METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING NETWORK ENTRY DURING HANDOFFS IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK

摘要

A method and apparatus for optimizing network entry during handoffs in a wireless communication network (100) includes receiving (302) target ranging codes from a serving network node (220), wherein each of the target ranging codes identifies one of a plurality of target network nodes. A handoff request is transmitted (304) to the serving network node (220), wherein the handoff request indicates a target ranging code (230) identifying at least one of the plurality of target network nodes. In reply to the handoff request, a handoff request response is received (310) from the serving network node that includes a unique handoff ranging code, wherein the unique handoff ranging code is different from the target ranging code. After receiving the handoff request response, ranging is initiated using the unique handoff ranging code (316) with the identified target network node (230).