Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A wireless communication system includes a plurality of wideband base stations and a cluster controller that dynamically controls channel allocations among the base stations. When a base station can not service a radio telephone terminal within its cell site, the base station polls the channels and sends a request for a channel to the controller, listing in the request the channels the station determines at the cell site to be inactive. The controller consults a load statistics table to determine if a first listed channel is free over the system. If so, the controller allocates the channel to the base station, if not the controller searches the table for a free channel. The controller may also include channel usage rates in the table. These rates indicate for a predetermined period of time for each base station the rate at which the base station assigns channels to the terminals and the number of channel in use simultaneously. The controller checks the channel usage rate associated with the base station to which the free channel is allocated to determine if the rate is below a predetermined maximum value. If so, the controller allocates the channel. Otherwise, the controller searches the table for a next free listed channel, and so forth. The controller may also preallocate channels to the base station based on expected use. To determine expected use, the controller accumulates the channel usage information over a number of predetermined periods of time and determines a pattern of use, if possible. The controller then, at appropriate times, i.e., when the pattern indicate changes in usage, preallocates channels from the base stations with low expected use to the base stations with high expected use.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim