Radio resource management in multihop relay networks

1. A method, comprising:

managing wireless communication bandwidth capacity in a single channel of one or more cascading wireless communication links in a wireless communication cell, a cascading wireless communication link being a wireless communication link among a first node and one or more relay second nodes to one or more third nodes, and a wireless communication link between the first node and the relay second node being a relay link and a wireless communication link between the relay second node and a third node being an access link; and

managing the wireless communication bandwidth capacity in the single channel across two or more virtual cells within the wireless communication cell, each virtual cell being a service area of a relay second node and one or more third nodes,

wherein the managing of the wireless communication bandwidth capacity includes adjusting the bandwidth in a cascading wireless communication link among a relay link and/or an access link of the cascading wireless communication link and across two or more virtual cells, based upon a transmission congestion level according to average transmission queue lengths over a time interval at any combination of the nodes in the cascading wireless communication link and/or in the virtual cells.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cascading wireless communication link comprises a composite link of a plurality of wireless communication access links between the relay second node and the third nodes.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the bandwidth further comprises adjusting the bandwidth in a downlink communication among the first node and the relay second node to the third nodes by periodically executing one or more of:

assigning a portion of the relay link bandwidth to the access link bandwidth, based upon a bandwidth adjuster, upon determining whether transmission queues of the first node and the relay second node are full, as a first bandwidth adjustment;

assigning a portion of the access link bandwidth to the relay link bandwidth, based upon the bandwidth adjuster, upon determining the transmission queue length of the first node is larger than the transmission queue length of the relay second node by a transmission queue size threshold or the first node transmission queue is full, as a second bandwidth adjustment; and/or

assigning a portion of the relay link bandwidth to the access link bandwidth, based upon the bandwidth adjuster, upon determining the transmission queue length of the relay second node is larger than the transmission queue length of the first node by the transmission queue size threshold or the relay second node transmission queue is full, as third bandwidth adjustment.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the bandwidth adjuster varies by any combination for the first, second, third bandwidth adjustments and is dynamically input according to one or more of real-time wireless communication network conditions, user, or application.

5. The method of

claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the bandwidth further comprises adjusting the bandwidth in an uplink communication among the first node and the second relay node to the third nodes by periodically executing one or more of:

assigning a portion of the relay link bandwidth to the access link bandwidth, based upon a bandwidth adjuster, upon determining transmission queues of the third node and the relay second node are full, as a first bandwidth adjustment;

assigning a portion of the access link bandwidth to the relay link bandwidth, based upon the bandwidth adjuster, upon determining the transmission queue length of the relay second node is larger than the transmission queue length of the third node by a transmission queue size threshold or the relay second node transmission queue is full, as a second bandwidth adjustment; and/or

assigning a portion of the relay link bandwidth to the access link bandwidth, based upon the bandwidth adjuster, upon determining the transmission queue length of the third node is larger than the transmission queue length of the relay second node by the transmission queue size threshold or the third node transmission queue is full, as third bandwidth adjustment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average transmission queue length is based upon a weight according to various types of data traffic including non-realtime data and/or real-time data types.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the bandwidth in the single channel across the two or more virtual cells comprises:

computing average weighted transmission queue length for each user on a virtual cell basis in a communication link direction;

for the communication link direction, determining whether an average weighted queue length of each user in a first virtual cell is higher than an average weighted queue length of each user in a second virtual; and

assigning a portion of a total bandwidth in the communication link direction of the second virtual cell to the first virtual cell, according to the determining.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein a weight factor for the weighted transmission queue length is a number of relay second nodes, user service agreement, or average channel quality, or any combinations thereof in a virtual cell.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication cell is a Mobile Multi-hop Relay-Based Cell (MMR-cell) according to IEEE 802.16j.

