Patent ID: 7684310

Claim:
A method for increasing the number of index values used for identifying mobile stations in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: operating communication equipment in a wireless communication network to generate a first N-symbol bi-orthogonal sequence from Walsh functions based on a first portion of a MACIndex, wherein the MACIndex comprises the first portion and a second portion; operating the communication equipment to generate a complex preamble signal based on the second portion of the MACIndex, wherein generating the complex preamble signal comprises applying the first N-symbol bi-orthogonal sequence between an In-phase branch and a Quadrature branch channel of a complex signal, wherein applying comprises switching between the In-phase and Quadrature branch channels based on the second portion of the MACIndex to communicate information; and operating the communication equipment to time-multiplex the complex preamble signal with data, pilot, and Media Access Control (MAC) information in a slot.