METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SCANNING AND LOCKING ONTO A CONTROL CHANNEL VIA A MULTI-LEVEL SEARCH IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

摘要

Methods and systems are provided for a wireless terminal to select a control channel from a plurality of channels provided on a plurality of respective operating frequencies in which a first group of the operating frequencies are first scanned to locate a control channel that satisfies a first set of selection criteria. During this scan, channels are identified that fail to satisfy the first set of selection criteria but that have an increased probability of satisfying a second set of selection criteria. If a channel that satisfies the first set of selection criteria is not located during the first scan, the wireless terminal determines an order in which a second group of operating frequencies are to be scanned based on the identified channels, and then scans the second group of operating frequencies in the determined order to locate a control channel that satisfies the second set of selection criteria.