Patent ID: 6978139

Claim:
A method for performing a soft-handoff in a wireless communication system comprising: receiving a request to add a base station to an active set of a mobile station; determining whether to analyze a reverse link; in response to determining not to analyze the reverse link, adding the base station to the active set without evaluating the reverse link; in response to determining to analyze the reverse link, evaluating the reverse link; in response to evaluating the reverse link, determining whether to add the base station to the active set based upon the evaluation; and wherein determining whether to analyze a reverse link comprises: determining a forward link quality metric corresponding to a forward link of at least one base station that is a member of the active set and that is not under consideration to be dropped from the active set; comparing the forward link quality metric to a forward link quality metric threshold to produce a comparison; and determining whether to analyze a reverse link associated with at least one of the base station under consideration to be added to the active set and a base station that is a member of the active set of the mobile station based on the comparison.