further configured to:
 schedule a data rate for each of the signal transmissions.   
     
     
         5 . The integrated circuit of  claim 4 , wherein the scheduled data rate for one of the signal transmissions from one of the transmitting terminals is used to determine the target quality parameter at the corresponding receiving terminal. 
     
     
         6 . The integrated circuit of  claim 4 , wherein the scheduled data rate for the signal transmissions is a function of the type of service requested for each of the terminal pairs. 
     
     
         7 . The integrated circuit of  claim 1  further configured to:
 broadcast the schedule to each of the terminal pairs.   
     
     
         8 . The integrated circuit of  claim 7  further configured to:
 spread the broadcast with a code.   
     
     
         9 . The integrated circuit of  claim 1 , wherein the path loss information for the terminal pairs comprises path loss information from each of the transmitting terminals to each of the receiving terminals. 
     
     
         10 . The integrated circuit of  claim 9  further configured to:
 receive the path loss information from one or more of the terminals.   
     
     
         11 . The integrated circuit of  claim 1 , wherein path loss information for the terminal pairs further comprises receiving path loss information from one or more of the piconet terminals. 
     
     
         12 . The integrated circuit of  claim 1  further configured to:
 transmit one of the scheduled signal transmissions to a corresponding one of the receiving terminals.   
     
     
         13 . The integrated circuit of  claim 1  further configured to:
 receive one of the scheduled signal transmissions from a corresponding one of the transmitting terminals.