Apparatus and method for scheduling forward channel transmissions in a wireless network base station

A wireless network comprising:

• a plurality of base stations capable of communicating with a plurality of mobile stations in a coverage area of said wireless network, wherein a first one of said plurality of base stations comprises an apparatus for controlling the transmission of data packets from said first base station, said apparatus comprising:
• a transmission scheduler capable of accessing a plurality of data packets received from a plurality of user devices requesting to transmit data packets to said mobile stations,
• wherein said transmission scheduler receives a plurality of physical parameters associated with said data packets and calculates a plurality of scheduled priority values,
• wherein said physical parameters comprise at least one of a modulation type associated with a selected one of said plurality of mobile stations and an amount of available transmission power,
• wherein each of said scheduled priority values is associated with data packets from one of said requesting user devices,
• wherein said each scheduled priority value is calculated by summing a plurality of products, and
• wherein each product is determined by multiplying a variable derived from a physical parameter unique to the product by a weighting factor.

A method of determining the priority of the transmission of data packets from a base station in a wireless network to a plurality of mobile stations in a coverage area of the wireless network, the method comprising the steps of:

• accessing a plurality of data packets received from a plurality of user devices requesting to transmit data packets to the mobile stations;
• receiving a plurality of physical parameters associated with the data packets, wherein the physical parameters comprise at least one of a modulation type associated with a selected one of said plurality of mobile stations and an amount of available transmission power;
• and
• calculating a plurality of scheduled priority values,
• wherein each of the scheduled priority values is associated with data packets from one of the requesting user devices,
• wherein the each scheduled priority value is calculated by summing a plurality of products, and
• wherein each product is determined by multiplying a variable derived from a physical parameter unique to the product by a weighting factor.