Method and apparatus for performing preferred system selection

Claim 1

A method for system acquisition in a subscriber station comprising the steps of: providing a system table containing an entry for each communication system known to the subscriber station, each entry containing a system identification corresponding to each communication system, each entry further containing aquisition parameters used to acquire the communication system, said entries within said system table being organized by geographic region and including entries for each of a plurality of geographic regions, each geographic region containing information regarding the relative desirability of each communication system within that geographic region; storing said system table within the subscriber station; determining a first geographical region hypothesis in accordance with a geographical region of a most recently used system; performing, in accordance with said first geographical region hypothesis, a first geographical region hypothesis search of said system table for a first communication system; extracting, from said system table, aquisition parameters corresponding to said first communication system, and attempting to acquire said first communication system using said extracted acqisition parameters; receiving a system identification from an acquired communication system, said received system identification corresponding to one of the system identifications listed in said system table; determining from said system table an actual geographical region based on said received system identification; and performing an actual geographical region search of said system table for a second communication system in accordance with said actual geographic region and said desirability information.

Claim 2

A method for system acquisition in a subscriber station comprising the steps of: providing a system table containing an entry for each communication system known to the subscriber station, each entry containing a system identification corresponding to each communication system, each entry further containing aquisition parameters used to acquire the communication system, said entries within said system table being organized by geographic region and including entries for each of a plurality of geographic regions, each geographic region containing information regarding the relative desirability of each communication system within that geographic region; storing said system table within the subscriber station; determining a first geographical region hypothesis in accordance with a geographical region of a most recently used system; performing, in accordance with said first geographical region hypothesis, a first geographical region hypothesis search of said system table for a first communication system; extracting, from said system table, aquisition parameters corresponding to said first communication system, and attempting to acquire said first communication system using said extracted acqisition parameters; receiving a system identification from an acquired communication system, said received system identification corresponding to one of the system identifications listed in said system table; determining from said system table an actual geographical region based on said received system identification; and performing an actual geographical region search of said system table for a second communication system in accordance with said actual geographic region and said desirability information.