Patent ID: 8249611

Claim:
A method carried out by a base station that uses a first access search window to determine whether to accept an access request from an access terminal, wherein (i) the value of the first access search window defines a distance extending from the base station, (ii) the first access search window is initially set to a default value, and (iii) the base station operates to accept access requests from access terminals when the access terminal is within the distance defined by the value of the first access search window, the method comprising: the base station measuring an amount of traffic for a sector of a wireless coverage area, and the base station changing the value of the first access search window based on the amount of traffic for the sector, wherein the amount of traffic for the sector is a current amount of traffic for the sector of the wireless coverage area, and wherein the base station measuring the amount of traffic for the sector further comprises (i) the base station storing measurements of the amount of traffic for the sector over a plurality of days, (ii) the base station selecting a subset of the stored measurements, and (iii) the base station determining an average value of the stored measurements; and wherein the base station changing the value of the first access search window based on the value of the amount of traffic comprises (i) the base station comparing the average value to a threshold value, and (ii) the base station reducing the value of the first access search window when the average value exceeds the threshold value.