Managing Access Channel Resources by Buffering Service Requests

1. A method of operating a wireless network system, wherein the wireless network system includes a base station operating to serve wireless communication devices (WCDs) via one or more scheduled channels and an unscheduled access channel, wherein the base station is configured to allocate available network resources amongst the WCDs by scheduling network traffic over the scheduled channels so as to accommodate respective demands of the WCDs indicated, at least in part, by respective service requests received from the WCDs, the method comprising: receiving a first service request from a particular WCD, wherein the first service request specifies a particular quantity of network resources; responsive to receiving the first service request, making a first determination that a capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels is insufficient to allocate the particular quantity of network resources to the particular WCD; and responsive to making the first determination, the base station: (i) sending a wait-for-page communication to the particular WCD, wherein the wait-for-page communication causes the particular WCD to, prior to being paged, forgo transmitting to the base station over the access channel for the purpose of initiating a service request specifying a greater quantity of network resources than the particular quantity of network resources, wherein prior to sending the wait-for-page communication, determining a quantity of available network resources on the scheduled channels and wherein the wait-for-page communication includes an indication of the determined quantity of available network resources so as to further cause the particular WCD to, prior to being paged, forgo transmitting to the base station over the access channel for the purpose of initiating a service request specifying a greater quantity of network resources than the determined quantity of available network resources; (ii) storing data indicative of the received service request in a memory; (iii) waiting for the capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels to increase; and (iv) responsive to waiting, sending a page to the particular WCD.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: responsive to sending the page to the particular WCD, receiving a second service request from the particular WCD, wherein the second service request is initiated by an unscheduled transmission over the access channel from the particular WCD to the base station; and responsive to receiving the second service request, allocating network resources on the scheduled channels for the particular WCD and sending the particular WCD a schedule of the allocated network resources.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the base station schedules the available network resources of the scheduled channels in resource blocks that each span a non-overlapping time-frequency segment of an available spectrum on the scheduled channels; and wherein allocating network resources on the scheduled channels for the particular WCD comprises: (i) determining a quantity of resource blocks sufficient to accommodate the second service request, and (ii) reserving the determined quantity of resource blocks for the particular WCD.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wait-for-page communication further causes the particular WCD to forgo transmitting to the base station over the access channel prior to the particular WCD receiving the page message.

5. The method of claim 1 , and wherein a given WCD that does not have allocated network resources on the scheduled channels with which to communicate to the base station is configured to initiate a connection with the base station by sending an unscheduled transmission to the base station over the access channel, and wherein each of the WCDs served by the base station is configured to operate alternately: in a connected mode, in which the WCD communicates with the base station using network resources, on the scheduled channels, that are allocated by the base station, and in an idle mode, in which the WCD monitors predetermined channels for pages and does not have allocated network resources on the scheduled channels, the method further comprising: prior to receiving the first service request: (i) receiving, via the access channel, an unscheduled transmission from the particular WCD; (ii) sending the particular WCD a connection setup communication that causes the particular WCD to transition to connected mode; and wherein the wait-for-page communication further causes the particular WCD to transition to idle mode.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: comparing the capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels with the particular quantity of network resources specified by the first service request; and basing the first determination, at least in part, on the comparison of the capacity of available network resources and the quantity of network resources specified by the first service request.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein waiting for the capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels to increase comprises: at least once, (i) monitoring the capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels, (ii) comparing the monitored capacity to the particular quantity of network resources specified by the first service request, and (iii) determining, based on the comparison, whether the monitored capacity exceeds the particular quantity of network resources; and wherein sending the page message is performed responsive to determining that the monitored capacity exceeds the particular quantity of network resources.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: the base station receiving a plurality of additional service requests, each at a respective reception time from a respective WCD, wherein each of the additional service requests specifies a respective quantity of network resources; sending respective wait-for-page communications to the respective WCDs so as to cause each of the WCDs to, prior to being paged, forgo transmitting to the base station over the access channel for the purpose of initiating a service request specifying a greater quantity of network resources than the respective quantity of network resources; storing an indication of the additional service requests in the memory such that each of the additional service requests is associated with its order of reception at the base station; and sending pages to the respective WCDs in the order in which their associated service requests are received at the base station, such that each given page is sent to a given WCD responsive to determining that the capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels is sufficient to accommodate the service request from the given WCD.

