Patent ID: 7408901

Claim:
A system comprising: a source radio network controller (RNC); a target RNC communicatively coupled with the source RNC; a wireless communication device operable to establish a data session via the source RNC; a first base transceiver station (BTS) communicatively coupled to the source RNC, wherein the first BTS provides a source pilot signal; a second BTS communicatively coupled to the target RNC, wherein the second BTS provides a target pilot signal; a processor at the wireless communication device; and data storage, at the wireless communication device, that includes a predictive threshold and program instructions executable by the processor, wherein the wireless communication device is arranged to receive the source and target pilot signals, wherein the program instructions include instructions for (i) comparing a strength of the target pilot signal received at the wireless communication device to a strength of the source pilot signal received at the wireless communication device, and (ii) making a determination that the strength of the target pilot signal received at the wireless communication device exceeds the strength of the source pilot signal received at the wireless communication device by at least the predictive threshold, wherein the wireless communication device notifies the source RNC of the determination, wherein the source RNC makes a prediction that handoff of the data session to the target RNC will soon be necessary, and the source RNC responsively (i) sends a signal to the target RNC to cause the target RNC to reserve radio resources for the data session, and (ii) sends a predictive handoff directive message to the wireless communication device, wherein the predictive handoff directive message instructs the wireless communication device (i) to wait a designated period of time, and (ii) to then handoff, and wherein the source RNC makes the prediction based at least in part on the determination.