초록 ▼

A base station in a wireless communications network counts mobile stations receiving broadcast content via multi-user channel. The base station broadcasts a repeating message identifying at least one broadcast content stream and, for each stream, a REGISTER (R) or DO NOT REGISTER (DNR) indicator. Mo

A base station in a wireless communications network counts mobile stations receiving broadcast content via multi-user channel. The base station broadcasts a repeating message identifying at least one broadcast content stream and, for each stream, a REGISTER (R) or DO NOT REGISTER (DNR) indicator. Mobile stations periodically re-examine contents of this message. When the indicator is R for a broadcast content stream, mobile stations whose users have elected to receive it send the base station a registration message for that stream. When the number of registered mobile stations reaches a prescribed number, the base station changes the indicator to DNR. When the indicator is DNR for a broadcast content stream, mobile stations refrain from sending any registration message for that broadcast content stream. The base station may institute a recount by resetting the indicator to R.

대표청구항 ▼

The invention claimed is: 1. A method of operating a wireless mobile station, comprising: receiving wireless transmission of a broadcast parameters message from a base station, the message including an identity of at least one broadcast content stream and, in association with each broadcast content

The invention claimed is: 1. A method of operating a wireless mobile station, comprising: receiving wireless transmission of a broadcast parameters message from a base station, the 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; examining contents of the broadcast parameters message; responsive to conditions including the examination revealing that the indicator is set to REGISTER in association with a given broadcast content stream for which a user of the mobile station has elected to receive, commencing a registration process including transmitting to the base station a prescribed format of a 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, refraining from transmitting any registration messages to the base station in association with the given broadcast content stream. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: following initial registration for a given broadcast content stream, the mobile station commencing receipt of the given broadcast content stream via shared forward link broadcast channel. 3. The method of claim 1, where the registration process further comprises the mobile station delaying transmission of registration messages by a traffic-reduction period comprising one of the following: a fixed delay; a random delay; a variable delay derived from information internal to the mobile station; a variable delay derived from information obtained from the base station and unrelated to registration; an actual time delay derived from a registration wait factor for the given broadcast content stream, the registration wait factor obtained from the broadcast parameters message. 4. The method of claim 1, where: the broadcast parameters message further includes one or more registration wait factors; the operations further comprise: obtaining the registration wait factor from the broadcast parameters message; utilizing the obtained registration wait factor to derive an actual time delay; utilizing the actual time delay as a countdown timer to trigger repetition of the operation of examining contents of the broadcast parameters message. 5. The method of claim 1, where: transmitting a prescribed format of wireless registration message further comprises, for each mobile station, transmitting at least the following security items: subscriber identification code, message authentication code derived from selected other components of the registration message, and sequence code indicating a relative sequence of the registration message relative to other messages transmitted by the mobile station. 6. The method of claim 1, where: the mobile station limits performance of the commencing and refraining operations to broadcast content streams subscribed-to by the mobile station. 7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying a computer program of computer-readable instructions executable by a digital data processor to perform operations for a wireless mobile station to participate in a scheme of counting mobile stations receiving broadcast content from a base station in a wireless communications network, the operations comprising: receiving wireless transmission of a broadcast parameters message from a base station, the 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; examining contents of the broadcast parameters message; responsive to conditions including the examination revealing that the indicator is set to REGISTER in association with a given broadcast content stream for which a user of the mobile station has elected to receive, commencing a registration process including transmitting to the base station a prescribed format of a 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, refraining from transmitting any registration messages to the base station in association with the given broadcast content stream. 8. An apparatus configured to perform operations for a wireless mobile station to participate in a scheme of counting mobile stations receiving broadcast content from a base station in a wireless communications network, the apparatus comprising: a memory; and a processor, coupled with the memory, and configured to execute a set of instructions stored in the memory, the set of instructions for: receiving wireless transmission of a broadcast parameters message from a base station, the 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; examining contents of the broadcast parameters message; responsive to conditions including the examination revealing that the indicator is set to REGISTER in association with a given broadcast content stream for which a user of the mobile station has elected to receive, commencing a registration process including transmitting to the base station a prescribed format of 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, refraining from transmitting any registration messages to the base station in association with the given broadcast content stream. 