Patent ID: 8694018

Claim:
A method of controlling a Network Load Balancing (NLB) algorithm that balances a traffic load between multiple downlink (DL) sectors in a cellular telecommunication network, the method being performed by a processor associated with a Radio Network Controller/Base Station Controller (RNC/BSC), the method comprising the steps of: detecting that the NLB algorithm has decided to offload a given Access Terminal (AT) from a current serving DL sector to one of a plurality of target DL sectors in the given AT's active set due to a high traffic load in the current serving DL sector; determining a count of previous attempts to offload the given AT from the current serving DL sector that failed because the given AT was not acquired by any of the target DL sectors within a threshold time period; and when the count of failed previous attempts to offload the given AT from the current serving DL sector exceeds a threshold amount, overriding the NLB algorithm decision to offload the given AT from the current serving DL sector by preventing unlocking of a Data Rate Control Lock (DRCLock) bit on the current serving DL sector.