Addressing scheme for a relay network system

1. A method comprising:

collecting a plurality of Mobile Station (MS) Medium Access Control (MAC) Packet Data Units (PDUs), including at least one MS MAC PDU (MPDU) associated with each of a plurality of different mobile stations, one or more of the MPDUs including a connection identifier (CID);

generating at least one MS station identifier (STID) sub-header (MSID-SH), the MSID-SH including a plurality of MS station identifiers (STIDs) including a MS STID for each of the collected MPDUs, with each MS STID uniquely identifying the MS associated with the MPDU;

packing the MSID-SH and the plurality of MPDUs into a single Relay MAC PDU (RPDU); and

wirelessly transmitting the RPDU.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein collecting includes grouping a plurality of MPDUs associated with a single MS, into a single MPDU.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein either collecting or generating includes:

arranging the MPDUs in an order; and

wherein generating includes:

arranging a list of MSIDs indicators in the same order as the MPDUs.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein generating includes:

listing, for each MPDU, a MS STID associated with the respective MPDU in the order in which the MPDUs are packed.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the MSID-SH includes:

an indication of the number of MS-STIDs included in the MSID-SH; and

a plurality of MS STIDs.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein generating includes:

generating a bitmap of MS STIDs correlated with the order in which the MPDUs are packed into the RPDU.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein generating includes

generating a MSID-SH for each MPDU, wherein the MSID-SH includes the MS STID of the respective MPDU; and

wherein packing includes:

for each MPDU, inserting the respective MSID-SH into to the respective MPDU.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein packing includes:

packing the plurality of MPDUs into a payload portion;

packing the MSID-SH into a header portion; and

combining the header portion and payload portion into the RPDU.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to:

receive a Relay Medium Access Control (MAC) Packet Data Unit (RPDU) via a wireless communications channel, the RPDU including at least one mobile station (MS) station identifier (STID) sub-header (MSID-SH) and a plurality of MS MAC PDUs (MPDUs) with one or more of the MPDUs including a connection identifier (CID), the plurality of MPDUs including at least one MPDU associated with each of a plurality of different MSs, the MSID-SH including a plurality of MS STIDs including a MS STID for each of the MPDUs with each MS STID uniquely identifying the MS associated with the MPDU;

unpack the MPDUs included in the Relay MAC PDU (RPDU); and

associate each MPDU with a MS-STID using the MSID-SH.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the MSID-SH includes:

a MS-STID for each MPDU; and

wherein the processor is configured to:

assign a MS-STID to each MPRDU based upon the order in which the MS-STIDs are arranged in the RPDU and the order in which the MPDUs are arranged in the RPDU.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the MSID-SH includes:

a bitmap indicating which MSs have MPDUs in the RPDU; and

wherein the processor is configured to:

associate each bit of the bitmap with each MPDU based upon the order in which the bits of the bitmap are arranged and the order in which the MPDUs are arranged in the RPDU, and

based upon the position of each bit in the bitmap to determine one of the MS STIDs to associate with each of the MPDUs of the RPDU.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the processor is configured to:

for each MPDU,

examine the MPDU to determine if it includes a MSID-SH, and

if the MPDU includes a MSID-SH that includes a STID, associate the STID with the MPDU.

13. A method comprising:

collecting a plurality of Mobile Station (MS) Medium Access Control (MAC) Packet Data Units (PDUs) including at least one MS MAC PDU (MPDU) associated with each of a plurality of different mobile stations (MSs), one or more of the MPDUs including a connection identifier (CID);

embedding a portion of each MS MAC PDU (MPDU) with an indication of a MS station identifier (STID) associated with the MPDU, with each MS STID uniquely identifying the MS associated with the MPDU;

packing the plurality of embedded MPDUs into a single Relay MAC PDU (RPDU); and

wirelessly transmitting the RPDU.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein embedding includes:

masking at least a portion of each MS MAC PDU (MPDU) with a MS station identifier (STID) associated with the MPDU.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein masking includes masking an error detection portion of the MPDU with the MS STID associated with the MPDU.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the error detection portion includes a cyclic redundancy check.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein embedding includes:

generating a MSID-SH for each MPDU, wherein the MSID-SH includes the MS STID of the respective MPDU; and

wherein packing includes:

for each MPDU, inserting the respective MSID-SH into to the respective MPDU; and

packing the plurality of MPDUs into a single Relay MAC PDU (RPDU).