Patent ID: 7392063

Claim:
A wireless base station which manages a plurality of cells, comprising: a buffer means for receiving data destined for a mobile terminal from a host apparatus, for storing the data, and for keeping the data destined for the mobile terminal available even when the mobile terminal changes a cell association between a first cell and a second cell of the plurality of cells; a first transmitting means, coupled to the buffer means and associated with the first cell assigned to said wireless base station, for retrieving the data from the buffer means and for transmitting the data to the mobile terminal via wireless signals when the mobile terminal associates with the first cell; and a second transmitting means, coupled to the buffer means and associated with the second cell assigned to said wireless base station, for retrieving the data from the buffer means and for transmitting the data to the mobile terminal via wireless signals when the mobile terminal associates with the second cell, wherein the buffer means comprises: first cell buffer means, fixedly associated with the first cell, for storing the data when the mobile terminal associates with the first cell assigned to the wireless base station; and second cell buffer means, fixedly associated with the second cell, for storing the data when the mobile terminal associates with the second cell assigned to the wireless base station, wherein the first transmitting means retrieves the data from the first cell buffer means and transmits the data to the mobile terminal via wireless signals when the mobile terminal associates with the first cell, the second transmitting means retrieves the data from the second cell buffer means and transmits the data to the mobile terminal via wireless signals when the mobile terminal associates with the second cell, and both of the first cell buffer means and the second cell buffer means store the data during a transition period of the cell association for the mobile terminal between the first cell and the second cell.