Patent ID: 7933601

Claim:
A method of performing handover operation in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: determining that handover needs to be performed by triggering a procedure to release a connection to a mobile subscriber station; transmitting a handover pre-notification message including information required for the handover of the mobile subscriber station to neighboring handover target base stations; transmitting a handover message to the mobile subscriber station according to the determination of the handover of the mobile subscriber, wherein the handover message includes information pertaining to one or more target base stations available for the handover; receiving a handover indication message from the mobile subscriber station, wherein the handover indication message comprises a handover indication type and an identifier of the target base station; maintaining the connection to the mobile subscriber station for a predetermined time duration and then releasing the connection to the mobile subscriber station if the handover indication type indicates serving base station release; and releasing the connection to the mobile subscriber station if receiving a handover complete message sent by a handover target base station.