Patent ID: 7660278

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying, by a mobile station, a first plurality of communication nodes and a second plurality of communication nodes, each of the first plurality of communication nodes being associated with a first wireless coverage characteristic area and each of the second plurality of communication nodes being associated with a second wireless coverage characteristic area; generating, by the mobile station, a first list of communication nodes associated with the first plurality of communication nodes and a second list of communication nodes associated with the second plurality of communication nodes based on neighborhood information associated with one or more neighboring communication nodes; and selecting, by the mobile station, a communication node from one of the first plurality of communication nodes or the second plurality of communication nodes to be associated with for wireless communication between the mobile station and the selected communication node, wherein the first wireless coverage characteristic area is relatively smaller than the second wireless coverage characteristic area, and wherein the second wireless coverage characteristic area overlaps one or more first wireless coverage characteristic areas.