Patent ID: 7787492

Claim:
A resource allocation method in a communications system having resources, said method comprising: a network node dividing said resources into at least a first resource class having a first associated characteristic allocation time and a second resource class having a second associated characteristic allocation time that is longer than said first associated characteristic allocation time based on respective associated characteristic allocation times of said resources, where a resource of said first resource class is allocable with an allocation procedure of a first allocation procedure set, said first associated characteristic allocation time represents a time required for allocating or reallocating a resource of said first resource class, a resource of said second resource class is allocable with an allocation procedure of a second, different allocation procedure set, and said second associated characteristic allocation time is a time required for allocating or reallocating a resource of said second resource class, for each resource class of said at least first resource class and said second resource class: the network node determining a resource utilization measure; and the network node selecting whether or not to trigger resource allocation based on said resource utilization measure.