Importance

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Abstract

Wireless communication systems and methods using multiple overlapping sectored cells. Two or more cells in which communication services are provided to a number of subscriber stations at least partially overlap in an overlapping region and are each divided into a number of sectors. A first cell uses a first group of channels to communicate with at least some subscriber stations that are located in the first cell, and a second cell uses a second group of channels to communicate with at least some subscriber stations that are located in the second cell. The sectored cells use different communication channels in respective overlapping sectors of the overlapping region. In this manner, one or more first cells may be deployed with one or more second cells either initially or in a modular fashion over time to flexibly accommodate various topological distributions of subscriber stations and varying capacity demands in a wireless communication system without posing significant interference problems. In one example, at least one cell (e.g., a 'focal' cell) covers a smaller area than another cell (e.g., a larger 'base' cell) with which it at least partially overlaps. One or more such focal cells also may be completely contained within a larger base cell to provide communication services in particular higher density and/or higher capacity demand regions of the base cell.

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First Claim