Transmission opportunity scheduling

Abstract

Scheduling of transmission opportunities to prevent collisions is contemplated. The transmission opportunities may be scheduled for terminal units where transmissions of one terminal unit may collide or otherwise interfere with transmissions of another terminal unit. The transmission opportunities may be scheduled according to a time-frequency grid to prevent collisions in a time domain and/or a frequency domain.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of non-transitory instructions which when executed with a processor are sufficient to facilitate controlling a termination system (TS) to schedule transmission intervals for a plurality of devices communicating over a common communication medium when at least a portion of the plurality of devices are time division multiple access (TDMA) devices and at least a portion of the plurality of devices are frequency division multiple access (FDMA) devices, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient to facilitate:
 scheduling the transmission intervals in a non-interfering manner such that the transmission intervals scheduled for the TDMA devices occur without interfering with the transmission intervals scheduled for the FDMA devices, thereby enabling both of the TDMA and FDMA devices to communicate over the common communication medium.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate scheduling the transmission intervals for a first TDMA device of the TDMA devices and a first FDMA device of the FDMA devices to simultaneously occur during a first block time without interference, including scheduling the first TDMA device to communicate within a first bandwidth for a first duration and the first FDMA device to communicate within a second bandwidth for a second duration, the first bandwidth being distinct from the second bandwidth to prevent bandwidth overlap. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 2  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate fixing the second duration to approximate the first block time and to vary a width of the second bandwidth in proportion to an amount of data to be transmitted from the first FDMA device such that the width of the second bandwidth is greater when more data is to be transmitted and smaller when less data is to be transmitted, thereby resulting in the second bandwidth being variable depending on the amount of data to be transmitted from the first FDMA device during the first block time. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 3  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate additionally varying the width of the second bandwidth in proportion to available bandwidth such that for the same amount of date the width of the second bandwidth is greater when more bandwidth is available and smaller when less bandwidth is available, the available bandwidth being determined based on bandwidth dedicated for use by other FDMA or TDMA devices scheduled to transmit during the first block time. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 2  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate scheduling the transmission intervals for the first block time such that a third FDMA device is scheduled to communicate within the second bandwidth during the second duration. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 5  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate instructing the second and third FDMA devices to interlace transmitted signaling during the second duration. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 5  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate instructing the second FDMA device to transmit signaling over even subcarriers within the second bandwidth and the third FDMA device to transmit signaling over odd subcarriers within the second bandwidth. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 2  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate fixing the first bandwidth and to facilitate varying a length of the first duration in proportion to an amount of data to be transmitted from the first TDMA device such that the length of the first duration is greater when more data is to be transmitted and smaller when less data is to be transmitted, thereby resulting in the first duration being variable depending on the amount of data to be transmitted by the first TDMA device during the first block time. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate additionally varying the length of the first duration in proportion to a time length of the first block time such that the length of the first duration is greater when more time length is available and smaller when less time length is available, the available time length being determined based on time dedicated for use by other TDMA devices scheduled to transmit at the first bandwidth during the first block time. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 2  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate selecting the first bandwidth to be fixed to one of a plurality of available bandwidths, excluding one or more of the plurality of available bandwidths allocated for use by other TDMA and FDMA devices also scheduled to transmit during the first block time. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate scheduling the first bandwidth to be one of 3.2 MHz and 6.4 MHz and the second bandwidth to be greater than the first bandwidth. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 11  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate scheduling the second bandwidth to equal a value corresponding with 42 MHz minus the first bandwidth. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate transmitting scheduling instructions to the FDMA and TDMA devices, the scheduling instructions detailing the transmission intervals and other information needed to transmit signaling from the FDMA and TDMA devices over the common communication medium. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate characterizing each of the plurality of devices to be one of the TDMA and FDMA devices based on identifying information transmitted therefrom, the identifying information indicating whether the corresponding device operates at a fixed bandwidth and a variable bandwidth, the devices operating at the fixed bandwidth being characterized as the TDMA devices and the devices operating at the variable bandwidth being characterized as the FDMA devices. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of non-transitory instructions which when executed with a processor are sufficient to facilitate scheduling transmission intervals during which one or more of a plurality of devices are authorized for transmitting signaling over a common communication medium, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient to facilitate:
 determining transmission requests issued from the plurality of devices for requesting the transmission intervals;   determining transmission limitations for the plurality of devices based on information included within the transmission requests;   determining based on the transmission limitations at least a portion of the plurality of devices to be time division multiple access (TDMA) devices and at least a portion of the plurality of devices to be frequency division multiple access (FDMA) devices; and   scheduling the transmission intervals such that at least a first TDMA device of the TDMA devices and at least a first FDMA device of the FDMA devices simultaneously communicate over the common communication medium without interference.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate determining the TDMA devices as the portion of the plurality devices where the corresponding transmission limitations indicate a capability to transmit signaling over the common communication medium at a fixed frequency or no more than a single frequency for at least an upcoming period of time associated with the transmission requests. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15  further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient to facilitate determining the FDMA devices as the portion of the plurality devices where the corresponding transmission limitations indicate a capability to transmit signaling over the common communication medium at a variable frequency or multiple frequencies for at least an upcoming period of time associated with the transmission requests. 
     
     
         18 . A communication system comprising:
 a plurality of time division multiple access (TDMA) devices configured to facilitate signaling over a communication medium at a fixed frequency for a predefined period of time;   a plurality of frequency division multiple access (FDMA) devices configured to facilitate signaling over the communication medium at a variable frequency for the predefined period of time; and   a scheduler configured to schedule the TDMA and FDMA devices to communicate signaling over the communication medium without interference according to a time-frequency grid, the time-frequency grid cross-referencing a plurality of block times with a plurality of frequencies to define corresponding transmission intervals available for the TDMA and FDMA devices to communicate signaling over the communication medium.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18  wherein the scheduler includes a computer-readable medium having a plurality of non-transitory instructions which when executed with a processor associated therewith are sufficient to facilitate:
 scheduling the transmission intervals within the time-frequency grid for at least a first TDMA device of the plurality of TDMA devices and at least a first FDMA device of the plurality of FDMA devices such that the first TDMA and FDMA devices communicate simultaneously over the common communication medium without interference. 
 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  wherein the non-transitory instructions are sufficient to facilitate:
 determining an amount of data desired to be transmitted from the first TDMA and FDMA devices; 
 scheduling the transmission intervals for the first TDMA device to correspond with a single frequency value of the plurality of frequencies and a first quantity of the plurality of block times, the first quantity being proportional to the amount of data the first TDMA device desires to be transmitted such that the first quantity is greater when more data is to be transmitted and smaller when less data is to be transmitted; and 
 scheduling the transmission intervals for the first FDMA device to correspond with a second quantity of the plurality of frequencies, the second quantity being proportional to the amount of data the first FDMA device desires to be transmitted such that the second quantity is greater when more data is to be transmitted and smaller when less data is to be transmitted.