Patent ID: 7043243

Claim:
A method for mobile assisted handoff of a communication link between a mobile station and a base station in a digital cellular communications network, from a current base station to one of a number of candidate base stations within said network, said method comprising the steps of: generating a list of a plurality of candidate channels for possible acceptance of said communication handoff; transmitting a first measurement order from said current base station to said mobile station, said first measurement order containing said list of candidate channels; measuring a received signal strength and a bit error rate at said mobile station for said communication between said mobile station and said current base station; measuring received signal strength at said mobile station for each of said candidate channels listed in said first measurement order; transmitting said received signal strength measurements from said mobile station to said current base station; selecting a plurality of most favorable candidate channels from said received signal strength measurement results; transmitting a second measurement order from said current base station to said mobile station, said second measurement order containing a list of said most favorable candidate channels; tuning and synchronizing said mobile station to each of said candidate channels listed in said second measurement order, the step of tuning and synchronizing including: tuning into said candidate channel, reading data within time window on said candidate channel; correlating said data from said candidate channel with a plurality of known synchronization words and identifying a most probable synchronization word within said data; and returning back to said current base station channel; reading and decoding an identification code for each of said candidate channels, wherein said identification code comprises a digital voice color code word in each of said candidate channels, said step of reading and decoding including: transmitting said identification codes for each of said candidate channels from said mobile station to said current base station; and correlating said received signal strength measurements with said identification codes to identify an optimal candidate base station for effecting said handoff of said communication.