Patent ID: 7369501

Claim:
A method for controlling the data transmission rate in a mobile communication system during handoff for communicating between a network and a mobile station, the method comprising the steps of: determining an active set with respect to the mobile station communicating with the base station at a first data transmission rate, wherein the active set comprises a serving base station and at least one non-serving base station and the first data transmission rate is associated with an authorized traffic-to-pilot power ratio; receiving, at the mobile station, a first rate control parameter provided by the serving base station and a second rate control parameter provided by the at least one non-serving base station; updating, in the mobile station, the authorized traffic-to-pilot power ratio based on the first and the second rate control parameters; and determining a second data transmission rate based on the updated authorized traffic-to-pilot power ratio, the second data transmission rate one of an increased rate with respect to the first data transmission rate, a decreased rate with respect to the first data transmission rate and the same rate as the first data transmission rate, wherein the first rate control parameter comprises one of a first state associated with increasing the authorized traffic-to-pilot power ratio, a second state associated with decreasing the authorized traffic-to-pilot power ratio and a third state associated with maintaining the authorized traffic-to-pilot power ratio, and the second rate control parameter comprises a fourth state associated with decreasing the authorized traffic-to-pilot power ratio.