Method and apparatus for operating with a hopping control channel in a communication system

A communication unit for use in a communication system, the communication unit comprising a receiver, a demodulator coupled to the receiver, and:

• (a) global position satellite detecting means coupled to the receiver for detecting global position satellite information;
• (b) signal acquisition means, coupled to the global position satellite detecting means, for acquiring a predetermined hopping pattern by utilizing the detected global position satellite information, the predetermined hopping pattern specifying the sequence over which a plurality of communication frames are hopped over a plurality of carrier frequencies;
• and
• (c) hopping means, coupled to the signal acquisition means, for hopping a frequency of the receiver according to the predetermined hopping pattern to detect a control channel.

A communication unit for use in a communication system, the communication unit comprising a receiver, a demodulator coupled to the receiver, and:

• (a) signal acquisition means coupled to the receiver for initially acquiring a predetermined hopping pattern which specifies the sequence over which a plurality of communication frames are hopped over a plurality of carrier frequencies, each of the plurality of communication frames comprising a plurality of time slots, at least one of the plurality of time slots of a particular communication frame of the plurality of communication frames comprising a synchronization channel time slot and another of the plurality of time slots of the particular communication frame comprising a frequency correction channel time slot, the synchronization channel time slot comprising data bits and the frequency correction channel time slot comprising information for indicating a location of the synchronization channel time slot within the particular communication frame, the signal acquisition means comprising detecting means for detecting the synchronization channel time slot and the frequency correction channel time slot within the particular communication frame;
• and
• (b) hopping means, coupled to the signal acquisition means, for determining the predetermined hopping pattern from the data bits and for hopping a frequency of the receiver according to the predetermined hopping pattern to detect a control channel.

A communication unit for use in a communication system, the communication unit comprising a receiver, a demodulator coupled to the receiver, and:

• (a) signal acquisition means coupled to the receiver for initially acquiring a predetermined hopping pattern which specifies the sequence over which a plurality of communication frames are hopped over a plurality of carrier frequencies, the signal acquisition means comprising detecting means for detecting a synchronization channel time slot within a particular communication frame of the plurality of communication frames, the synchronization channel time slot comprises data bits from which a first and a second predetermined hopping pattern is derived;
• (b) hopping means, coupled to the signal acquisition means, for hopping a frequency of the receiver according to the first and the second predetermined hopping pattern to detect a first and a second control channel respectively;
• (c) signal quality measurement means, coupled to the hopping means, for measuring the signal quality of the first and the second detected control channel;
• and
• (d) selection means, coupled to the signal quality measurement means, for selecting one of the first and the second predetermined hopping pattern to continue hopping the frequency of the receiver based on a comparison of the measured signal quality of the first and the second detected control channel.

A method for determining a hopping pattern by a communication unit for use in a frequency hopping communication system, comprising:

• (a) scanning a particular set of frequencies for a communication frame including a synchronization channel time slot;
• (b) detecting the synchronization channel time slot within the communication frame;
• and
• (c) determining a predetermined hopping pattern which specifies the sequence over which a plurality of the communication frames are hopped over a plurality of carrier frequencies from data bits within the synchronization channel time slot.