METHOD OF IMPROVING THROUGHPUT IN A SYSTEM INCLUDING PERSISTENT ASSIGNMENTS

Methods and systems are disclosed that provide conditional assignments to access terminals over resources assigned to other access terminals. A plurality of resources having persistent assignments to the other access terminals are processed to determine a gap in transmissions. The resources that can be conditionally utilized by the access terminals are determined and a signal indicative of such conditionally assigned resources is transmitted. The access terminals receive the signal and accordingly utilize the conditionally assigned resources.