Patent ID: 8446879

Claim:
A method for facilitating soft handoffs in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (OFDMA) system, the method comprising: generating a first stream of OFDM symbols at a first base station, wherein each of the OFDM symbols includes a common set of subcarriers, wherein the first stream of OFDM symbols includes a plurality of zones, wherein each of the zones extends in a time dimension over more than one of the OFDM symbols and includes one or more subsets of the subcarriers, wherein the zones include a soft handoff zone, wherein a definition of the one or more subsets of subcarriers belonging to the soft handoff zone is shared by the first base station and one or more additional base stations that are participants in a soft handoff with respect to a first subscriber station; wirelessly transmitting the first stream of OFDM symbols into space.