9. A method of operating a wireless base station, comprising: broadcasting a 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; receiving any registration messages transmitted by mobile stations, such registration messages having a prescribed format and each associated with a given broadcast content stream; responsive to a count of the registered mobile stations for a given broadcast content stream reaching a prescribed number, configuring the broadcast parameters message to include a DO NOT REGISTER indicator instead of the REGISTER indicator in association with that broadcast stream. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: a prescribed time after the count of mobile stations that have registered for a given broadcast content stream reaches the prescribed number, the base station instituting a recount by configuring the indicator to REGISTER instead of DO NOT REGISTER in association with the given broadcast content stream. 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising: responsive to the base station detecting occurrence of one or more changes of prescribed type in a given broadcast content stream, configuring the indicator to REGISTER in association with the given broadcast content stream. 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising: responsive to a count of mobile stations that have registered for a given broadcast content stream failing to exceed a predetermined number, utilizing individual point-to-point channels to deliver the given broadcast content stream to the registered mobile stations; responsive to a count of mobile stations that have registered for the given broadcast content stream exceeding the predetermined number, utilizing a shared forward link channel to deliver the given broadcast content stream to the registered mobile stations. 13. The method of claim 9, where the prescribed format of the registration message comprising at least the following security items: subscriber identification code, message authentication code derived from selected other components of the registration message, and sequence code indicating a relative sequence of the registration message relative to other messages transmitted by the mobile station, and further comprising: determining validity of any received registration messages by rejecting each registration message satisfying any one or more of the following: the subscriber identification code failing to verify identify of the transmitting mobile station; the message authentication code showing that content of the registration message has undergone tampering; the sequence code failing to show sequence differentiation with respect to other messages from the same mobile station. 14. The method of claim 9, where: the broadcast parameters message identifies at least one broadcast content stream scheduled to start at a prescribed time in the future; and at the prescribed time, determining whether a count of mobile stations that have registered for a given broadcast content stream exceeds the predetermined number, and if so, utilizing a shared forward link channel to simultaneously deliver the broadcast content stream to the registered mobile stations; if not, utilizing individual point-to-point channels to separately deliver the broadcast content stream to the registered mobile stations. 15. The method of claim 9, further comprising: supplementing the count of mobile stations that have registered for a given broadcast content stream to additionally include any mobile stations receiving the given broadcast content stream from the base station via individual point-to-point channels. 16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly embodying a computer program of computer-readable instructions executable by a digital data processor to perform operations for one or more components of a wireless communications network to count wireless mobile stations receiving broadcast content from a given base station, the operations comprising: the base station wirelessly broadcasting a 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; the base station receiving any registration messages transmitted by mobile stations, such registration messages having a prescribed format and each associated with a given broadcast content stream; responsive to a count of the registered mobile stations 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 that broadcast stream. 17. Circuitry including multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform operations for one or more components of a wireless communications network to count wireless mobile stations receiving broadcast content from a given base station, the operations comprising: the base station wirelessly broadcasting a 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; the base station receiving any registration messages transmitted by mobile stations, such registration messages having a prescribed format and each associated with a given broadcast content stream; responsive to a count of the registered mobile stations 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 that broadcast stream. 18. A base station for a wireless communications network, comprising: input/output; digital data storage; a processor coupled to the input/output and storage, and programmed to perform operations for the base station to count wireless mobile stations receiving broadcast content from the base station, the operations comprising: wirelessly broadcasting a 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; receiving any registration messages transmitted by mobile stations, such registration messages having a prescribed format and each associated with a given broadcast content stream; responsive to a count of the registered mobile stations fix a given broadcast content stream reaching a prescribed number, configuring the broadcast parameters message to include a DO NOT REGISTER indicator instead of the REGISTER indicator in association with that broadcast stream.