Patent ID: 8855704

Claim:
A method of selecting a serving sector for a user device employing a first scrambling code in a wireless communication environment, the method comprising: generating a virtual active set (VAS) in the user device that comprises a list of sectors attempting to receive and demodulate transmission signals from the user device based at least in part on knowledge of the first scrambling code, wherein the list of sectors comprises a sector assigned the first scrambling code and an advanced multi-user detection (AMUD) sector assigned a second scrambling code, and wherein the first and second scrambling codes are different; evaluating a beacon signal strength from each sector in the VAS; determining, by the user device, a sector with a highest signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the sectors in the VAS based on the evaluated beacon channel strengths; and selecting, by the user device, a sector from the list of sectors in the VAS as the serving sector based at least in part on the determined sector with the highest SINR, wherein the first scrambling code comprises a scrambling code of the nominal sector, which is employed by the user device, and is provided to all other sectors listed in the user device's VAS.