10. The method of claim 1 , the relay second nodes and/or the third nodes transmit the transmission congestion level to the first node by control messages and the first node performs the managing of the wireless communication bandwidth capacity by transmitting wireless bandwidth capacity control messages to the relay second nodes and/or the third nodes.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a controller configured to:

manage wireless communication bandwidth capacity in a single channel of one or more cascading wireless communication links in a wireless communication cell, a cascading wireless communication link being a wireless communication link among a first node and one or more relay second nodes to one or more third nodes, and a wireless communication link between the first node and the relay second node being a relay link and a wireless communication link between the relay second node and a third node being an access link; and

manage the wireless communication bandwidth capacity in the single channel across two or more virtual cells within the wireless communication cell, each virtual cell being a service area of a relay second node and one or more third nodes,

wherein the managing of the wireless communication bandwidth capacity includes adjusting by the controller the bandwidth in a cascading wireless communication link among a relay link and/or an access link of the cascading wireless communication link and across two or more virtual cells, based upon a transmission congestion level according to average transmission queue lengths over a time interval at any combination of the nodes in the cascading wireless communication link and/or in the virtual cells.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the cascading wireless communication link comprises a composite link of a plurality of wireless communication access links between the relay second node and the third nodes.

13. The apparatus of

claim 11 , wherein the controller further adjusts the bandwidth in a downlink communication among the first node and the relay second node to the third nodes by periodically executing one or more of:

assigning a portion of the relay link bandwidth to the access link bandwidth, based upon a bandwidth adjuster, upon determining whether transmission queues of the first node and the relay second node are full, as a first bandwidth adjustment;

assigning a portion of the access link bandwidth to the relay link bandwidth, based upon the bandwidth adjuster, upon determining the transmission queue length of the first node is larger than the transmission queue length of the relay second node by a transmission queue size threshold or the first node transmission queue is full, as a second bandwidth adjustment; and/or

assigning a portion of the relay link bandwidth to the access link bandwidth, based upon the bandwidth adjuster, upon determining the transmission queue length of the relay second node is larger than the transmission queue length of the first node by the transmission queue size threshold or the relay second node transmission queue is full, as third bandwidth adjustment.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the bandwidth adjuster varies by any combination for the first, second, third bandwidth adjustments and is dynamically input according to one or more of real-time wireless communication network conditions, user, or application.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the controller further adjusts the bandwidth in an uplink communication among the first node and the relay second node to the third nodes by periodically executing one or more of:

assigning a portion of the relay link bandwidth to the access link bandwidth, based upon a bandwidth adjuster, upon determining transmission queues of the third node and the relay second node are full, as a first bandwidth adjustment;

assigning a portion of the access link bandwidth to the relay link bandwidth, based upon the bandwidth adjuster, upon determining the transmission queue length of the relay second node is larger than the transmission queue length of the third node by a transmission queue size threshold or the relay second node transmission queue is full, as a second bandwidth adjustment; and/or

assigning a portion of the relay link bandwidth to the access link bandwidth, based upon the bandwidth adjuster, upon determining the transmission queue length of the third node is larger than the transmission queue length of the relay second node by the transmission queue size threshold or the third node transmission queue is full, as third bandwidth adjustment.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the average transmission queue length is based upon a weight according to various types of data traffic including non-realtime data and/or real-time data types.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the adjusting of the bandwidth in the single channel across the two or more virtual cells comprises:

computing average weighted transmission queue length for each user on a virtual cell basis in a communication link direction;

for the communication link direction, determining whether an average weighted queue length of each user in a first virtual cell is higher than an average weighted queue length of each user in a second virtual; and

assigning a portion of a total bandwidth in the communication link direction of the second virtual cell to the first virtual cell, according to the determining.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein a weight factor for the weighted transmission queue length is a number of relay second nodes, user service agreement, or average channel quality, or any combinations thereof in a virtual cell.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the wireless communication cell is a Mobile Multi-hop Relay-Based Cell (MMR-cell) according to IEEE 802.16j.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the relay second nodes and/or the third nodes transmit the transmission congestion level to the first node by control messages and the first node performs the managing of the wireless communication bandwidth capacity by transmitting wireless bandwidth capacity control messages to the relay second nodes and/or the third nodes.