Patent ID: 8498231

Claim:
A method for an access service network gateway (ASN-GW) to provide multicast and broadcast services (MBSs) through a plurality of base stations (BSs) in an MBS zone, the method comprising: generating, by the ASN-GW, a plurality of synchronization maps (SYNC MAPS) including synchronization information for synchronizing MBS data frames to be generated by the BSs; and transmitting, by the ASN-GW, to the BSs the generated SYNC MAPs, one in each of a plurality of schedule intervals, wherein when a first one of the SYNC MAPs transmitted in a first one of the schedule intervals is not received by one of the BSs, the transmitting further comprises retransmitting the first one of the SYNC MAPs in the first one of the schedule intervals; and the first one of the plurality of SYNC MAPs includes a transmission time of a second one of the plurality of SYNC MAPs, and at least one of the BSs determines an arrival time range for the second one of the plurality SYNC MAPs based on the transmission time of the second one of the plurality SYNC MAPs and a delay tolerance.