Patent ID: 7813734

Claim:
A method for performing a handover by a Mobile Subscriber Station (MSS) in a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) communication system including a serving Base Station (BS) for providing a service to the MSS and a target BS adjacent to the serving BS, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a handover request message from the serving BS, the handover request message including a resource remain type field representing whether connection information having been set between the serving BS and the MSS is retained; determining whether the serving BS retains the connection information according to a value of the resource remain type field and determining a resource retain time during which the serving BS will retain the connection information when the resource remain type field represents retention of the connection information, wherein the resource retain time represents a system retaining time representing a pre-negotiated time agreed to when a registration is performed between the serving BS and the MSS; transmitting a handover indication message to the serving BS, the handover indication message including information reporting performance of the handover and representing that retention of the connection information starts from a point in time at which the handover indication message is received by the serving BS; releasing connection with the serving BS upon transmission of the handover indication message; determining a reentry to the serving BS during a handover to the target BS; and reopening communication with the serving BS using the connection information, when the serving BS retains the connection information.