Patent ID: 7280580

Claim:
A method of selecting a hop channel for use in a channel hopping communication system that communicates over a physical channel and includes a sequence of hop channels comprising a set of forbidden hop channels and a remaining set of allowable hop channels, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a hop channel from the sequence as a function of a present phase; if the selected hop channel belongs to said set of allowable hop channels, then using the selected hop channel for communication during the present phase; and if the selected hop channel belongs to said set of forbidden hop channels, then: using a time-varying parameter to select, at the present phase, a substitute hop channel from the set of allowable hop channels, wherein the time-varying parameter is independent of conditions on the physical channel and a determination as to the selection of a hop channel as the substitute hop channel from the set of allowable hop channels is made each time the selected hop channel belongs to the set of forbidden hop channels wherein a forbidden hop channel is mapped onto each of the allowable hop channels with equal probability; and using the substitute hop channel for communication during the present phase.