Patent ID: 7522629

Claim:
A method of multiplexing a signaling message with voice frames in communications between base stations and CDMA mobile stations, comprising the steps of: (a) responsive to receipt of a partial voice frame from a source, adding a portion of said signaling message to the partial frame to form a full frame, prior to transmission of that frame to a CDMA mobile station and transmitting the formed full frame to said CDMA station; (b) responsive to reception of a full voice frame, when a request to send forward a signaling message has been recognized, transmitting said full voice frame with no signaling information of said signaling message to the CDMA mobile station provided that no more than N such full voice frames have been consecutively transmitted without any signaling information being carried in partial voice frames, wherein N is a parameter defined for the method; (c) testing to determine a number of full voice frames that have been consecutively transmitted without transmission of any signaling information in partial voice frames, while a signaling message is queued for transmission to said CDMA mobile station; and (d) if said number is less than N, return to step (a); (e) if said number is equal to or greater than N, substituting one signaling frame for a full voice frame and discarding the full voice frame for which the signaling frame is being substituted; and (f) following the substitution, return to step (a).