Dynamic management of control channel capacity

摘要

Disclosed is a method and system for management of control channel capacity to help reduce control channel congestion over time. As disclosed, a first base station provides a first downlink control channel including a first set of air interface resources and a second base station provides a second downlink control channel including a second set of air interface resources, the first set of air interface resources and the second set of air interface resources being mutually exclusive. Upon making a determination that the first downlink control channel is threshold loaded (i.e., congested), temporary reconfiguration of the wireless communication system is carried out by transferring a portion of the second set of air interface resources from the second downlink control channel to the first downlink control channel such that (i) capacity of the first downlink control channel is increased and (ii) capacity of the second downlink control channel is commensurately decreased.

主权项

1. A method operable in a wireless communication system including (i) a first base station that provides a first downlink control channel including a first set of air interface resources and (ii) a second base station that provides a second downlink control channel including a second set of air interface resources, the first set of air interface resources and the second set of air interface resources being mutually exclusive, the method comprising:
making a determination, by the wireless communication system, that the first downlink control channel is threshold loaded; in response to at least the determination, temporarily reconfiguring the wireless communication system by transferring a portion of the second set of air interface resources from the second downlink control channel to the first downlink control channel such that (i) capacity of the first downlink control channel is increased and (ii) capacity of the second downlink control channel is decreased; subsequently determining, by the wireless communication system, that the first downlink control channel is no longer threshold loaded; and in response to subsequently determining that the first downlink control channel is no longer threshold loaded, transferring the portion of the second set of air interface resources from the first downlink control channel back to the second downlink control channel.