System and method for assigning communication cells to servers in a cellular communication system

1. A method for assigning communication cells to voice traffic servers in a communication network, the method comprising:

evaluating a plurality of defined factors associated with a plurality of users, including their associated communication devices, in said communication network to determine one or more points of commonality which exist among identified first users of said plurality of users in a communication cell and identified second users of said plurality of users on at least one voice traffic server and which signify a probability that said identified first and second users will be communicating with each other;

based on said points of commonality, existing among said first and second users, determining a group affinity and a geographic affinity between users in the communication cell and each voice traffic server of a plurality of voice traffic servers; and

dynamically assigning, based on said group affinity and said geographic affinity, a selected voice traffic server from among said plurality of voice traffic servers, to service a cellular data network base station associated with the communication cell.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least one of said group affinity and said geographic affinity is higher than an affinity of said users with respect to a remainder of said plurality of voice traffic servers.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the assigning further comprises assigning the selected voice traffic server of the plurality of voice traffic server to service the cellular data network base station based on a communication traffic level of the selected voice traffic server.

4. A method in accordance with claim 3 , wherein the communication traffic level is based on a number of users in a communication cell.

5. A method in accordance with claim 3 , wherein the communication traffic level is based on a number of call legs in a communication cell.

6. A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said selected voice traffic server services a plurality of communication cells, and further comprising reassigning one of the plurality of communication cells to another one of the plurality of voice traffic servers based on a communication traffic level of the plurality of voice traffic servers.

7. A method in accordance with claim 6 , wherein the reassigning comprises determining one of said plurality of communication cells which services users having a lowest affinity with said selected voice traffic server and reassigning the communication cell with the lowest affinity.

8. A method in accordance with claim 6 , wherein the reassigning comprises assigning the communication cell to a non-busy server of the plurality of voice traffic servers having a highest affinity with respect to said users within said communication cell being reassigned.

9. A method in accordance with claim 6 , wherein the reassigning comprises assigning the communication cell to another one of the plurality of voice traffic servers if the communication cell has no active calls.

10. A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the communication cell initially includes no registered users and wherein the assigning is performed upon a user registering within the communication cell.

11. A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said points of commonality further comprise related user links and the assigning is based on the calculated number of related user links, wherein the user links comprise links between users within a same user group.

12. A method in accordance with claim 11 , further comprising weighting the calculated number of user links, wherein the weighting is based on at least one of historical data, recent call information, group connection information and inter-cell proximity.

13. A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the plurality of defined factors include a geographic location and a group registration.

14. A method for assigning communication cells to voice traffic servers in a communication network, the method comprising:

evaluating a plurality of defined factors associated with a plurality of users, including their associated communication devices, in said communication network to determine one or more points of commonality which exist among identified first users of said plurality of users in a communication cell and identified second users of said plurality of users on at least one voice traffic server and which signify a probability that said identified first and second users will be communicating with each other, said points of commonality comprising at least one of a geographic location and a group membership;

based on said one or more points of commonality, existing among said first and second users, determining an affinity between users in the communication cell and each voice traffic server of a plurality of voice traffic servers, said affinity determined using at least a measure of a demand for groups that said communication cells and said voice traffic servers have in common; and

dynamically assigning, based on said affinity, a selected voice traffic server from among said plurality of voice traffic servers, to service a cellular data network base station associated with the communication cell;

wherein the affinity comprises a combination of a geographic affinity and a group affinity.

15. A method in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the geographic affinity is based on a geographic proximity between each said first user and each said second user.

16. A method in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the group affinity is based on one or more communication groups to which said users within the communication cell are members.

17. A method in accordance with claim 14 , further comprising weighting each of a geographic affinity value and a group affinity value to determine a combined affinity.

18. A method for assigning communication cells to voice traffic servers in a communication network, the method comprising:

evaluating a plurality of defined factors associated with a plurality of users, including their associated communication devices, in said communication network to determine one or more points of commonality of which exist among identified first users of the plurality of users in a communication cell and identified second users of said plurality of users on at least one voice traffic server;

based on said evaluating, determining a geographic affinity and a group affinity between users in one or more of said communication cells and each of a plurality of voice traffic servers in the communication network, said geographic affinity determined using a geographic proximity between each said first user to each said second user and said group affinity determined using a measure of a demand for groups that said communication cells and said voice traffic servers have in common; and

dynamically assigning a plurality of said communication cells to said voice traffic servers based on the determined geographic affinity and group affinity of said users in each of the one or more communication cells to each of the voice traffic servers.

19. A method for assigning communication cells to voice traffic servers in a communication network, the method comprising:

evaluating a plurality of group registrations for a plurality of user equipment operated by a plurality of users in one or more communication cells of said communication network to determine a group registration commonality which exists among said users;

based on said evaluating, determining a group affinity between users in one or more communication cells and a plurality of voice traffic servers in the communication network, said group affinity determined using a measure of demand for groups that said communication cells and said plurality of voice traffic servers have in common; and

dynamically assigning communication cells to voice traffic servers based on the determined group affinity and a geographic affinity of the plurality of users in each of the one or more communication cells to each of the voice traffic servers.

20. A method in accordance with claim 19 , wherein determining the group affinity further comprises determining a commonality of group registrations of user equipment of the plurality of users in different ones of the communication cells.

21. A wireless communication system comprising:

a plurality of communication cells;

a plurality of voice traffic servers; and

an assignment server configured to:

evaluate a plurality of defined factors associated with a plurality of users, including their associated communication devices, in said communication network to determine one or more points of commonality which exist among identified first users of said plurality of users in a communication cell and identified second users of said plurality of users on at least on voice traffic server, and which signify a probability that said identified first and second users will be communicating with each other;

based on said one or more points of commonality existing among the first and second users, determine a group affinity and a geographic affinity between said plurality of users in one of said communication cells and each of a plurality of voice traffic servers, said geographic affinity determined using at least one of a geographic proximity between each said first user to each said second user and said group affinity determined using a measure of a demand for groups that said communication cells and said voice traffic servers have in common; and

dynamically assign, based on said group affinity and said geographic affinity, a selected voice traffic server from among said plurality of voice traffic servers, to service a cellular data network base station associated with said communication cell.