Patent ID: 8140101

Claim:
A method comprising: a base station providing service on a carrier in a wireless coverage area; computing an E c /I or value for the carrier, wherein the computed E c /I or value comprises a logarithmic ratio of a pilot-channel power level to an all-channel power level, wherein the pilot-channel power level is the amount of power the base station is allocating for transmitting a pilot channel on a forward link of the carrier, and wherein the all-channel power level is the total amount of power the base station is allocating for transmitting all channels, including the pilot channel, on the forward link of the carrier; and adjusting an initial traffic-channel power level for the carrier based at least in part on the computed E c /I or value, wherein the initial traffic-channel power level is a power level at which, on a coverage-area-wide basis, and for all traffic channels assigned by the base station on the carrier before any next such adjustment is made, the base station initially transmits on the forward link to mobile stations operating on the carrier, and wherein a plurality of traffic channels are assigned by the base station on the carrier before any next such adjustment is made.