Patent ID: 7706341

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a data-processing system: i) a plurality of data rate measurements, wherein the data rate measurements in the plurality are of the physical layer data rates that are supported over a shared-communications channel by one or more wireless telecommunications terminals, and ii) a data-transmission requirement for a call that is to involve a first telecommunications terminal, wherein the first telecommunications terminal has transmitted at least part of the data-transmission requirement via the shared-communications channel; calculating, at the data-processing system, a first measure of the variation in the distribution of a first set of data rate measurements taken from the plurality, wherein the data rate measurements in the first set are for a single telecommunications terminal, and wherein at least two data rate measurements in the first set have values that are different from each other; and admitting the call on the shared-communications channel, based on (i) the first measure and (ii) the data-transmission requirement.