Patent ID: 8290532
Filing Date: 2012-10-16
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: a base station identifying a set of one or more active mobile stations to which the base station is providing service on a carrier in a coverage area that are more likely to experience a dropped call than are a remainder of active mobile stations on the carrier in the coverage area; with respect to each mobile station in the identified set, the base station relaxing at least one reverse-link power-control setting from a respective first value to a respective second value, wherein each second value is, as compared with its corresponding first value, associated with at least one of (i) an increased actual reverse-link transmission-power level and (ii) an increased maximum-allowed reverse-link transmission-power level; after relaxing at least one reverse-link power-control setting for each mobile station in the identified set, the base station determining that a dropped-call rate exceeds a first threshold, and responsively decreasing a degree to which at least one reverse-link power-control setting is relaxed, by changing each such setting to a respective third value lying between the respective first and second values for that setting; and after decreasing the degree to which at least one reverse-link power-control setting is relaxed, the base station determining that a dropped-call rate in the coverage area exceeds a second threshold higher than the first, and responsively carrying out at least one of: (i) dropping at least one active call and (ii) blocking at least one request for a new call.