Integrated alerting and system broadcast channel for a wireless access system

A protocol is described which allows a wireless access system to dynamically multiplex the alerting, system information, and priority access request subchannels on its system-wide broadcast channel. These subchannels each have different requirements with respect to the message length and position within the framing structure; the described protocol meets each of their requirements. The protocol efficiently accommodates 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 capabilities above that provided by the radio channel alone and is easily extendible to accommodate other services such as paging and low bandwidth broadcast messaging. The flexibility provided by this protocol could permit a broad range of network architectures for wireless access.