Patent ID: 7778212

Claim:
A method of multicasting packet data to mobile stations (MSs) of a multicast group in a base station (BS), the MSs of each multicast group receiving a same data, comprising: assigning, by a Media Access Control (MAC) controller, an index to each of the multicast groups; assigning, by the Media Access Control (MAC) controller, a physical layer channel corresponding to the index to each of the multicast groups to allow the MSs in the same multicast group to receive the same data; and transmitting, by a MODEM, the physical layer channel to each of the multicast groups; wherein the step of assigning an index to each of the multicast groups comprises: receiving a multicast traffic channel request message from an MS; assigning a multicast Media Access Control (MMAC) index or MATI (Multicast Access Terminal Identifier) to each multicast group; assigning primary and secondary reverse traffic addresses to the MS to distinguish between reverse traffic for a uni-cast service and reverse traffic for a multicast service, if the BS supports multicast and uni-cast transmissions simultaneously; and assigning a dedicated Media Access Control (DMAC) index used for power control or Uni-cast Access Terminal Identifier (UATI) to each multicast group, if the BS supports multicast and uni-cast transmissions simultaneously; wherein the secondary traffic address is a secondary Uni-cast Access Terminal Identifier (UATI) assigned to the MS or a primary UATI with a classifier for distinguishing between uni-cast transmission and multicast transmission in a reverse traffic channel message.