Patent ID: 8036205

Claim:
A method of operating a communications device for use in a communications system where beacon time slots occur on a periodic basis, a beacon signal being transmitted by a base station during each beacon time slot according to a periodic downlink timing structure, said downlink timing structure including a plurality of superslots within each beacon slot, the individual superslots within a beacon slot being identifiable through the use of a superslot index, each superslot including a plurality of symbol transmission time periods, the method comprising: receiving at least one beacon signal; processing the received beacon signal to determine a downlink timing reference point, superslots occurring within a beacon slot having a predetermined relationship to the determined downlink timing reference point; coding information in a first access probe signal that identifies a first superslot index; transmitting the first access probe signal that identifies the first superslot index, the first access probe signal being transmitted at a first timing offset relative to a start of a first superslot having the first superslot index; monitoring to determine if a response to the first access probe signal was received from the base station; if it is determined that the response to the first access probe signal was received, performing a transmission timing adjustment as a function of information included in the response; and if it is determined that the response to the first access probe signal was not received, coding information in a second access probe signal that identifies a second superslot index, and transmitting the second access probe signal that identifies the second superslot index at a second timing offset relative to a start of a second superslot having the second superslot index, the second timing offset being different from the first timing offset.