Patent ID: 8310929

Claim:
A method for a wireless communication system in which a base station transmits data to a mobile station at forward link data rates that are requested by said mobile station, wherein said mobile station stores a mapping between a plurality of forward-link rate indices and a plurality of preset forward link data rates and said mobile station requests one of said preset forward link data rates by transmitting its corresponding forward-link rate index to said base station, said base station being communicatively coupled to a packet-switched network via a backhaul connection, said method comprising: determining a capacity of said backhaul connection; selecting a maximum forward link data rate based on said capacity, wherein selecting a maximum forward link data rate based on said capacity comprises (i) determining a supportable data rate based on said capacity, (ii) identifying, from among said plurality of preset forward link data rates, a highest preset forward link data rate that is less than or equal to said supportable data rate, and (iii) selecting said highest preset forward link data rate as said maximum forward link data rate; and said base station defining a revised mapping in said mobile station, wherein said revised mapping does not include any of said preset forward link data rates that exceed said maximum forward link data rate.