Patent ID: 8767763

Claim:
A method for a station to acquire information on an available channel for operation in a white space band, the method comprising: transmitting an available channel information request message to a device having database information; receiving an available channel information response message from the device having database information, the available channel information response message comprising: (a) a field for a device type to which the available channel information response message can be applied; (b) a field for identifying an available channel; (c) a field for information on a maximum allowable power level on the available channel; (d) a field for information on valid time of the available channel; and (e) a length field, wherein a triplet consisting of the (b), (c), and (d) fields is repeated by different numbers of times based on a value in the length field, if the field (a) corresponds to a fixed device or a device having an authority to directly access database information, wherein the (b) and (c) fields are repeated by different numbers of times based on the value in the length field, if the field (a) corresponds to a device not having the authority to directly access database information; and communicating a signal on the available channel using the information of one or more of (a), (b), (c), and (d).