Apparatus and method for peer-to-peer (P2P) communications in a broadband wireless communication system

1. A method for operating a first terminal to perform Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communications with a second terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

performing a signaling to establish a P2P connection with the second terminal and transmitting or receiving P2P communication data with the second terminal through at least one P2P dedicated channel and at least one of P2P contention channels,

wherein the first terminal performs a P2P communication with the second terminal according to a frame which comprises the P2P contention channels overlapping with at least a part of a region for cellular communications and

wherein the at least one P2P dedicated channel is allocated by a base station only for P2P communications, and the P2P contention channels are contention-based channels to be used between terminals for the P2P communications,

wherein the P2P communication establishes a direct connection between the two terminals.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one P2P dedicated channel comprises a region for signaling to establish the P2P connection, and

wherein the P2P contention channels comprise a region for transmitting or receiving P2P communication data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one P2P dedicated channel is positioned in at least one of a downlink subframe for the cellular communications and an uplink subframe for the cellular communications.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising receiving a MAP message from a base station; and

confirming resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel based on the MAP message.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein when the at least one P2P dedicated channel is positioned in the downlink subframe for the cellular communications,

confirming resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel based on the MAP message comprises confirming resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel positioned in a subsequent downlink subframe after the uplink frame.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein when the at least one P2P dedicated channel is positioned in the uplink subframe for the cellular communications

confirming resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel based on the MAP message comprises confirming resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel positioned in the uplink frame.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the at least one P2P dedicated channel is positioned in a same time axis as the P2P contention channels, the at least one P2P dedicated channel is allocated to minimize a number of P2P contention channels that are unavailable because of the at least one P2P dedicated channel.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the P2P contention channels are usable at the same time for both the cellular communications and a plurality of P2P communications.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the P2P contention channels comprise at least one of an uplink subframe region for the cellular communications, an Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) frequency region, and a frequency region not used for the cellular communications.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the P2P contention channels are divided into a plurality of time slots in one uplink subframe region for the cellular communications.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing of the signaling to establish the P2P connection comprises, transmitting or receiving one or more P2P protocol messages that are at least one of a request message for requesting P2P communications, a certificate message for informing of a certificate of the request message, a response message for responding to the certificate message, and a confirm message for confirming setup information, and

the request message, the certificate message, the response message and the confirm message comprise at least one parameter relating to at least one of a destination terminal, a contention channel number, a random number per contention channel, a number of slots, and bi-direction/uni-direction information.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the performing of the signaling to establish the P2P connection comprises:

transmitting the request message to a correspondent terminal to request P2P communications;

determining whether the certificate message is received from the correspondent terminal; and

transmitting the response message to the correspondent terminal.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the performing of the signaling to establish the P2P connection comprises:

when receiving the request message from a correspondent terminal, transmitting the certificate message to the correspondent terminal;

determining whether the response message is received from the correspondent terminal; and

establishing the P2P connection according to parameter values of the response message.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the performing of the signaling to establish the P2P connection comprises:

when receiving a plurality of request messages having an overlapping channel number from the correspondent terminal and other terminals in the same slot, determining a priority of the channel use according to a given rule; and

when the priority is not given to the correspondent terminal, transmitting the certificate message not including the overlapping channel number.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the priority is determined using at least one of random numbers of the terminals corresponding to the overlapping channel number, Connection IDentifiers (CIDs) of the terminals, and a request slot number.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the priority is higher as the random numbers of the terminals are higher.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

when receiving the certificate message, the response message, or the confirm message of which the first terminal is not the destination terminal, setting non-availability of a channel corresponding to a channel number of the certificate message, the response message, or the confirm message.

18. An apparatus for operating a first terminal to perform Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communications with a second terminal in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a controller for performing a signaling to establish a P2P connection with the second terminal and transmitting or receiving P2P communication data with the second terminal through at least one P2P dedicated channel and at least one of P2P contention channels,

wherein the first terminal performs a P2P communication with the second terminal according to a frame which comprises the P2P contention channels overlapping with at least a part of a region for cellular communications and

wherein the at least one P2P dedicated channel is allocated by a base station only for P2P communications, and the P2P contention channels are contention-based channels to be used between terminals for the P2P communications,

wherein the P2P communication establishes a direct connection between the two terminals.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the at least one P2P dedicated channel comprises a region for signaling to establish the P2P connection, and

wherein the P2P contention channels comprise a region for transmitting or receiving P2P communication data.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the at least one P2P dedicated channel is positioned in at least one of a downlink subframe for the cellular communications and an uplink subframe for the cellular communications.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising a receiver for receiving a MAP message from a base station,

the controller confirms resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel based on the MAP message.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein when the at least one P2P dedicated channel is positioned in the downlink subframe for the cellular communications,

the controller confirms resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel based on the MAP message as resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel positioned in a subsequent downlink subframe after the uplink frame.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein when the at least one P2P dedicated channel is positioned in the uplink subframe for the cellular communications,

the controller confirms resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel based on the MAP message as resource allocation information for the at least one P2P dedicated channel positioned in the uplink frame.

24. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein, when the at least one P2P dedicated channel is positioned in a same time axis as the P2P contention channels, the at least one P2P dedicated channel is allocated to minimize a number of P2P contention channels that are unavailable because of the at least one P2P dedicated channel.

25. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the P2P contention channels are usable at the same time for both the cellular communications and a plurality of P2P communications.

26. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the P2P contention channels comprise at least one of an uplink subframe region for the cellular communications, an Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) frequency region, and a frequency region not used for the cellular communications.

27. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the P2P contention channels are divided to a plurality of time slots into one uplink subframe region for the cellular communications.

28. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller, to establish the P2P connection, transmits or receives one or more P2P protocol messages that are at least one of a request message for requesting P2P communications, a certificate message for informing of a certificate of the request message, a response message for responding to the certificate message, and a confirm message for confirming setup information, and

the request message, the certificate message, the response message and the confirm message comprise at least one parameter relating to a destination terminal, a contention channel number, a random number per contention channel, a number of slots, and bi-direction/uni-direction information.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 , wherein the controller transmits the request message to a correspondent terminal to request P2P communications, determines whether the certificate message is received from the correspondent terminal, and controls to transmit the response message to the correspondent terminal.

30. The apparatus of claim 28 , wherein the controller, when receiving the request message from a correspondent terminal, controls to transmit the certificate message to the correspondent terminal, determines whether the response message is received from the correspondent terminal, and establishes the P2P connection according to parameter values of the response message.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the controller,

when receiving a plurality of request messages having an overlapping channel number from the correspondent terminal and other terminals in the same slot, determines a priority of the channel use according to a given rule; and

when the priority is not given to the correspondent terminal, transmits the certificate message not including the overlapping channel number.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 , wherein the priority is determined using at least one of random numbers of the terminals corresponding to the overlapping channel number, Connection IDentifiers (CIDs) of the terminals, and a request slot number.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 , wherein the priority is higher as the random numbers of the terminals are higher.

34. The apparatus of claim 28 , wherein the controller, when receiving the certificate message, the response message, or the confirm message of which the first terminal is not the destination terminal, sets non-availability of a channel corresponding to a channel number of the certificate message, the response message, or the confirm message.