Patent ID: 8359063

Claim:
A method of operating a communication system, comprising: communicating, using a first multi-antenna mode, with a first plurality of wireless devices associated with a wireless network element, wherein there is a first quantity of the first plurality of wireless devices; communicating, using a second multi-antenna mode, with a second plurality of wireless devices associated with the wireless network element, wherein there is a second quantity of the second plurality of wireless devices; receiving, from a wireless device associated with the wireless network element, a request for traffic resources; and, in response to the request for traffic resources, granting the request for traffic resources based on whether the first quantity of the first plurality of wireless devices communicating using the first multi-antenna mode satisfies a first threshold quantity criteria and whether the second quantity of the second plurality of wireless devices communicating using the second multi-user multi-antenna mode satisfies a second threshold quantity criteria, wherein the first threshold quantity is a quantity of wireless devices communicating using the first multi-antenna mode, the second threshold quantity is a quantity of wireless devices communicating using the second multi-antenna mode, and the first and second threshold quantities are each determined based on at least one of a service priority associated with the requesting wireless device and an indicator of network conditions.