US Patent 7299019 Cellular handoff based on traffic load sharing

A method of effecting a handoff in a cellular network. The method includes monitoring a set of frequencies listed in a mobile assisted handoff (MAHO) list for their respective signal strengths, each of the frequencies being associated with neighbor cell site, logically ordering the frequencies based on their relative signal strengths, identifying in the logically ordered set of frequencies those frequencies having a signal strength higher than a predetermined threshold, determining a level of traffic at each frequency/cell site associated with the set of frequencies, and selecting a cell site for handoff based at least in part on signal strength and in part on the level of traffic at the neighbor cell site.