Patent ID: 8886201

Claim:
A method for wireless communications, comprising: operating a macro-cell base station to provide wireless service to wireless devices in a geographical coverage area; receiving, from a wireless device, a message indicative of the wireless device's reception of a base station radio signal, the message comprising a base station identifier; controlling, using a core network server, multiple femto-cell base stations that are assigned to the base station identifier to assign resources to communication with the wireless device, communicate null forward traffic frames with the wireless device and attempt communication with the wireless device, wherein the multiple femto-cell base stations provide wireless service in different nonadjacent portions of the geographical coverage area; transferring the wireless device from the macro-cell base station to a femto-cell base station of the multiple femto-cell base stations that reports a reception of the radio signal from the wireless device; and sending a command from the core network server to remaining base stations of the multiple femto-cell base stations to de-allocate resource allocated to wireless device handoff.