APPARATUS, METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING CAPACITY IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

摘要

In a telecommunications system (300), such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a first duplexing technique (100) and a second duplexing technique (102) are employed. Bands of frequencies (108, 110, 118) are allocated to each duplexing technique (100, 102). However, due to asymmetry of telecommunications traffic, it is known that loading of the band of downlink frequencies (110) of the first duplexing technique (100) is likely to be high, whereas the loading of the band of uplink frequencies (108) of the first duplexing technique (100) is likely to be relatively low. Similarly, the loading associated with the second duplexing technique (102) is likely to be biased towards downlink telecommunications traffic. Consequently, the invention provides for frequency assignment means arranged to allocate at least a portion of a frequency band (400, 402) allocated to the first duplexing scheme (100) to a terminal so as to enable the terminal to operate in accordance with the second duplexing scheme (102) in the frequency band (400, 402) allocated to the first duplexing scheme (100).