Patent ID: 8068838

Claim:
A method of operating a mobile communication device comprising: transferring, by the mobile communication device, user communications to a first wireless base station through a wireless communication link; obtaining, by the mobile communication device, a first communication load indicator for the first base station and determining, by the mobile communication device, a first air interface metric for the first base station based on the first communication load indicator; identifying a second wireless base station, obtaining, by the mobile communication device, a second communication load indicator for the second base station, and determining, by the mobile communication device, a second air interface metric for the second base station based on the second communication load indicator; comparing the first air interface metric to the second air interface metric; determining whether the second wireless base station has sufficient performance characteristics for wireless communication with the mobile communication device, when the second air interface metric is superior to the first air interface metric; and initiating a hand-off from the first wireless base station to the second wireless base station, stopping the wireless transfer of the user communications to the first wireless base station, and wirelessly transferring additional user communications to the second wireless base station, when the second air interface metric is superior to the first air interface metric and the second wireless base station has the sufficient performance characteristics, wherein obtaining the first communication load indicator for the first base station comprises wirelessly receiving a first base station uplink load indicator and a first base station downlink load indicator, and determining the first air interface metric based on the first communication load comprises processing the first base station uplink load indicator and the first base station downlink load indicator; and obtaining the second communication load indicator for the second base station comprises wirelessly receiving a second base station uplink load indicator and a second base station downlink load indicator, and determining the second air interface metric based on second communication load comprises processing the second base station uplink load indicator and the second base station downlink load indicator.