Patent ID: 8767662

Claim:
A method for managing air interface control channel resources for transmission of control signaling from a base station to a user device, the method comprising, in order, the following functions: (a) establishing for the transmission an initial resource allocation comprising a first number of control channel elements and an associated first transmission power level, for the transmission to have a predicted error rate within a defined error tolerance; (b) engaging in a modification process comprising: (i) making a first determination of whether the base station has sufficient transmission power headroom to engage in the transmission with a second number of control channel elements fewer than the first number of control channel elements and at an associated second transmission power level higher than the first transmission power level while keeping the predicted error rate unchanged, (ii) if the first determination is affirmative, then changing the allocation to comprise the second number of control channel elements and the second transmission power level, (iii) if the first determination is negative, then making a second determination of whether the transmission with the second number of control channel elements but at the first transmission power level would have a predicted error rate within the defined error tolerance, (iv) if the second determination is affirmative, then changing the allocation to comprise the second number of control channel elements at the first transmission power level, and (v) if the second determination is negative, then not changing the allocation to comprise the second number of control channel elements; and (c) engaging in the transmission in accordance with the allocation.