Traffic channel assignment in a cellular telephone system using an uplink interference driven frequency packing method

A method for use in a cellular telephone system for assigning traffic channels, comprising the steps of:

• making signal strength measurements on frequencies allocated to a base station, wherein each frequency includes a plurality of time slot traffic channels, the measurement made on those frequencies having idle time slot traffic channels to obtain uplink interference measurements;
• applying an interference penalty against the made uplink interference measurements if the measured frequency includes more than a threshold number of idle time slot traffic channels;
• sorting the measured frequencies by their uplink interference measurements adjusted by any applied interference penalties from a least uplink interfered frequency to a most uplink interfered frequency;
• and
• selecting for assignment by the base station at call set-up or hand-off one of the idle time slot traffic channels included within the least uplink interfered frequency.

A cellular telephone system having a plurality of frequencies available for carrying cellular communications, each frequency including a plurality of time slot traffic channels, comprising:

• a plurality of base stations distributed across a service area, each base station being allocated to use a subset of the plurality of frequencies wherein each base station includes:
• a signal strength measuring device selectively tunable for making signal strength measurements on any of the plurality of frequencies in the system;
• and
• processing means:
• connected to receive a report from a given base station of measurements made by the signal strength measuring device on selected ones of the subset of frequencies allocated to that given base station which include idle traffic channels, the measured signal strengths indicative of uplink interference;
• and
• operating to process uplink interference signal strength measurements for the selected frequencies and select for assignment by the given base station an idle time slot traffic channel on as little an interfered one of selected frequencies as possible while simultaneously using as few of the frequencies allocated to that given base station as possible by giving selection preference to an idle time slot traffic channel on the as little interfered one of the selected frequencies which currently has the fewest number of idle time slots.

A method for use in a cellular telephone system for assigning traffic channels, comprising the steps of:

• making signal strength measurements on frequencies allocated to a base station, wherein each frequency includes a plurality of time slot traffic channels, the measurement made on those frequencies having idle time slot traffic channels to obtain uplink interference measurements;
• making a report by a given base station of measurements made on selected ones of the plurality of frequencies allocated to that given base station which include idle traffic channels, the measured signal strengths indicative of uplink interference;
• and
• processing the reported uplink interference signal strength measurements for the selected frequencies to select for assignment by the given base station an idle time slot traffic channel on as little an interfered one of selected frequencies as possible while simultaneously using as few of the frequencies allocated to that given base station as possible by giving selection preference to an idle time slot traffic channel on the as little interfered on to the selected frequencies which currently has the fewest number of idle time slots.