Patent ID: 7274934

Claim:
In a wireless communication system comprising a base station connected with a mobile unit, a method of detecting a mobile unit by at least one other base station which is waiting for the mobile unit to enter its coverage area, comprising: transferring to the at least one other base station waiting for the mobile unit to enter its coverage area timing information identifying a time interval; from the at least one other base station waiting for the mobile unit to enter its coverage area, sending at least one PING command to the mobile unit during said time interval; at the at least one other base station waiting for the mobile unit to enter its coverage area, receiving at least one ECHO reply from the mobile unit; and at each base station, maintaining information about connections between mobile units and neighboring base stations, wherein the information is selected from a group consisting of connection number, handset ID, base station ID, handoff status and handset detection status; wherein the mobile unit is a device selected from a group consisting of: telephone handset, standard cordless telephone handset, cellular telephone handset, personal data device, personal digital assistant (FDA), computer, laptop computer, e-mail server, a device utilizing point-to-point protocol (PPP) to the Internet via a central remote access server, a headset, a personal server, a wearable computer, a wireless camera, and a mobile music player; and wherein the handset detection status information comprises information selected from a group consisting of number of successful PINGs, time of last successful PING, quality measurements for successful PINGs.