Patent ID: 7808948

Claim:
A method for informing mobile stations of a control channel architecture for a wireless communications system, the method comprising the step of: at a controller in the wireless communications system: acquiring knowledge of a state of the communication system; changing a first control channel architecture for the communication system to a second different control channel architecture based on the state of the communication system, wherein the first control channel architecture is selected from a first set consisting of a dedicated control channel architecture having at least one channel dedicated for control information, a dynamic control channel architecture comprising a plurality of channels that includes at least one channel that supports both control signaling and traffic on the same channel and wherein the dynamic control channel architecture further supports zero control channels being available during a time when each of the plurality of channels is being used as a traffic channel, or a distributed control channel architecture, and the second control channel architecture is the dynamic control channel architecture; sending a control channel architecture message on a broadcast channel wherein the control channel architecture message informs the mobile station of the second dynamic control channel architecture and further provides an indication to the mobile station that zero control channels are currently available because each of the plurality of channels is being used as a traffic channel.