Patent ID: 8094598

Claim:
A method of operating a radio station in a communication system that utilizes a frequency dispersion mechanism to reduce the risk of overloading and/or increased signaling on all frequencies when a point-to-multipoint service transmission is simultaneously terminated for a plurality of mobile terminals, the method comprising: (a) terminating a first point-to-multipoint service on a first radio frequency channel; (b) performing one of a plurality of transitions including: (i) transitioning from said terminated first point-to-multipoint service to a point-to-point service and immediately performing a frequency dispersion procedure; (ii) transitioning from said terminated first point-to-multipoint service to an idle mode and performing a frequency dispersion procedure after a time delay; (iii) transitioning from said first terminated point-to-multipoint service to a second point-to-multipoint service on the same frequency as the terminated first point-to-multipoint service without performing a frequency dispersion procedure in the case where the referred frequency of the second point-to-multipoint service is specified by the network; (iv) transitioning to a second point-to-multipoint service on the same preferred frequency as the terminated first point-to-multipoint service and performing a frequency dispersion procedure in the case where the preferred frequency of the different point-to-multipoint service is not specified by the network; (v) transitioning to a second point-to-multipoint service on a different preferred frequency from the terminated first point-to-multipoint service and if the preferred frequency for the second point-to-multipoint service is specified by the network, performing a frequency dispersion procedure directed to the different preferred frequency; wherein a configurable time delay is applied to the frequency dispersion procedure based on a prioritization scheme linked to at least one of the current state of the radio station and a characteristic of the second service to be engaged in following the termination of the first service, and wherein a current state of the radio station is one of: an idle mode in which the radio station does not receive any service, an active mode in which the radio station receives a point-to-point service, or an active mode in which the radio station receives a point-to-multipoint service.