Patent ID: 8620223

Claim:
A method for managing capacity of a wireless communication network comprising: checking total traffic of multiple overlay networks managed by a base station, wherein at least one of the overlay networks has a multi-sector structure and the multiple overlay networks covering a same coverage area, wherein the multiple overlay networks covering a same coverage area comprise a type 1 overlay network with a sector combining function, wherein multiple groups of antennas corresponding to each type 1 overlay network are configured, and wherein one power amplifier is configured for each antenna; searching for the type 1 overlay network among all the overlay networks belonging to the base station based on a determination that the checked total traffic is less than a preset load threshold; determining a first overlay network when there is only one overlay network belonging to the type 1 overlay network; determining a second overlay network according to network status parameters of the multiple overlay networks belonging to the type 1 overlay network when there are multiple overlay networks belonging to the type 1 overlay network, wherein the first overlay network is a type 1 overlay network which is managed by the base station and requires network capacity management; maintaining normal work of a power amplifier of at least one antenna in each group of antennas in the first overlay network and turning off power amplifiers of one or more other antennas; and connecting the one or more other antennas to the power amplifier maintaining normal work in the groups in which the one or more other antennas are located such that sub-sectors corresponding to each group of antennas among the multiple groups of antennas are respectively combined into multiple large sectors; wherein the type 1 overlay network further has a sector splitting function, and wherein after the total traffic of all the overlay networks managed by the base station is checked, the method further comprises: searching for the type 1 overlay network among all the overlay networks belonging to the base station based on a determination that the checked total traffic is greater than the preset load threshold; determining the overlay network as the first overlay network when there is only one overlay network belonging to the type 1 overlay network; determining the first overlay network according to network status parameters of the multiple overlay networks belonging to the type 1 overlay network when there are multiple overlay networks belonging to the type 1 overlay network, wherein the first overlay network is a type 1 overlay network which is managed by the base station and requires network capacity management; turning on all power amplifiers in the first overlay network that are already turned off; and connecting each group of antennas in the multiple groups of antennas to power amplifiers corresponding to each group of antennas such that the multiple large sectors are split into the sub-sectors corresponding to the multiple groups of antennas.