Patent ID: 8233436

Claim:
A method of controlling the rate of traffic flow through an lub interface of a Radio Network Controller, the method comprising: obtaining a licensed rate at the Radio Network Controller, the licensed rate defining the maximum throughput permitted through the lub interface; measuring the rate of traffic flow through the lub interface and all lu interfaces of the Radio Network Controller, distinguishing between lu-cs and lu-ps traffic and the Radio Network Controller reducing traffic flow through the lub interface by a factor determined by min ⁡ ( 1 , Iub - allowedLevel Iub * Iu cs + Iu ps Iu ps ) where lub lu cs and lu ps are lub, lu-cs and lu-ps traffic throughput levels respectively and allowedLevel is the licensed rate; identifying the extent to which packet switched traffic flow through the lub interface exceeds the licensed rate; and if the packet switched traffic flow through the lub interface exceeds the licensed rate, dropping packets from traffic flow through the lub interface to reduce the traffic flow to the licensed rate.