Method for scheduling transmissions in communication systems

A method for scheduling transmissions to a plurality of users so as to enforce a minimum throughput constraint in a communication network, comprising:

• scheduling at least one of said plurality of users in a given timeslot to be served in a next scheduled transmission based on a current dissatisfaction level of the user relative to a target minimum throughput for that user and a rate requested by the user.

A method for scheduling transmissions to a plurality of users so as to enforce a maximum throughput constraint in a communication network, comprising:

• determining, for each user in a given timeslot, a satisfaction metric;
• scheduling at least one of said plurality of users in the given timeslot to be served in a next scheduled transmission based on the sign of the satisfaction metric, while enforcing maximum throughput constraints for said plurality of users.

A method for scheduling transmissions to a plurality of users in a communication network, in which channel state information is used to determine whether a current time slot is to be allocated to satisfy target minimum data rates of the users or allocated to maximize network throughput, or whether the current time slot is to be idled.

A method for scheduling transmissions to a plurality of users in a cell in a multi-celled communication network that utilizes a reduced number of network resources in terms of a number of air link timeslots, to schedule said users in the cell so that each scheduled user in the cell achieves an actual served transmission rate that is between a target minimum user throughput and a target maximum user throughput.