Patent ID: 8363564

Claim:
In a base station communicatively coupled with a wireless communication system by way of a backhaul connection, a method comprising: determining a capacity of the backhaul connection for transport of data communications; and adjusting a transmission power level on a first forward link of an air interface to a first access terminal based on the determined capacity, wherein the base station and the first access terminal are configured to operate according to a CDMA family of protocols, including at least 1 times radio transmission technology (1×-RTT) and evolution data optimized (EVDO), and wherein adjusting the transmission power level on the first forward link of an air interface to the first access terminal based on the determined capacity comprises: determining a supportable data rate to the base station over the backhaul connection based on the determined capacity; and setting the transmission power on the first forward link to a tuned level that supports a forward-link data rate to the first access terminal commensurate with the supportable data rate by adjusting the transmission power level on the first forward link of the air interface until forward-link data rate control (DRC) messages received from the first access terminal correspond to a requested data rate that is within a predefined range about the supportable data rate.