Patent ID: 7085575

Claim:
A power allocation and user assignment method for multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS services) in a mobile communication system, the power allocation and user assignment method comprising the steps of: transmitting a pilot signal to a plurality of user equipments; collecting by a radio network controller (RNC) of the mobile communication system a signal/noise ratio (S/N) of the pilot signal as received by the plurality of user equipments; sorting by the RNC the plurality of user equipments by the strength of the S/N of the pilot signal from a strongest pilot signal to a weakest pilot signal; determining a number (K) of a particular user equipment of the plurality of user equipments to support on a broadcast channel; determining by the RNC a coverage area within the cell for the MBMS services; and assigning a portion of the plurality of user equipments, one through K, to the broadcast channel, wherein the step of determining the number K includes a step of: K = arg k ⁢ ⁢ max ⁡ ( P B ⁡ ( N UE ) - P B ⁡ ( k ) - ( ∑ i = k + 1 N UE ⁢ P i ) ) wherein P B (k) is the required power allocation of the broadcast channel to support user k, P B (N UE ) is the total power allocation required to cover all users using the broadcast channel and P i is the required power to support user i using a dedicated channel.