Dynamic resource allocation by base station providing both broadcast and unicast services

摘要

A base station (10) dynamically allocates users among broadcast carriers and dynamically allocates carrier resources between broadcast and unicast service, based on the number of users actually receiving broadcast service on a carrier. The base station (10) periodically measures (204) the number of broadcast-only users registered to a carrier. As the number of such users decreases, the remaining idle broadcast-only are transferred (212) to other carriers transmitting the same broadcast content, and carrier resources are reallocated (208) to unicast service. When the carrier is moderately loaded, it may accept broadcast users transferred from other, lightly-loaded carriers, which are attempting to shed users to reallocate resources to unicast service. As the carrier becomes more heavily loaded, it will refuse (216) to accept transferred broadcast users. When the carrier's load reaches an upper threshold, the base station (10) allocates (220) resources of a new carrier to broadcast service, and moves users to the new carrier.

主权项

1. A method of dynamic resource allocation by a base station operative in a wireless communication network providing both unicast and broadcast services, comprising:
allocating resources of a first wireless carrier to broadcast first content; monitoring a number of users accessing the broadcast on the first carrier; and if the number of users falls below a first predetermined threshold and a second carrier is broadcasting the first content,
transferring the users to the second carrier broadcasting the first content, andreallocating the broadcast resources of the first carrier to unicast services.