Enhanced beacon signaling method and apparatus

An apparatus for use in abuse station comprising:

• a transmitter configured to transmit signals and user data;
• and
• a control circuit configured to control the transmission of a signal in a first period of time, said signal including a plurality of M signal tones, where M is larger than 10, each signal tone corresponding to a different frequency, said first period of time being at least two seconds long, said signal including a beacon signal transmitted on at least one tone and a user data signal transmitted in parallel with said beacon signal on tones which are not used to transmit said beacon signal, said user data having been transmitted by said base station transmitter with more than 20% of the maximum average total base station transmission power used by said base station transmitter to transmit signals into a first region during any 1 second period of time during said first period of time.

A base station transmitter comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• control said base station transmitter to transmit a signal in a first period of time, said signal including a plurality of M signal tones, where M is larger than 10, each signal tone corresponding to a different frequency, said first period of time being at least two seconds long, said signal including a beacon signal transmitted on at least one tone and a user data signal transmitted in parallel with said beacon signal on tones which are not used to transmit said beacon signal, said user data having been transmitted by said base station transmitter with more than 20% of the maximum average total base station transmission power used by said base station transmitter to transmit signals into a first region during any 1 second period of time during said first period of time.

A computer program product comprising:

• non-transitory machine readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a base station transmitter, the non-transitory machine readable medium comprising:
• instructions for causing said base station transmitter to transmit a signal in a first period of time, said signal including a plurality of M signal tones, where M is larger than 10, each signal tone corresponding to a different frequency, said first period of time being at least two seconds long, said signal including a beacon signal transmitted on at least one tone and a user data signal transmitted in parallel with said beacon signal on tones which are not used to transmit said beacon signal, said user data having been transmitted by said base station transmitter with more than 20% of the maximum average total base station transmission power used by said base station transmitter to transmit signals into a first region during any 1 second period of time during said first period of time.

An apparatus for use in a base station comprising:

• means for transmitting signals and user data;
• and
• means for controlling the transmission of a signal in a first period of time, said signal including a plurality of M signal tones, where M is larger than 10, each signal tone corresponding to a different frequency, said first period of time being at least two seconds long, said signal including a beacon signal transmitted on at least one tone and a user data signal transmitted in parallel with said beacon signal on tones which are not used to transmit said beacon signal, said user data having been transmitted by said means for transmitting with more than 20% of the maximum average total base station transmission power used by said means for transmitting to transmit signals into a first region during any 1 second period of time during said first period of time.

A method of operating a base station transmitter in a communication system, the method comprising:

• transmitting a signal in a first period of time, said signal including a plurality of M signal tones, where M is larger than 10, each signal tone corresponding to a different frequency, said first period of time being at least two seconds long and including multiple symbol transmission time periods, said signal including a beacon signal transmitted on at least one tone and a user data signal transmitted in parallel with said beacon signal on tones which are not used to transmit said beacon signal, said user data having been transmitted by said base station transmitter with more than 20% of the maximum average total base station transmission power used by said base station transmitter to transmit signals into a first region during any 1 second period of time during said first period of time;
• and
• wherein said base station transmitter is a sector transmitter of a multi-sector base station.