Patent ID: 8005046

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine when possible incoming interference with other assigned channels may occur and to derive time slot throughput estimates; determine the effect of a channel assignment upon other channels already assigned within a cell and within nearby cells based upon a carrier to interference ratio; and choose a shared or a dedicated channel for the connection based upon a traffic class type associated with a mobile station or a service or an application requiring information transfer, and throughput requirement of the channel assignment; wherein the traffic class type comprises a best effort traffic class type configured to cause the channel assignment to be made to a shared channel, and a guaranteed traffic class type configured to cause the channel assignment to be made to a shared channel when adequate throughput exists on the shared channel; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to evaluate the level of interference a new channel assignment is expected to cause on the other channels that have already been assigned to connections in a serving cell and the nearby cells; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to trigger a radio channel re-assignment for the ongoing connections in the dedicated territory that are expected to be adversely affected based on a carrier to interference criteria by the interference resulting from the new channel assignment.