Filling the space-time channels in SDMA

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a base station operable in a wireless network, said base station including a scheduler; and

wherein said scheduler is configured to schedule variable length packets for transmission based on transmission times to simultaneously transmit on each of M spatial channels to mobile stations operable in said wireless network by filling the M spatial channels using data packets buffered for all stations, said scheduler being configured to buffer for a number of stations greater than the number M of said spatial channels;

wherein M is a constant greater than zero and less than or equal to the number of antennas at said base station, and wherein the apparatus is configured to send multiple schedules in a protected time interval to the mobile stations.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including adaptive antenna arrays used in conjunction with a beam forming algorithm to achieve spatial diversity and implementing Spatial-Division Multiple-Access (SDMA), wherein the adaptive antenna array changes beam weights based on the schedule.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scheduler in a downlink provides a schedule of transmission intervals for different mobile stations.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scheduler accounts for traffic information to the mobile stations based on packet size.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the scheduler accounts for traffic information to the mobile stations based on queue size.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scheduler accounts for traffic information to the mobile stations based on priority.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a first schedule of the multiple schedules is sent to a first mobile station and a second schedule is sent to a second mobile station.

8. A method for filling space-time channels in Spatial-Division Multiple-Access (SDMA) in a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, comprising:

scheduling variable length packets for transmission by an access point operable in a wireless network; and

basing said transmissions on transmission times to simultaneously transmit on each of M spatial channels to mobile stations by filling the M spatial channels using data packets buffered for all stations operable in said wireless network for communication with said access point, the number of stations being selectively greater than the number M of said spatial channels; and

wherein M is a constant greater than zero and less than or equal to a number of antennas at the access point, and wherein the access point is configured to send multiple schedules in a protected time interval to the mobile stations.

9. The method of claim 8 , further including retrieving antenna resources in the access point to form spatial channels developed on the fly for a waiting mobile station.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein a channel is accessed by the access point sending a Clear-To-Send (CTS) frame that broadcasts the protected time interval, and wherein the protected time interval is announced by the access point such that no mobile station contends for the medium during that time interval.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the time interval length may be equal to the length of a buffered packet.

12. A base station operable in a wireless network, said base station comprising:

a scheduler, the scheduler being configured to schedule variable length packets for transmission based on transmission times to simultaneously transmit on each of M spatial channels to mobile stations operable in the wireless network by filling the M spatial channels using data packets buffered for a number of stations, said scheduler being configured to buffer for a number of stations greater than the number M of said spatial channels, M being a constant greater than zero and less than or equal to the number of antennas at said base station, the scheduler being configured to provide, in a downlink, a schedule of transmission intervals for different mobile stations;

an adaptive antenna array used in conjunction with a beam forming algorithm to achieve spatial diversity and implementing Spatial-Division Multiple-Access (SDMA), the adaptive antenna array being configured to change beam weights based on the schedule, and

wherein the base station is configured to send multiple schedules in a protected time interval to the mobile stations.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the schedule accounts for traffic information to the mobile stations based on packet size.

14. The device of claim 12 , wherein the schedule accounts for traffic information to the mobile stations based on queue size.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the schedule accounts for traffic information to the mobile stations based on priority.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein, in operation, a first schedule of the multiple schedules is sent to a first mobile station and a second schedule is sent to a second mobile station.