Patent ID: 7480510

Claim:
In a radio access network (RAN), a method comprising: detecting a first threshold level of occupancy of a paging channel and responsively switching the RAN to a first state in which the RAN (i) allows at least initial transmission of a first type of paging messages, (ii) blocks retransmission of the first type of paging messages, and (iii) allows retransmission of a second type of paging messages; and detecting a second threshold level of occupancy of the paging channel and responsively switching the RAN to a second state in which the RAN (i) allows at least initial transmission of the first type of paging messages and the second type of paging messages, and (ii) blocks retransmission of the first type of paging messages and the second type of paging messages, wherein the first threshold level is different than the second threshold level, wherein the first type of paging messages is selected from the group consisting of (i) direct paging messages, (ii) feature notification paging messages, (iii) data burst paging messages, (iv) data burst paging messages to communicate short message service (SMS) messages, (v) channel assignment paging messages, (vi) general paging messages, (vii) broadcast paging messages, (viii) broadcast paging messages comprising a system parameter message, and (ix) broadcast paging messages comprising a neighbor list message, wherein the second type of paging messages is selected from the group consisting of (i) direct paging messages, (ii) feature notification paging messages, (iii) data burst paging messages, (iv) data burst paging messages to communicate short message service (SMS) messages, (v) channel assignment paging messages, (vi) general paging messages, (vii) broadcast paging messages, (viii) broadcast paging messages comprising a system parameter message, and (ix) broadcast paging messages comprising a neighbor list message, and wherein the selected first type of paging messages is different than the selected second type of paging messages.