Patent ID: 7333811

Claim:
A method for selecting a communication channel for communications with either a serving base transceiver station or an adjacent base transceiver station, the method comprising the steps of: storing in a database network identification information and associated incremental values; identifying an incremental value, wherein the incremental value is associated with a number of network area updates that have occurred previously; selecting a first margin value when a stored incremental value is less than a predetermined value; selecting a second margin value when the incremental value is greater than or equal to a predetermined value; receiving from the serving base transceiver station a reference signal having a reference signal level; receiving from the adjacent base transceiver station an adjacent transceiver signal having an adjacent transceiver signal level; and selecting a communications channel with the adjacent base transceiver station and incrementing the incremental value when the adjacent transceiver signal level meets or exceeds a value equal to the reference signal level plus the selected margin value.