Patent ID: 7859986

Claim:
A method of operating a wireless terminal to determine a carrier frequency used by a base station which transmits beacon signals on a periodic basis within a frequency band corresponding to said carrier frequency, the method comprising: monitoring a first frequency band for a first period of time to determine if a beacon signal is present in said first frequency band during at least a portion of said first period of time; if said monitoring determines that a first beacon signal is present in said first frequency band during at least a portion of said first period of time, performing the additional steps of: i) changing the monitored frequency band to a second frequency band, said second frequency band differing from said first frequency band by a frequency amount which is less than the width of said monitored frequency band, said frequency amount by which said monitored frequency band is changed being an amount which does not depend on an additional signal; ii) monitoring the second frequency band to detect a second beacon signal; and iii) determining from at least the frequencies of the first and second detected beacon signals a carrier signal frequency which can be used by said wireless terminal to obtain a communication service from said base station.