9. A method of operating a wireless communication device (WCD) in a wireless network system, wherein the wireless network system includes a base station operating to serve a plurality of WCDs including the WCD via one or more scheduled channels and an unscheduled access channel, wherein the base station is configured to allocate available network resources amongst the WCDs by scheduling network traffic over the scheduled channels so as to accommodate respective demands of the WCDs indicated, at least in part, by respective service requests received from the WCDs, the method comprising: sending a first service request from the WCD to the base station, wherein the first service request specifies a particular quantity of network resources; responsive to sending the first service request, receiving a wait-for-page communication from the base station; responsive to receiving the wait-for-page communication, the WCD, prior to being paged, forgoing transmitting to the base station over the access channel for the purpose of initiating a service request specifying a greater quantity of network resources than the particular quantity of network resources; receiving a page from the base station; and responsive to receiving the page, sending a second service request to the base station, wherein the second service requests is initiated by the WCD sending an unscheduled transmission over the access channel to the base station.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising, responsive to receiving the wait-for-page communication, and prior to receiving the page, the WCD further forgoing all transmitting to the base station over the access channel.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the wait-for-page communication includes an indication of a quantity of available network resources, the method further comprising: responsive to receiving the wait-for-page communication, and prior to receiving the page, the WCD further forgoing transmitting to the base station over the access channel for the purpose of initiating a service request specifying a greater quantity of network resources than the indicated quantity of available network resources.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein a given WCD that does not have allocated network resources on the scheduled channels with which to communicate to the base station is configured to initiate a connection with the base station by sending an unscheduled transmission to the base station over the access channel; and wherein the WCD is configured to operate alternately: in a connected mode, in which the WCD communicates with the base station using network resources, on the scheduled channels, that are allocated by the base station, and in an idle mode, in which the WCD monitors predetermined channels for page messages and does not have allocated network resources on the scheduled channels, the method further comprising: prior to sending the first service request, the WCD: (i) while in idle mode, sending, via the access channel, an unscheduled transmission to the base station; (ii) responsive to sending the unscheduled transmission, receiving a connection setup communication from the base station; and (iii) responsive to receiving the connection setup message, transitioning from idle mode to connected mode; and responsive to receiving the wait-for-page communication, transitioning to idle mode.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: responsive to sending the second service request, receiving a schedule of allocated network resources.

14. A wireless network system comprising: a base station having one or more antenna structures configured to wirelessly communicate with wireless communication devices (WCDs) served by the base station over one or more scheduled channels and over an unscheduled access channel, wherein the base station is configured to allocate available network resources amongst the WCDs by scheduling network traffic over the scheduled channels so as to accommodate respective demands of the WCDs indicated, at least in part, by respective service requests received from the WCDs, and wherein a given WCD that does not have allocated network resources on the scheduled channels with which to communicate to the base station is configured to initiate a connection with the base station by sending an unscheduled transmission to the base station over the access channel; and a controller operatively coupled to the antenna structures of the base station, wherein the controller is configured to: (i) receive, at the base station, a first service request from a particular WCD, wherein the first service request specifies a particular quantity of network resources; (ii) responsive to receiving the first connection request, make a first determination that a capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels is insufficient to allocate the particular quantity of network resources to the particular WCD; and (iii) responsive to making the first determination: (a) send a wait-for-page communication to the particular WCD, wherein the wait-for-page communication causes the particular WCD to, prior to being paged, forgo transmitting to the base station over the access channel for the purpose of initiating a service request specifying a greater quantity of network resources than the particular quantity of network resources, wherein prior to sending the wait-for-page communication, determine a quantity of available network resources on the scheduled channels, and include, in the wait-for-page communication, an indication of determined quantity of available network resources so as to further cause the particular WCD to, prior to being paged, forgo transmitting to the base station over the access channel for the purpose of initiating a service request specifying a greater quantity of network resources than the determined quantity of available network resources; (b) store data indicative of the received service request in a memory; (c) wait for the capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels to increase; and (d) responsive to waiting, send a page to the particular WCD.

15. The wireless network system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is further configured to: responsive to sending the page to the particular WCD, receive a second service request from the particular WCD, wherein the second service request is initiated by an unscheduled transmission over the access channel from the particular WCD to the base station; and responsive to receiving the second service request, allocate network resources on the scheduled channels for the particular WCD and send the particular WCD a schedule of the allocated network resources.

16. The wireless network system of claim 15 , wherein the controller is further configured to: schedule the available network resources of the scheduled channels in resource blocks that each span a non-overlapping time-frequency segment of an available spectrum on the scheduled channels; and allocate network resources on the scheduled channels for the particular WCD by: (i) determining a quantity of resource blocks sufficient to accommodate the second service request, and (ii) reserving the determined quantity of resource blocks for the particular WCD.

17. The wireless network system of claim 14 , wherein each of the WCDs served by the base station is configured to operate alternately: in a connected mode, in which the WCD communicates with the base station using network resources, on the scheduled channels, that are allocated by the base station, and in an idle mode, in which the WCD monitors predetermined channels for pages and does not have allocated network resources on the scheduled channels, wherein the controller is further configured to, prior to receiving the first service request: (i) receive, via the access channel, an unscheduled transmission from the particular WCD; and (ii) send the particular WCD a connection setup communication that causes the particular WCD to transition to connected mode; and wherein the wait-for-page communication further causes the particular WCD to transition to idle mode.

18. The wireless network system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is further configured to: (i) receive, at the base station, a plurality of additional service requests, each at a respective reception time from a respective WCD, wherein each of the additional service requests specifies a respective quantity of network resources; (ii) send respective wait-for-page communications to the respective WCDs so as to cause each of the WCDs to, prior to being paged, forgo transmitting to the base station over the access channel for the purpose of initiating a service request specifying a greater quantity of network resources than the respective quantity of network resources; (iii) store an indication of the additional service requests in the memory such that each of the additional service requests is associated with its order of reception at the base station; and (iv) send pages to the respective WCDs in the order in which their associated service requests are received at the base station, such that each given page is sent to a given WCD responsive to determining that the capacity of available network resources on the scheduled channels is sufficient to accommodate the service request from the given WCD.