INTEGRATED ALERTING AND SYSTEM BROADCAST CHANNEL FOR A WIRELESS ACCESS SYSTEM

A protocol is described which allows a wireless access system to dynam ically multiplex the alerting, system information, and priority access request subchannels on its system-wide broadcast channel. These subch annels each have different requirements with respect to the message le ngth and position within the framing structure; the described protocol meets each of their requirements. The protocol efficiently accommodat es a wide range of alerting traffic levels and provides for efficient downloading of system information to subscriber units by using excess capacity when alerting traffic is low. It provides error detection cap abilities above that provided by the radio channel alone and is easily extendible to accommodate other services such as paging and low bandw idth broadcast messaging. The flexibility provided by this protocol co uld permit a broad range of network architectures for wireless access.