Patent ID: 7254413

Claim:
A method of communicating power control commands from a receiver to a transmitter over a feedback link based on a signal quality associated with a communications link from the transmitter to the receiver, the power control commands instructing the transmitter to modify a power level at which the transmitter transmits over the communications link, wherein the receiver has a predefined out-of-sync threshold and the communications link to the receiver is out-of-sync if a detected signal quality associated with the communications link is lower than the predefined out-of-sync threshold during a predefined time, the method comprising: detecting that the communications link is out-of-sync and involved in soft handover before a first power control command is communicated over the feedback link, wherein the first power control command instructs the transmitter to increase the power level that the transmitter transmits over the communications link at a first power increase rate; if the communications link is out-of-sync and if the transmitter is not involved in a soft handover, communicating over the feedback link a second power control command instructing the transmitter to increase the power level that the transmitter transmits over the communications link at a second power increase rate lower than the first power increase rate; and if the communications link is not out-of-sync, communicating over the feedback link a third power control command instructing the transmitter to increase the power level that the transmitter transmits over the communications link at a third power increase rate lower than the first and the second power increase rates.