Systems and methods for performing roaming and handover load balancing in a multicell network

A system for performing roaming and handover load balancing in a multicell wireless communication network, the network comprising one or more base stations, each base station having a number of call slots to communicate with wireless terminals, the system comprising:

• at least one processor in a base station;
• and
• memory operatively coupled to said at least one processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed, cause said at least one processor to perform:
• receiving, at a wireless terminal, a broadcast from a base station, of said one or more base stations, providing capacity information for said one or more base stations, the capacity information comprising wireless terminal localization status information and active call handover status information for said one or more base stations;
• storing the capacity information in a database at the wireless terminal;
• receiving a roaming or handover request based on at least one of signal strength and link quality directing the wireless terminal to roam or handover a call to a target base station;
• and
• overriding the roaming or handover request, to prevent roaming or handover to the target base station, based at least in part on the stored capacity information,
• wherein the capacity information further indicates whether the target base station has an open call slot available for the roaming or handover, and
• wherein overriding the roaming or handover request comprises ignoring the roaming or handover request and refraining from initiating localization with, or handover signaling to, the target base station when the stored capacity information indicates that the target base station does not have the open call slot.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause said at least one processor to carry out a method of performing roaming and handover load balancing, as performed in a multicell wireless communication network by one or more wireless terminals which communicate with one or more base stations, each base station having a number of call slots to communicate with the wireless terminals, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a wireless terminal, a broadcast from a base station, of said one or more base stations, providing capacity information for said one or more base stations, the capacity information comprising wireless terminal localization status information and active call handover status information for said one or more base stations;
• storing the capacity information in a database at the wireless terminal;
• receiving a roaming or handover request based on at least one of signal strength and link quality directing the wireless terminal to roam or handover a call to a target base station;
• and
• overriding the roaming or handover request, to prevent roaming or handover to the target base station, based at least in part on the stored capacity information,
• wherein the capacity information further indicates whether the target base station has an open call slot available for the roaming or handover, and
• wherein overriding the roaming or handover request comprises ignoring the roaming or handover request and refraining from initiating localization with, or handover signaling to, the target base station when the stored capacity information indicates that the target base station does not have the open call slot.