System and method for relay node flow control in a wireless communications system

1. A method for operating a relay in a communication system, the method comprising:

determining a buffer status of a buffer associated with a communications channel, the communications channel allocated from network resources controlled by a communications controller;

estimating a future consumption rate for the buffer in accordance with a historic throughput rate for the communications channel, wherein the future consumption rate indicates a predicted rate at which data is projected to be written into the buffer during a future time period;

determining buffer status information in accordance with the buffer status and the consumption rate for the buffer; and

transmitting the buffer status information to the communications controller, wherein the buffer status information is communicated in a buffer status report message, and wherein the buffer status report message includes concatenated buffer status information for multiple buffers in the relay.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the buffer status comprises measuring an amount of data presently stored in the buffer, measuring an additional storage capacity of the buffer, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the buffer status information comprises a consumption time of the buffer, wherein the consumption time of the buffer is an amount of data buffered in the buffer divided by the future consumption rate for the buffer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein estimating the future consumption rate further includes estimating the future consumption rate in accordance with a channel quality associated with the communications channel.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the multiple buffers are associated with a common communications device, a common traffic class, a common transmission direction, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the buffer status information is piggy backed onto a message sent to the communications controller.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the buffer status information comprises:

concatenating more than one buffer status information onto a message; and

transmitting the message to the communications controller.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the more than one buffer status information comprises at least one buffer status information for a first communications device and at least one buffer status information for a second communications device, at least one buffer status information for a first traffic class and at least one buffer status information for a second traffic class, at least one buffer status information for a first communications direction and at least one buffer status information for a second communications direction, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a buffer status report related to a buffer for data to be transmitted on an access communications channel between the relay and a communications device, wherein the access communications channel is allocated from network resources controlled by the relay, and wherein the buffer status information is further determined in accordance with the buffer status report.

10. A method for controller operation, the method comprising:

receiving, from a relay device, buffer status information for a buffer at the relay device, wherein the buffer status information specifies a buffer status and a future consumption rate of the buffer, the future consumption rate indicating a predicted rate at which data is projected to be written into the buffer during a future period of time, wherein the buffer status information is communicated in a buffer status report message, and wherein the buffer status report message includes concatenated buffer status information for multiple buffers; and

adjusting a network resources allocation for a communications channel associated with the buffer in accordance with the buffer status information, wherein the communications channel is allocated from network resources controlled by the controller.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein adjusting a network resource allocation comprises:

increasing the network resources allocation for an uplink portion of the communications channel in response to determining that the buffer will be filled or emptied within a threshold period of time.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the buffer status information is piggy backed on a message received from the relay device.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the buffer status information is communicated in a service request indication message.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the buffer status information reports a multi-bit value indicating a degree of buffer fullness of the buffer, and wherein adjusting a network resource allocation comprises adjusting the network resource allocation in accordance with the degree of buffer fullness.

15. A relay comprising:

a receiver coupled to a receive antenna, the receiver configured to receive signals detected by the receive antenna;

a transmitter coupled to a transmit antenna, the transmitter configured to transmit signals with the transmit antenna;

a buffer coupled to the receiver and to the transmitter, the buffer configured to store data for a communications channels allocated from network resources controlled by a communications controller; and

a controller coupled to the buffer, to the transmitter, and to the receiver, the controller configured to determine a buffer status for the buffer, to estimate a future consumption rate for the buffer in accordance with a historic throughput rate for the communications channel, the future consumption rate indicating a predicted rate at which data is projected to be written into the buffer during a future period of time, and to communicate a buffer status report message to the communications controller, the buffer status report message including buffer status information specifying the buffer status and the future consumption rate, wherein the buffer status report message further includes concatenated buffer status information for multiple buffers in the relay.

16. The relay of claim 15 , wherein the communications channel is an uplink communications channel that extends at least between the relay and a user equipment (UE).

17. The relay of claim 15 , wherein the communications channel is a downlink communications channel that extends at least between the relay and the communications controller.

18. The relay of claim 15 , wherein the historic throughput rate for the communications channel indicates a rate at which data was communicated over the communications channels during a previous period of time.