Patent ID: 6930992

Claim:
A method of transmitting a multiplicity of signaling information units (SIUs) from a base station (BS) to a corresponding multiplicity of receiving mobile stations (MSs) via a single common signaling channel (CSC), wherein data is communicated between the BS and each receiving MS, in quantities substantially larger than is conveyed by the SIUs, via one or more other channels that employ a primary frame structure, the method comprising: a) determining a primary frame to which the SIUs are implicitly related, the primary frame having a primary frame duration; b) defining a CSC superframe at a temporal position that implicitly identifies the superframe as conveying information specifically associated with the primary frame, the superframe having a duration approximately equal to the primary frame duration; c) dividing the CSC superframe into a multiplicity of subframes to effect time division multiplexing (TDM) of the CSC superframe; and d) disposing, within each subframe, code division multiplexing (CDM) symbols representing a multiplicity of SIUs intended for individual reception by a corresponding multiplicity of receiving MSs.