Proactive scheduling methods and apparatus to enable peer-to-peer communication links in a wireless OFDMA system
Systems, methods and apparatus are provided for scheduling resources in Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication networks for “direct link” or peer-to-peer communications among stations operating therein so that OFDMA resources can be allocated to a transmitter station for a peer-to-peer communication session with a receiver station such that near-far issues caused by peer-to-peer communication are reduced/avoided. The disclosed technologies can prevent peer-to-peer communication links using different sub-channels within the same time slot from creating near-far issues for other receiver stations that are within communication range.
1. A method for scheduling Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) resources allocated to a transmitter station for a peer-to-peer communication session with a receiver station, the method comprising:
transmitting, from a base station to recipient stations including the transmitter station, a request for first metric measurement information to be measured with respect to selected OFDMA resources of an OFDMA frame;
receiving the request message at the recipient stations;
measuring, at each of the recipient stations, first metric with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, and transmitting, from each of the recipient stations, a response message (RM) comprising information regarding first metric measurements with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, wherein the transmitted information is categorized on the basis of potential to cause near-far interference;
processing the response messages (RMs) at the base station to determine specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the transmitter station for the peer-to-peer communication session with the receiver station, wherein the processing comprises classifying peer stations of the recipient stations including the transmitter station on the basis of their potential to cause the near-far interference to determine an updated peer station information for recipient stations including the transmitter station; and
using the updated peer station information to determine the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the transmitter station.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising allocating the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to the transmitter station for the peer-to-peer communication session with the receiver station.
3. A system for scheduling Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) resources, the system comprising:
a first base station that transmits, to a second base station and one or more third base stations, a request for first metric measurement information to be measured with respect to selected OFDMA resources of an OFDMA frame;
the second base station and the one or more third base stations, wherein the second second base station and the one or more third base stations each receives the request message, measures first metric with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, and transmits from a response message (RM) comprising information regarding first metric measurements with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, wherein the transmitted information is categorized on the basis of potential to cause near-far interference; and
wherein the first base station processes the response messages (RMs) and determines specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the second base station for the peer-to-peer communication session and wherein the processing comprises classifying peer stations of the recipient stations including the transmitter station on the basis of their potential to cause the near-far interference to determine an updated peer station information for recipient stations including the transmitter station and using the updated peer station information to determine the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the transmitter station and using the updated peer station information to determine the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the transmitter station.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the second base station is configured to receive an allocation of the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources for a peer-to-peer communication session with the first base station.