Patent ID: 8160023

Claim:
An apparatus for supporting a handover of a Mobile Station (MS) in a broadband wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising: a user layer for requesting scanning information on micro Base Stations (BSs) among neighbor BSs; and a Media Independent Handover (MIH) function for obtaining the scanning information on the micro BSs and for transmitting the obtained information to the user layer, wherein the user layer and the MIH function are included in the MS, wherein the MIH function obtains the scanning information on the micro BSs by interoperating with an MIH server according to the request, and wherein the user layer receives the scanning information on the micro BSs from the MIH function and requests the MIH function to scan at least one of the micro BSs by using the received scanning information on the micro BSs, and wherein the MIH function requests a Media Access Control (MAC) layer to scan the at least one of the micro BSs according to the scanning request.