Patent ID: 8498241

Claim:
A method for a low-cost Internet base station (LCIB) to select carriers for a frequency-hopping pilot beacon, the method comprising: an LCIB receiving channel-list message information associated with one or more macro-network coverage areas within a vicinity of the LCIB; the LCIB using the received channel-list message information to identify a set of macro-network carriers on which to transmit a frequency-hopping pilot beacon; and the LCIB transmitting the frequency-hopping pilot beacon, wherein transmitting the frequency-hopping pilot beacon comprises repeatedly cycling through transmitting pilot-beacon information on each of the carriers in the identified set and, for each carrier in the identified set, prioritizing how often the pilot beacon information is transmitted on the carrier based on how many of the one or more macro-network coverage areas each includes the carrier in a channel-list message of the macro-network coverage area.