Patent ID: 7236791

Claim:
A method for establishing a connection for a wireless call over a radio channel in a radio spectrum, the method comprising: receiving a call origination message from a mobile device at a base station; creating a base station origination message comprising congestion state information for the base station, call type information, and a request for priority information for the wireless call, wherein the congestion state for the base station may be (a) that there are no available radio channels at the base station, (b) that the available resources are limited and if a call connection is established it may be subject to interference from other calls, or (c) that there are sufficient radio channels available to establish a connection for the wireless call, and wherein the call type information identifies the wireless call as a high-priority Wireless Priority Service (WPS) call or a low-priority public call; sending the base station origination message to a mobile switching center; receiving a first setup message comprising call treatment information and the requested priority information from the mobile switching center sent in response to the base station origination message; and processing the wireless call as a high-priority call or as a low-priority call according to the processing information in the setup message.