Patent ID: 9591649
Date: 2017-03-07
CPC Classifications: H04W

Claim:
1. A method in a wireless communication system comprising a base station configured to serve user equipment devices (UEs) over a plurality of carriers in a coverage area, wherein each of the plurality of carriers defines a respective downlink control channel over which the base station transmits Downlink Control Information (DCI) messages for scheduling data transmissions with UEs in the coverage area, the method comprising: the base station determining that a downlink control channel of a given carrier of the plurality of carriers is threshold loaded, wherein determining that the downlink control channel of the given carrier is threshold loaded comprises an operation selected from the group consisting of (i) determining that a number UEs that are currently designated for DCI transmission on the downlink control channel of the given carrier exceeds a threshold number, (ii) detecting usage of a threshold high percentage of resources of the downlink control channel of the given carrier, and (iii) detecting transmission of a threshold high quantity of data on the downlink control channel of the given carrier; and in response to the determining that the downlink control channel of a given carrier is threshold loaded, the base station (a) identifying a group of one or more UEs that are currently designated for DCI transmission on the downlink control channel of the given carrier but have a primary carrier that differs from the given carrier and then (b) beginning to serve the group of one or more UEs using cross-carrier scheduling.