Patent ID: 9313794
Filing Date: 2016-04-12
CPC Classification: H04W

Claim Text:
1. A controller controlling communication in a cellular wireless communications network comprising a plurality of base stations, each base station of the network defining a cell wherein a base station is capable of effecting wireless communication with terminal stations located within the cell associated with that base station, each base station being capable of effecting wireless communication with an associated terminal station on a communication channel of a plurality of communication channels defined in a wireless communication medium, the control unit comprising: a memory storing, for each base station, terminal station information for one or more terminal stations associated with that base station, the terminal station information comprising classification information identifying a classification of the terminal station, the classification being one of a first classification associated with an edge region of its associated cell, or a second classification associated with a central region of its associated cell, utility information for the terminal station, the utility information describing performance capability of that terminal station, and, if the classification information is indicative of the first classification, the memory further storing interference risk information identifying any of the other base stations that present an interference risk to the performance of the terminal station; an allocation processor operable to allocate one or more of said terminal stations to a communications channel, the allocation processor being configured to determine a list of terminal stations available for allocation, initially each terminal station identified in the list being that terminal station, for each base station, with the highest performance capability in its associated base station of the terminal stations identified in the stored information, the allocation processor being further configured to identify a terminal station from the list on the basis of a selection criterion, to allocate that identified terminal station to a communications channel, and thereafter to modify the list to remove therefrom the allocated terminal station and, if the allocated terminal station is in the first classification, to modify the list to take account of any terminal station identified in the list which, on the basis of the stored interference risk information, presents an interference risk to the allocated terminal station.