Patent ID: 7580713

Claim:
A method for a wireless communication device to employ an active set of carriers from a plurality of available carriers, the method comprising: receiving, from a network controller, an indication of which carriers of the plurality of available carriers are included in the active set of carriers; monitoring only carriers that are listed in the active set of carriers for a unique identifier of the wireless communication device, the active set of carriers including a primary carrier for transmitting at least overhead information; decoding packets on carriers in the active set that contain the unique identifier of the wireless communication device; starting a unique identifier timer for at least one carrier in the active set of carriers after detecting the unique identifier on the at least one carrier; determining whether the unique identifier timer has reached a threshold prior to receipt of the unique identifier again on the at least one carrier; if the unique identifier timer has reached the threshold prior to receipt of the unique identifier again on the at least one carrier, removing a carrier other than the primary carrier from the active set of carriers; and if the unique identifier timer has not reached the threshold prior to receipt of the unique identifier again on the at least one carrier, restarting the unique identifier timer.