Patent ID: 8526411

Claim:
A signal processing method for a mobile station that operates within an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) wireless communication system including a plurality of base stations covering a plurality of cells, the method comprising: receiving an error detection signal comprising a first error detection signal component from a first base station and a second error detection signal component from a second base station, wherein: the first error detection signal component and the second error detection signal component are received within one orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) symbol in a frame structure having a plurality of frames, wherein each frame is divided into a plurality of subframes, each subframe is divided into a plurality of time slots, and a time slot consists of a plurality of OFDM symbols; the first error detection signal component and the second error detection signal component occupy a center portion of a channel bandwidth; and the first error detection signal component and the second error detection signal component are orthogonal or near-orthogonal to each other; producing, based on the received error detection signal, an estimate of a first composite frequency error that exists between the mobile station and the first base station and an estimate of a second composite frequency error that exists between the mobile station and the second base station, wherein both the estimate of the first composite frequency error and the estimate of the second composite frequency error are used by the mobile station for transmitting or receiving signals; and receiving a third error detection signal component from the first base station and a fourth error detection signal component from the second base station to facilitate estimation of frequency errors that exist between the mobile station and the first base station or the second base station, wherein the third and the fourth error detection signal components are received via a plurality of pilot subcarriers.