Method andmeans in a telecommunication system

摘要

The present invention relates to a method and means for estimating the traffic load in a cell in a radio communication system. A base station measures (301) a first interference level in the cell. The base station transmits (302) a turn-off message to all radio units in the cell. The radio units in the cell determines (307) if they are in low power saturation, i.e. their output powers have been reduced to their minimum output power level and they still exceed the output power that is needed to comply with the SIR requirements in the system (e.g. by being very close to the base station). All radio units except those determined to be in low power saturation turn off their transmitters (308) while the base station measures (309) a second interference level in the cell. The base station estimates the traffic load (310) from the difference between the first and second interference level.