Method and system for handoff between an asynchronous CDMA base station and a synchronous CDMA base station

A method for establishing a handoff of a wireless mobile station from an asynchronous serving base station to a synchronous target base station comprising the steps of:

• evaluating a timing error associated with the asynchronous serving base station and the synchronous target base station;
• estimating a search window for use in searching for a synchronous pilot pseudonumber (PN) signal based on said timing error;
• and
• searching for the pilot PN signal within said search window.

A method for establishing a handoff in a wireless network comprising an asynchronous serving base station and a synchronous target base station, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a message from a first wireless mobile station indicating a first system time associated with the asynchronous serving base station and indicating a second system time associated with the synchronous target base station;
• generating, based on said first system time and said second system time a timing error value;
• and
• sending a neighbor list to a wireless mobile station, the neighbor list comprising the timing error value.

A method for establishing a handoff of a wireless mobile station from a serving base station to an asynchronous target base station comprising the steps of:

• evaluating a timing error associated with the asynchronous target base station;
• estimating a search window for use in searching for an asynchronous pilot code based on said timing error;
• and
• searching for the asynchronous pilot code within said search window.