Patent · US Expired

Method for performing a soft handoff

US6097954A · kind A · utility

30Cited by
7References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 29, 1997
Grant dateAug 1, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 29, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04W36/18
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention increases the success rate of soft handoffs by enhancing the ability of a mobile-telephone to receive a handoff direction message that identifies the traffic channel being assigned to enable a candidate base station to communicate with the mobile-telephone. Specifically, the aforementioned ability of the mobile-telephone is enhanced by using the candidate base station to transmit the handoff direction message on a communication channel belonging to the candidate base station and being listened to by the mobile-telephone. In situations where signals transmitted from active set base stations have a low signal-to-noise ratio at the mobile-telephone, signals transmitted from the candidate base station may have a higher signal-to-noise ratio at the mobile-telephone. In these situations, the transmission of the HD messages from the candidate base station increases the likelihood that a copy of the handoff direction message will be successfully received by the mobile-telephone, thereby enhancing the success rate of soft handoffs.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.