Patent ID: 7339917

Claim:
In a wireless communication system with an air interface, a method comprising: receiving a plurality of bursts comprising a superframe, wherein each burst comprises a field embedded within a fixed location in the burst, the field is one of a synchronization field and a signaling field, the field is the synchronization field in a first burst of the plurality of bursts in the superframe and the field is the signaling field in a remainder of the plurality of bursts in the superframe; for each burst in the superframe, determining whether the field is the synchronization field or the signaling field; when the field is the synchronization field, defining a position of at least one subsequent burst comprising the signaling field, and defining a position of at least one subsequent burst comprising a synchronization field; and when the field is the signaling field, defining an indicator in a framing portion of the signaling field to identify that payload in the burst is one of a) begins a new packet, b) completes a packet, and c) does not begin or complete a packet.