Patent ID: 8694043

Claim:
A method in a network that includes a device, the method comprising: selecting, by the device, one or more cells in the network; coordinating, by the device, transmissions from the selected one or more cells, and transmissions from neighbor cells of the selected one or more cells, so that transmissions of the selected one or more cells do not interfere with reference signals transmitted by the neighbor cells at designated times; receiving, by the device and from a user equipment served by the selected one or more cells, measurement reports associated with the reference signals transmitted by the neighbor cells; determining, by the device, signal strengths of the neighbor cells based on the measurement reports; and predicting, by the device and based on the signal strengths, whether network coverage would be sufficient when coverage of the selected one or more cells is reduced by altering a power level of transmissions of data symbols from the selected one or more cells.