Patent ID: 8605675

Claim:
A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving an access preamble from a user equipment (UE), the access preamble being generated based on a first signature selected from a first set of signatures available for random access; allocating (i) default resources for the first signature to the UE in response to receiving the access preamble if the default resources are available or (ii) resources selected from a group of available resources if the default resources are not available; setting an acquisition indicator (AI) for the first signature to a first predetermined value to indicate reception of the access preamble, the value of the AI further being used to indicate if the default resources are being allocated to the UE; sending the AI on an acquisition indicator channel (AICH) to the UE; determining an extended acquisition indicator (EAI) and selecting a second signature from a second set of signatures based on the selected resources and the default resources; sending the EAI and the second signature to the UE; and receiving data sent by the UE based on the allocated resources.