Patent ID: 8374148

Claim:
A handoff method performed by a mobile station in a wireless local area network, the method comprising the steps of: outputting a handoff alert message to a present access point of the mobile station; receiving a response message in response to the handoff alert message from the present access point of the mobile station, the response message comprising channel information requested by the present access point and received by the present access point from adjacent access points in an extended service set that are adjacent to the present access point; scanning, by the mobile station, channels on the adjacent access points by using the channel information to select a new access point of the mobile station when the response message is received from the present access point, wherein the scanning channels comprises transmitting a probe request message to the adjacent access points using the channel information and receiving a response message in response to the probe request message; and selecting one of the adjacent access points with a strongest signal as the new access point according to a scanning result.