Patent ID: 8265039

Claim:
A method for facilitating handoff operations in a wireless communication device, the method comprising: receiving, by a wireless communication device, a plurality of pilot signals, wherein the plurality of pilot signals includes an active pilot signal corresponding to an active base station serving the device and one or more candidate pilot signals corresponding to one or more candidate base stations for receiving a handoff for serving the device; selecting at least one nominal active pilot signal strength value for comparison with the active pilot signal; classifying the one or more candidate pilot signals into a respective one of a plurality of tiers based on a handoff factor corresponding to the at least one candidate pilot signal, wherein the plurality of tiers are divided according to one or more handoff factors; and selecting at least one threshold handoff value for each of the plurality of tiers for use in determining whether to handoff the call, wherein the at least one threshold handoff value depends on one of the at least one nominal active pilot signal strength values.