Patent ID: 8614964

Claim:
In an access terminal configured to operate in a wireless communication system that includes a plurality of wireless coverage areas, a method comprising: determining a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement of a forward link from a serving wireless coverage area of the plurality based on a ratio of (i) a transmission power level of a serving signal received from the serving wireless coverage area to (ii) a transmission power level of a contributing signal received concurrently from each of at least one other wireless coverage areas of the plurality; receiving a message from the wireless communication system with information indicative of an average utilization taken over respective forward-link utilizations of one or more wireless coverage areas other than the serving wireless coverage area that are each detected by the access terminal above a threshold power level; determining a requested forward-link data rate from the serving wireless coverage area based on both the SNR measurement and a comparison of the average utilization with a threshold utilization; and transmitting the requested forward-link data rate to the serving wireless coverage area, wherein determining the requested forward-link data rate from the serving wireless coverage area based on both the SNR measurement and the comparison of the average utilization with the threshold utilization comprises: determining an initial forward-link data rate based on the SNR measurement; increasing the initial forward-link data rate to yield the requested forward-link data rate if the average utilization is below a threshold utilization; and decreasing the initial forward-link data rate to yield the requested forward-link data rate if the average utilization is not below the threshold utilization.