Congestion avoidance in a network with base station and relay nodes

摘要

A method of reducing congestion in a mobile telecommunications system, the system comprising a plurality of mobile terminals, one or more relay nodes and a base station, the mobile terminals, relay nodes and base station being configured to communicate via a wireless interface. The method comprises determining first path information indicating one or more paths for transmitting data from the plurality of mobile terminals to the base station, wherein a path comprises a series of one or more edges, the series of edges being from one or more mobile terminals to the base station, directly or via one or more relay nodes; estimating, based on the first path information, a congestion likelihood for a first relay node to cause congestion for data transmission in the system; and if the estimated congestion likelihood for the first relay node is above a first threshold, determining second path information so as to reduce the congestion likelihood for the first relay node.