Patent ID: 8271627

Claim:
A method for updating system information transmitted through a superframe header (SFH) in a broadband wireless communication system, the method performed by a mobile station and comprising: receiving the SFH through a superframe, the received SFH including a primary superframe header information element (P-SFH IE) and at least one secondary superframe header subpacket information element (S-SFH SP IE), the P-SFH IE including a scheduling information bitmap indicating the at least one S-SFH SP IE scheduled in the superframe, a change count (CC) of a secondary superframe header (S-SFH) (S-SFH CC), and a subpacket (SP) change bitmap indicating a changing status of the at least one S-SFH SP IE; comparing the S-SFH CC of the received SFH to a previously stored last S-SFH CC; and determining whether to perform decoding and updating of the at least one S-SFH SP IE based on a result of the comparison, wherein each of the at least one S-SFH SP IE is decoded and updated when the result of the determination is that a difference between the S-SFH CC of the received SFH and the previously stored last S-SFH CC is one and a bit in a secondary superframe header subpacket (S-SFH SP) for the S-SFH SP IE is set to 1, wherein each of the at least one S-SFH SP IE is decoded and updated when the result of the determination is that a difference between the S-SFH CC of the received SFH and the previously stored last S-SFH CC is greater than one, and wherein each of the at least one S-SFH SP IE is not decoded and updated when the result of the determination is that there is no difference between the S-SFH CC of the received SFH and the previously stored last S-SFH CC.