Patent ID: 6535745
Filing Date: 2003-03-18
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
In a wireless communications network including a service area consisting of a plurality of cells, a method of grouping said cells into a plurality of location areas within said network service area utilizing paging traffic and handoff traffic statistics related to said cells, the method comprising the steps of:defining a first location area within said service area of said network; and distributing remaining cells in said service area into a plurality of location areas until no other cells can be added to the location areas without exceeding the maximum capacity for a location area in said service area, wherein said defining step further comprises the steps of: identifying a first cell within the service area of said network having the highest volume of paging traffic; marking said first cell as belonging to a working location area; identifying a second cell in said service area, said second cell having the highest volume of handoff traffic with the cells in said working location area; determining if the combined paging traffic of said first and second cells exceeds the maximum paging capacity for a location area within said service area; and adding said second cell to said working location area when the maximum paging capacity has not been exceeded.