Patent ID: 8005499

Claim:
A method comprising: transmitting information on a determined set of power control increment step sizes to a mobile station; transmitting, over a first control channel, an absolute power control message to the mobile station, said absolute power control message indicating a first power which may be used to determine a second power at which the mobile station may transmit data; selecting, in a network, from the determined set of power control increment step sizes at least one power control increment step size of the determined set, wherein at least one power control increment step size of the set differs from at least one other increment step size of the determined set; and transmitting, over a second control channel different from the first control channel, a relative power control message to the mobile station, said relative power control message indicating the selected at least one power control increment step size of the determined set for determining at the mobile station a second power at which the mobile station may transmit as a function of the first power and the selected at least one step size, wherein different power control increment step sizes are used for different parts of a full range of a power ratio of an enhanced dedicated physical data channel to a dedicated physical control channel.