Patent ID: 8442536

Claim:
A method for connecting a mobile device to a destination base station in a wireless communications network, comprising steps of a serving base station to which the mobile device is connected: identifying a plurality of possible target base stations for a handoff of the mobile device; sending a handoff request including context information of the mobile device from the serving base station to each of the identified plurality of possible target base stations, the context information including an identification of the mobile device; receiving from each of the plurality of possible target base stations an acknowledgment in response to the handoff request, the acknowledgement indicating that at least a portion of the context information has been stored at a respective one of the plurality of possible target base stations and that resources have been reserved at the respective one of the plurality of possible target base stations for the mobile device; responsive to the received acknowledgements, prioritizing the plurality of possible target base stations for the handoff based on predetermined parameters with respect to the plurality of possible target base stations; initiating the handoff of the mobile device based on the prioritized plurality of possible target base stations; and upon receiving, from one of the prioritized plurality of possible target base stations, an indication of a successfully established connection for the initiated handoff of the mobile device, releasing resources of the serving base station reserved for the mobile device.