Patent ID: 8320313

Claim:
A method for performing a carrier frequency management function at a radio access network (RAN), wherein the RAN radiates on a first carrier frequency to define a first forward link, wherein the RAN radiates on a second carrier frequency to define a second forward link, wherein the RAN is capable of serving wireless communication devices (WCDs) with the first forward link and the second forward link, wherein the first forward link and the second forward link both operate in accordance with time-division multiplexing (TDM), whereby each of the first forward link and the second forward link is divided into TDM slots, wherein the RAN transmits data to at least one WCD during each forward link TDM slot, and wherein each WCD served by the RAN is in a state selected from the group consisting of an idle state and an active state, the method comprising: the RAN determining a first slot contention metric for the first forward link, wherein determining the first slot contention metric comprises determining a number of WCDs that are (i) served by the first carrier frequency, (ii) in the active state, and (iii) awaiting packets queued in the RAN and destined to at least one of the number of WCDs; the RAN determining a second slot contention metric for the second forward link; and based at least on the first slot contention metric and the second slot contention metric, the RAN performing the carrier frequency management function, wherein the carrier frequency management function comprises a function chosen from the group consisting of (i) assigning a WCD to one of the first carrier frequency and the second carrier frequency, (ii) taking one of the first carrier frequency and the second carrier frequency out of service, and (iii) the placing a third carrier frequency in service.