Patent ID: 8781486

Claim:
A method for resource allocation in a wireless communication system utilizing a plurality of frequency bands corresponding to respective coverage areas, the wireless communication system including a plurality of client stations including at least one client station that is not configured to utilize carrier aggregation, the method comprising: for each client station in the plurality of client stations, determining, at a base station, within which coverage area or areas the client station is located, wherein the coverage area or areas are from the coverage areas corresponding to the plurality of frequency bands; for each of at least client stations in the plurality of client stations determined to be within multiple coverage areas, determining, at the base station, whether the client station is configured to utilize carrier aggregation; for each client station in the plurality of client stations, determining, at the base station, one or more demand factors indicative of a need of the client station for wireless medium resources; for each client station in the plurality of client stations, and for each frequency band that the client station is within the corresponding coverage area, determining, at the base station, an indication of channel quality corresponding to the channel, at the frequency band, between the base station and the client station; and jointly (i) allocating wireless medium resources and (ii) assigning each client stations in the plurality of stations to at least one of the frequency bands, wherein jointly allocating wireless medium resources and assigning client stations to at least one of the frequency bands is based on (i) the one or more coverage areas corresponding to one or more frequency bands in which each client station is located, (ii) for each of at least some of the client stations, whether the client station is configured to utilize carrier aggregation, (iii) the demand factors, and (iv) the indications of channel quality.