Patent ID: 8320314

Claim:
A method for efficiently performing an initial access in a Mobile Station (MS) in a multi-carrier broadband wireless access system, the method comprising: scanning a plurality of carriers supported by a Base Station (BS); selecting one of the scanned plurality of carriers as a first carrier and receiving a SuperFrame Header (SFH) of the first carrier, wherein the SFH includes a field indicating a load status of the first carrier; determining whether the first carrier is a fully configured carrier; and determining the load status of the first carrier based on the field indicating the load status of the first carrier if the first carrier is a fully configured carrier; performing the initial access on the first carrier when the field indicating the load status of the first carrier indicates a good load status, and scanning a second carrier when the field indicating the load status field of the first carrier indicates a load status other than a good load status, wherein the second carrier includes a load status field that indicates a good load status of the second carrier, and wherein the SFH of the first carrier further includes recommended network entry carrier information including information about the second carrier.