Patent ID: 7369853

Claim:
A method of implementing a handoff from a serving base station (BS) to one of a plurality of neighbor BSs by a subscriber station (SS) in a broadband wireless access (BWA) communication system including the serving BS for servicing the SS in at least one of a plurality of sub-carrier frequency bands, and the plurality of neighbor BSs adjacent to the serving BS, comprising the steps of: receiving information about the neighbor BSs from the serving BS; measuring CINRs (Carrier to Interference and Noise Ratios) of frequency band signals from the neighbor BSs; selecting a target BS from among the neighbor BSs having a highest of the measured CINRs; requesting a handoff to the target BS from the serving BS; transitioning to a frequency band of the target BS; synchronizing with the target BS; assigning the SS to a ranging information region for an initial connection from the target BS, transmitting ranging information for the initial connection to the target BS in the assigned ranging information region; receiving from the target BS connection identification (ID) information between the target BS and the SS; transmitting a handoff registration request message to the target BS according to the connection ID information; and receiving a response message for the handoff registration request message from the target BS.