US 11,843,433 B1
Method and system for controlling air-interface resource availability through dynamic configuration of antenna structures
Krishna Sitaram, Chantilly, VA (US); Hemanth B. Pawar, Brambleton, VA (US); and Shilpa K. Srinivas, Brambleton, VA (US)
Assigned to Sprint Spectrum LLC, Bellevue, WA (US)
Filed by Sprint Spectrum L.P., Overland Park, KS (US)
Filed on Jan. 21, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/648,564.
Application 17/648,564 is a continuation of application No. 16/373,335, filed on Apr. 2, 2019, granted, now 11,258,494.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04B 7/06 (2006.01); H04B 7/0413 (2017.01); H04W 24/08 (2009.01); H04W 88/08 (2009.01)
CPC H04B 7/0613 (2013.01) [H04B 7/0413 (2013.01); H04W 24/08 (2013.01); H04W 88/08 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of controlling use of an air interface on which a base station is configured to serve user equipment devices (UEs), wherein the air interface defines air-interface resources, and wherein the base station provides service on the air interface using transmit antennas, the method comprising:
determining by a computing system a level of load on the air interface, wherein determining the level of load on the air interface comprises predicting the level of load on the air interface, and wherein predicting the level of load on the air interface comprises (i) tracking utilization of the air-interface resources per time of day, (ii) based on the tracking, developing a prediction of what the utilization will be per time of day, and (iii) applying the developed prediction to determine, as the level of load on the air interface, the utilization at a current or approaching time of day;
based on the determined level of load, determining by the computing system a number of transmit antennas that the base station should use for providing service on the air interface, wherein the determined number of transmit antennas is inversely proportional to the determined level of load; and
causing the base station to use the determined number of transmit antennas for use in providing service on the air interface.