Patent ID: 7738416

Claim:
A method for use by a mobile communication device in receiving and decoding information in a wireless communication network, the method comprising the acts of: causing packet data of a plurality of packet data bursts of a data block to be received and decoded by the mobile communication device over a packet data channel during a packet data communication session for the mobile communication device; causing broadcast control data of a plurality of broadcast data bursts of the data block to be received and decoded by the mobile communication device over a broadcast control channel contemporaneously, in a time interleaved manner, while receiving and decoding the packet data for the packet data communication session, where each broadcast data burst of the data block is interleaved in time with packet data bursts of the packet data communication session; repeating the acts of causing packet data and broadcast control data to be contemporaneously received and decoded over the packet data channel and the broadcast control channel, respectively, for each one of a plurality of subsequent data blocks, but when a time conflict is identified between at least one of the packet data bursts and at least one of the broadcast data bursts of one of the subsequent data blocks: prioritizing the receiving and the decoding of the at least one broadcast data burst over the at least one packet data burst when the at least one broadcast data burst is received from a handoff candidate neighbor cell when a call drop with a current serving cell of the mobile communication device is imminent; and otherwise, when the at least one broadcast data burst is received from a handoff candidate neighbor cell when there is no imminent call drop, prioritizing the receiving and the decoding of the at least one packet data burst over the receiving and decoding of the at least one broadcast data burst.