Patent ID: 9591648
Date: 2017-03-07
CPC Classifications: H04J,H04L,H04W

Claim:
1. A method comprising: defining, by a radio access network (RAN) device, an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexed (OFDM) wireless air interface, wherein the OFDM wireless air interface contains time-division multiplexed subframes, and wherein a primary signaling channel is formed by modulation symbols that (i) are statically allocated to fixed time positions of each subframe, and (ii) span a plurality of contiguous subcarrier frequencies; determining a number of consecutive subframes that a secondary signaling channel spans in the OFDM wireless air interface, wherein the number is based on respective strengths at which a specific one of one or more wireless communication devices (WCDs) receives signals on one or more of the subcarrier frequencies, and wherein the number indicates at least two consecutive subframes; defining, by the RAN device, the secondary signaling channel in the OFDM wireless air interface, wherein the secondary signaling channel is formed by modulation symbols that (i) are dynamically allocated to time positions of one or more of the subcarrier frequencies, and (ii) span the at least two consecutive subframes of the OFDM wireless air interface; and transmitting, on the primary signaling channel, a signaling message to the one or more WCDs, wherein the signaling message is transmitted in a first subframe of the at least two consecutive subframes and identifies the secondary signaling channel, and wherein other subframes of the primary signaling channel, within the at least two consecutive subframes, are not used to identify the secondary signaling channel.