SYNCHRONIZATION OF FORWARD LINK BASE STATION POWER LEVELS DURING HANDOFF BETWEEN BASE STATION SECTORS IN A MOBILE RADIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

摘要

A method and system for communicating a frame of information according to both a continuous transmit format and a discontinuous transmit format. The present invention contemplates transmitting one or more data rates in either a continuous transmit mode (814) or a discontinuous transmit mode (812). The present invention contemplates continuous tranmissions only for certain data rates, and selection between continuous and discontinuous transmission for other data rates (810). Frames transmitted in the discontinuous transmit mode may be transmitted at a higher transmit power than in the continuous transmit mode (820). In one embodiment, the information is transmitted at a fifty-percent duty cycle during the second half of the frame when in the discontinuous transmit mode (808). During periods of non-transmission, an alternative system may be searched for as a possible candidate for hard handoff (816).