Patent ID: 8320301

Claim:
An apparatus in a wireless communication system, comprising: a transmit data processor operative to process system parameters and a pilot for transmission via a broadcast channel, wherein the pilot is used for channel estimation of a downlink, process scheduling information for transmission via a forward control channel, wherein the scheduling information is for data transmission on the downlink and an uplink, and process traffic data for transmission via a forward channel; and a receive data processor operative to process user requests for system access received via a random access channel, and process traffic data received via a reverse channel, and wherein at least one channel among the broadcast channel, the forward control channel, the forward channel, the random access channel, and the reverse channel is configurable, wherein the system parameters indicate configuration of the at least one configurable channel, and wherein the random access channel supports a single-input multiple-output (SIMO) mode and a beam-steering mode, the SIMO mode supporting data transmission from a single transmit antenna to multiple receive antennas, and the beam-steering mode supporting data transmission on a single spatial channel associated with a highest rate among a plurality of spatial channels.