SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTED PAIRING OF RELAY AND SOURCE NODES IN A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

摘要

A communication system configured to convey information between source nodes and destination nodes and having relay-type transmission capability. In one embodiment, an apparatus (320) includes an identification subsystem (330) configured to form a source node identification list providing a number of source nodes that a relay node can support relaying information therefrom. The apparatus also includes a message generator (335) configured to generate a first stage message in a randomly selected mini-slot in a time slot section of a plurality of sections of a common-use time slot of a communication network identifying a first source node that the relay node has capability to support when the relay node can support relaying information from one source node.