Patent ID: 8565171

Claim:
A method for dynamically setting a number N of High-Speed Shared Control Channel (HS-SCCH) channels to be used as signalling signaling channels of a High-Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH) traffic channel in a cell served by a Node B, which comprises, at predefined periods of time: determining the number N of HS-SCCH channels as a function of one or more of the following: percentage of used downlink transmission power, used_DL_TX_power, with respect to the maximum downlink transmission power in the cell, Cell_Max_DL_TX_power; number of users in the scheduler of the HS-DSCH channel for data traffic; number of codes being used for the HS-DSCH channel; number of users for voice over High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) in the scheduler of the HS-DSCH channel; and sending a message from a Radio Network Controller (RNC) that controls the Node B including the number N of HS-SCCH channels to be used in said cell, wherein when the number N of HS-SCCH channels is determined as a function of average used downlink transmitted power and the number of users in the scheduler of the HS-DSCH channel for data traffic, the number N of HS-SCCH channels needed is determined, at each transmission time interval (TTI) according to the following: the number N of HS-SCCH channels is initially set to 1; if the average used downlink transmitted power, used_DL_TX_power, during said predefined period of time is below a pre-established percentage of the maximum downlink transmission power of the cell, Cell_Max_DL_TX_power, then if the number of user equipments in the scheduler queue is greater than N, then N is set as the maximum of N+1 and Nmax, Nmax being the maximum number of HS-SCCH channels per cell; if the number of user equipments in the scheduler queue is equal to N, then N is set to N; if the number of user equipments in the scheduler queue is less than N, then N is set to the minimum of N−1 and 1; and if the average used downlink transmitted power is above a pre-established percentage of the maximum downlink transmission power of the cell, Cell_Max_DL_TX_power, then N is set to the minimum of N−1 and 1.