Dynamic control of air interface capacity

A method operable by a first base station to manage air interface capacity in a first wireless coverage area provided by the first base station, the method comprising:

• encountering a trigger by the first base station to increase capacity of the first wireless coverage area;
• responsive to encountering the trigger, selecting by the first base station a user equipment device (UE) served by the first base station in the first wireless coverage area, wherein the selecting is based on the selected UE being within an area of overlap between the first wireless coverage area and a second wireless coverage are provided by a second base station, and wherein channel quality reported by the UE to the first base station maps to a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for data communication between the first base station and the UE;
• and
• based on the selecting, (i) increasing an order of modulation of communication between the first base station and the selected UE and (ii) invoking application of coordinated multipoint communication (CoMP) for the selected UE,
• wherein increasing the order of modulation of communication between the first base station and the UE comprises using a second MCS instead of the first MCS for communication between the first base station and the UE, the second MCS being higher order than the first MCS.

A base station comprising:

• a wireless communication interface comprising an antenna structure and wireless transceiver, operable to provide a first wireless coverage area in which to serve user equipment devices (UEs);
• and
• a controller comprising a processing unit programmed with instructions executable to cause the base station to carry out operations comprising:
• encountering a trigger to increase capacity of the first wireless coverage area,
• responsive to encountering the trigger, selecting a UE served by the base station in the first wireless coverage area, wherein the selecting is based on the selected UE being within an area of overlap between the first wireless coverage area and a second wireless coverage, and wherein channel quality reported by the UE to the base station maps to a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for data communication between the base station and the UE, and
• based on the selecting, (i) increasing an order of modulation of communication between the base station and the selected UE and (ii) invoking application of coordinated multipoint communication (CoMP) for the selected UE,
• wherein increasing the order of modulation of communication between the base station and the UE comprises using a second MCS instead of the first MCS for communication between the base station and the UE, the second MCS being higher order than the first MCS.