  We propose novel resource allocation algorithms that have the objective of
finding a good tradeoff between resource reuse and interference avoidance in
wireless networks. To this end, we first study properties of functions that
relate the resource budget available to network elements to the optimal utility
and to the optimal resource efficiency obtained by solving max-min utility
optimization problems. From the asymptotic behavior of these functions, we
obtain a transition point that indicates whether a network is operating in an
efficient noise-limited regime or in an inefficient interference-limited regime
for a given resource budget. For networks operating in the inefficient regime,
we propose a novel partial resource muting scheme to improve the efficiency of
the resource utilization. The framework is very general. It can be applied not
only to the downlink of 4G networks, but also to 5G networks equipped with
flexible duplex mechanisms. Numerical results show significant performance
gains of the proposed scheme compared to the solution to the max-min utility
optimization problem with full frequency reuse.
