Patent ID: 8274915

Claim:
A method of operating a wireless communications system comprising at least one network station and a plurality of subscriber stations, the method comprising as part of a network access procedure, each of a number of the subscriber stations selecting a time slot from a plurality of predefined time slots and transmitting an individual code to the network station in the selected time slot; at the network station receiving and decoding the codes; broadcasting a preliminary decoding status report from the network station to the subscriber stations, the preliminary decoding status report comprising a plurality of preliminary decoding status indicators associated with respective time slots, each preliminary decoding status indicator comprising either a positive indicator indicating that one, some or all of the codes received in the respective time slot were decoded successfully, or a negative indicator indicating that none of the codes received in the respective time slot were decoded successfully, the network station associating each positive indicator with a respective detailed decoding status report; and broadcasting from the network station to the subscriber stations the respective detailed decoding status report associated with each time slot in which one or more codes were decoded successfully, each detailed decoding status report identifying each code that was decoded successfully amongst the codes received by the network station in the time slot with which the detailed decoding status report is associated; and at each subscriber station which transmitted a code to the network station, identifying successful decoding only if the preliminary decoding status indicator associated with the time slot in which subscriber station transmitted its code comprises a positive indicator, and if the detailed decoding status report associated with that positive indicator identifies the code transmitted by the subscriber station.