Patent ID: 8705399

Claim:
A method for communication via an operating frequency channel by a base station in a multi-carrier communications system comprising a plurality of base stations and mobile stations, the base station serving a cell among a plurality of cells, the method comprising: selecting a specific primary control channel among multiple primary control channels at distinct center frequency locations within the operating frequency channel, wherein: each of the multiple primary control channels is characterized by being capable of carrying a primary control signal, having a number of contiguous subcarriers, and having a bandwidth substantially narrower than a bandwidth of the operating frequency channel; and the specific primary control channel is different from at least one primary control channel selected by at least one other base station in the system; generating a primary control signal by modulating a sequence on subcarriers of the specific primary control channel, wherein: the sequence has an autocorrelation with a large correlation peak with respect to sidelobes; the sequence contains information on cell identity; and the primary control signal has a small peak-to-average power ratio; and broadcasting the primary control signal to mobile stations within the cell.