Patent ID: 8285283

Claim:
A method of making handoff determinations in an access terminal, the method comprising: receiving power reference signals from attachment points, said power reference signals including power reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different carriers, at least some of the power reference signals corresponding to a carrier being transmitted from different attachment points at different known power levels; identifying on a per carrier basis, an attachment point with which the best connection can be established, said identifying, on a per carrier basis, an attachment point with which the best connection can be established including selecting an attachment point as a function of the difference between known transmission power levels corresponding to different attachment points and the strength of the power reference signals received from the different attachment points; calculating a first service level indicating metric corresponding to a current connection corresponding to a first attachment point using a first function; calculating a second service level indicating metric corresponding to an alternative connection corresponding to a second attachment point using a second function which is different from said first function; and making a handoff decision based on said first and second service level indicating metrics.