Patent ID: 7151757

Claim:
A system for wirelessly exchanging communications with at least one mobile unit, the system comprising: more than two base station units coupled to a network; wherein each base station unit is configured to communicate wirelessly with the mobile unit under a Bluetooth protocol wherein the Bluetooth protocol is a short-range, frequency hopping protocol for transmitting and receiving information during time division duplex pairs of transmit and receive slots, and wherein the pairs of transmit and receive slots repeat over a cycle of n pairs of slots; wherein each base station unit is further configured to: synchronize the transmit and receive slots with other base station units, wherein during synchronization, the base station unit: (a) selects one transmit slot from the n pairs of slots, (b) converts all transmit slots in the n pairs of slots, wherein n is a positive nonzero integer, except the one selected transmit slot, to receive slots to thereby receive synchronization information from the other base station units, (c) locks the other base station units from transmitting on the one selected transmit slot, (d) wirelessly transmits synchronization information during the one selected transmit slot, and (e) reconvert to the pairs of transmit and receive slots after synchronization; align the transmit and receive slots with respect to the other base station units based on the synchronization; and hand-off communications with the mobile unit to one of the other base station units.