Patent ID: 6580913
Filing Date: 2003-06-17
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
A method for allocating a communication channel to a mobile unit from among a plurality of channels available to a base station and its neighboring base stations, comprising the steps of:storing channel occupancy data for said base station directly from channel allocations by said base station and by each of its neighboring base stations, wherein said channel allocations are independent of channel measurements and wherein said channel allocations for said neighboring base stations are provided to said base station by said neighboring base stations; storing channel availability data identifying the number of said available channels which are available for allocation by each base station based on each base station's channel occupancy data, each base station's channel occupancy data identifying said available channels which have already been allocated by that base station and its neighboring base stations; receiving a channel access request at said base station from a mobile unit; determining from said channel occupancy data whether there is a first one of the available channels which has not already been allocated by said base station and by any of its neighboring base stations, or if no first channel exists, determining from said channel occupancy data for said base station whether there is a second channel which has not been allocated by said base station and has been allocated by only one of its neighboring base stations and, if no first channel exists, determining from said channel availability data whether the neighboring base station has a third channel available for allocation; allocating said first channel to the mobile unit if one exists and updating the channel occupancy data to reflect that said first channel has been allocated, or if no first channel exists, allocating said second channel to the mobile unit, if such a second channel exists and the corresponding neighboring base station has said third channel available for allocation, and updating the channel occupancy data and channel availability data to reflect the allocation.