Patent ID: 7558226

Claim:
A method of performing a handoff operation in a Wireless Communication Device (WCD) operating in a communication system, the WCD operating in an idle mode wherein the WCD transitions between a sleep state to conserve power and an awake state to receive one or more paging signals, comprising: a. determining during an awake state that a handoff from a first paging signal to a second paging signal is required; b. determining during the awake state whether to postpone the handoff until a next awake state; and c. transitioning from the awake state to a sleep state without performing the required handoff when it is determined to postpone the handoff, wherein the WCD is scheduled to transition from the awake state to the sleep state at a scheduled time, and wherein: step (a) comprises determining at a first time during the awake state that the handoff is required; step (b) comprises determining whether the first time precedes the scheduled time by less than a predetermined time period; and step (c) comprises transitioning from the awake state to the sleep state at the scheduled time without performing the required handoff when it is determined that the first time proceeds the scheduled time by less than the predetermined time period.