Patent ID: 8923244

Claim:
A method for performing a handoff in a heterogeneous network of a mobile station that is connected via an air-interface, comprising: connecting to a source node by the mobile station, the connecting being performed using a first radio access technology, wherein the source node comprises a macrocell; detecting a signal from a target node on a second radio access technology while connected to the source node on the first radio access technology, wherein the detecting is performed by demodulating the signal at least in part at the mobile station by utilizing a receiver chain or a demodulation finger in a rake receiver that is in use by the first radio access technology, and wherein detecting the signal from the target node further comprises detecting an advertisement of handoff information for performing a handoff from the source node to the target node on the second radio access technology different from the first radio access technology, and wherein the handoff information comprises a group of pilot pseudo noise codes, and wherein the target node comprises a femtocell; and performing the handoff from the source node to the target node.