Patent ID: 8401555

Claim:
A method of handoff in a wireless communications system in which a remote network module is communicatively coupled to a plurality of transceiver modules each located at a network edge, the method comprising: receiving, at the network module, a handoff indication with respect to a handoff of an access terminal from a source transceiver module to a target transceiver module, wherein the handoff indication is inferred upon receipt of data flushed from a buffer associated with the access terminal in the source transceiver module; receiving, at the network module and during the handoff, at least a portion of data received at the target transceiver module and originating from the access terminal; generating, by the network module, a receiver status message for the at least the portion of data received during the handoff; determining a state of a buffer associated with the access terminal in the target transceiver module; confirming the handoff based at least on the state of the buffer associated with the access terminal in the target transceiver module; and ceasing to generate subsequent receiver status messages for data originating from the access terminal and received at the target transceiver module after the confirming of the handoff, and providing an instruction to the target transceiver module to locally generate the subsequent receiver status messages.