Dynamic packet scheduling method, apparatus and computer program

1. A dynamic packet scheduling method in a cellular Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access—Time-Division Duplexing (OFDMA-TDD) network, wherein said dynamic packet scheduling method comprises the following steps:

obtaining at least one physical layer (PHY) based index defining a preferred allocation of a mobile station among at least two frequency reuse zones in a cell of said (OFDMA-TDD) network;

scheduling bursts of packets to transmit to said mobile station, by at least one frequency reuse zone among the at least two frequency reuse zones, in view of transmission requests and said at least one PHY based index; and

transmitting the bursts of packets based on the scheduling.

2. The dynamic packet scheduling method according to claim 1 wherein said scheduling step comprises, for every incoming transmission request:

a step of calculating a number of slots that are needed to fulfil said incoming transmission request in said at least two frequency reuse zones, using an appropriate modulation and coding scheme in each of said frequency reuse zones;

a step of inserting at least one parameter of said incoming transmission request in a zone allocation data structure, when said needed number of slots in each of said frequency reuse zones is less than a remaining number of slots in that said frequency reuse zone; and

a step of freeing at least one slot in at least one of said frequency reuse zones, when said needed number of slots in one of said frequency reuse zones is greater than the remaining number of slots in that said frequency reuse zone.

3. The dynamic packet scheduling method according to claim 2 , wherein said zone allocation data structure comprises, for a current incoming transmission request:

a field that points to an appropriate data chunk descriptor associated to said current incoming transmission request;

a field, comprising said PHY based index, that represents frequency reuse zone selection recommendation;

a field comprising a number of required slots in a first of said at least two frequency reuse zones;

a field comprising a number of required slots in a second of said at least two frequency reuse zones.

4. The dynamic packet scheduling method according to claim 3 , wherein said step of freeing at least one slot comprises, when said slots have to be freed in said first frequency reuse zone:

at least one step of freeing, in said zone allocation data structure, from a lowest value of said PHY based index to a highest value of said PHY based index, entries of said zone allocation data structure that have a double frequency reuse zone allocation;

at least one step of updating said remaining number of slots in said first frequency reuse zone.

5. The dynamic packet scheduling method according to claim 3 , wherein said step of freeing at least one slot comprises, when said slots have to be freed in said second reuse zone:

at least one step of freeing, in said zone allocation data structure, from the highest value of said PHY based index to the lowest value of said PHY based index, entries of said zone allocation data structure that have a double frequency reuse zone allocation;

at least one step of updating said remaining number of slots in said second reuse zone.

6. The dynamic packet scheduling method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of obtaining at least one PHY based index comprises a step of calculating a ratio between a first value of allocating said mobile station to a first of said at least two frequency reuse zones and a second value of allocating said mobile station to a second of said at least two frequency reuse zones.

7. The dynamic packet scheduling method according to claim 6 , wherein said first value of allocating said mobile station to the first of said at least two frequency zones is obtained by multiplying efficiency (bits/symbol), by channel resources both applied to a first of said at least two frequency reuse zones.

8. The dynamic packet scheduling method according to claim 6 , wherein said second value of allocating said mobile station to the second of said at least two frequency zones is obtained by multiplying efficiency (bits/symbol), by channel resources both applied to a second of said at least two frequency reuse zones.

9. A dynamic packet scheduling apparatus in a cellular Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access—Time-Division Duplexing (OFDMA-TDD) network wherein the apparatus comprises:

a processor for:

obtaining at least one physical layer (PHY) based index defining a preferred allocation of a mobile station among at least two frequency reuse zones in a cell of said (OFDMA-TDD) network;

scheduling bursts of packets to transmit to said mobile station, by at least one frequency reuse zone among the at least two frequency reuse zones, in view of transmission requests and said at least one PHY based index; and

transmitting the bursts of packets based on the scheduling.

10. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by a microprocessor, said computer program product comprising program code instructions for:

obtaining at least one physical layer (PHY) based index defining a preferred allocation of a mobile station among at least two frequency reuse zones in a cell of a cellular Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access—Time-Division Duplexing (OFDMA-TDD) network;

scheduling bursts of packets to transmit to said mobile station, by at least one frequency reuse zone among the at least two frequency reuse zones, in view of transmission requests and said at least one PHY based index;

transmitting the bursts of packets based on the scheduling.