Apparatus and method for scheduling transmission of data packets in a multichannel wireless communication system

An apparatus for scheduling data packet transmission to mobile stations supporting multiple quality of service (QoS) grades in a wireless communication system including multiple channels, comprising:

• a queue storage for storing data packets of the mobile stations, wherein the queue storage includes a separate queue entry for each of the mobile stations, and each separate queue entry for each of the mobile stations is separated according to the multiple QoS grades representing orders of priority, according to which stored data packets are transmitted;
• and
• a scheduler for
• calculating, for each of the mobile stations, a single channel scheduling metric using a channel quality information (CQI) value of a channel having a highest CQI value among channels whose resources have not been allocated to a present frame,
• selecting, for each of the mobile stations, a most desirable channel in a present state by comparing the single channel scheduling metric with a parameter of a channel having a highest channel rate for each of the mobile stations,
• selecting a mobile station transmitting a CQI value of the channel having the highest CQI value;
• determining QoS grades for queued data packets of the selected mobile station, and
• sequentially transmitting the queued data packets of the selected mobile station according to the determined QoS grades,
• wherein the scheduling metrics are mapped differently for each QoS grade,
• wherein when the queue storage comprises a limited buffer, the single channel scheduling metric is calculated using a certain constant, a channel rate for each of the mobile stations, and a Head Of Line (HOL) packet delay for each of the multiple channels, and a simple gain function, and
• wherein the single channel scheduling metric is calculated by:
• k
• *
• ⁡
• (
• n
• )
• =
• arg
• ⁢
• ⁢
• max
• k
• ⁢
• ⁢
• a
• k
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• Ch_Rate
• k
• ⁢
• (
• n
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• ⁢
• g
• k
• ⁡
• (
• HOL_Delay
• k
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• ,
• where k•(n) is a scheduling metric for determining a mobile station assigned to a channel (Ch)n, ak represents the certain constant, Ch_Ratek(n) represents the channel rate for each of the mobile stations, HOL_Delayk represents the HOL packet delay for each of the multiple channels and gk(x) is the simple gain function.