ENHANCED NOTIFICATION MECHANISM FOR BROADCAST NETWORKS USING BIT-MAP VECTORS

Methods, apparatus, systems and computer program products are defined for enhancing the delivery of overhead notifications in a broadcast network, in particular a broadcast network suitable for wireless device implementation. The broadcast-receiving devices only receive new notification messages, as opposed to receiving all of the currently active notification messages. This is achieved by broadcasting a listing of the currently active notifications versions and having the devices compare the currently active notification versions to the locally stored version(s) to determine which version or versions require capturing. In those aspects in which the broadcast-receiving device is a battery powered wireless device, battery power consumption is minimized because the device only captures active notification messages not currently in device memory, as opposed to all of the currently active notifications.