Patent ID: 7251487

Claim:
A method for counting wireless mobile stations receiving broadcast content from a base station in a wireless communications network, the method comprising operations of: the base station wirelessly broadcasting a repeating broadcast parameters message including an identity of at least one broadcast content stream and, in association with each broadcast content stream, an indicator having one of the following values: REGISTER, DO NOT REGISTER; mobile stations repeatedly examining contents of the broadcast parameters message according to predetermined schedules; responsive to conditions including the examination revealing that the indicator is set to REGISTER in association with a given broadcast content stream, mobile stations whose users have elected to receive the given broadcast content stream commencing a registration process including transmitting to the base station a prescribed format of wireless registration message in association with the given broadcast content stream; responsive to conditions including the examination revealing that the indicator is set to DO NOT REGISTER in association with a given broadcast content stream, all mobile stations refraining from transmitting registration messages to the base station in association with the given broadcast content stream; responsive to a count of mobile stations that have registered for a given broadcast content stream reaching a prescribed number, the base station configuring the broadcast parameters message to include a DO NOT REGISTER indicator instead of the REGISTER indicator in association with the given broadcast content stream.