Apparatus for improving call transition efficiency in a wireless communication system

1. A mobile apparatus for use in a wireless cellular-based communication system, said apparatus comprising:

(a) means for conducting a wireless cellular-based call by communicating with a first base station; and

(b) means for automatically performing the following steps in response to a completion of the wireless cellular-based call:

(i) storing overhead information specifically pertaining to the first base station;

(ii) selecting a second base station with which to communicate, based on a comparison of plural available base stations;

(iii) determining whether the second base station is identical to the first base station; and

(iv) utilizing the stored overhead information for communicating with the second base station if and only if the second base station is identical to the first base station.

2. A mobile apparatus for use in a wireless cellular-based communication system, said apparatus comprising:

(a) means for conducting a wireless cellular-based call by communicating with a first base station; and

(b) means fox automatically performing the following steps in response to a completion of the wireless cellular-based call;

(i) storing overhead information specifically pertaining to the first base station;

(ii) selectin a second base station with which to communicate, based on a comparison of plural available base stations;

(iii) determining whether the second base station is identical to the first base station; and

(iv) utilizing the stored overhead information for communicating with the second base station if and only if the second base station is identical to the first base station, wherein said mobile apparatus operates according to an IS2000 Wireless Standard that includes an Initialization state and an idle state, and wherein said step (ii) is performed in the Initialization state.

3. A mobile apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the overhead information includes at least two of: a search window, an available channel, a frequency to use and a pseudo-random noise (PN) code offset.

4. A mobile apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the overhead information includes a pseudo-random noise (PN) code offset.

5. A mobile apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the overhead information includes a frequency to use.

6. A mobile apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said means (b) further performs the following steps in response to the completion of the wireless cellular-based call: determining how current the stored overhead information is; and conditioning utilization of the stored overhead information for communicating with the second base station in step (iv) on how current the stored overhead information is.

7. A mobile apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the overhead information is not used if more than approximately 10 minutes old.

8. A mobile apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said step (ii) comprises selecting from among the plural base stations based on signal power.

9. A mobile apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the wireless cellular-based call is a packet data call.

10. A mobile apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein utilizing the stored overhead information in step (iv) comprises calculating channel parameters based on the stored overhead information.

11. A mobile apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the communicating in step (iv) comprises monitoring transmissions from the second base station for incoming calls.

12. A mobile apparatus for use in a wireless cellular-based communication system, said apparatus comprising:

(a) means for monitoring transmissions from a first base station for incoming calls, said monitoring being performed by using base-station information that is specific to the first base station;

(b) means for conducting a wireless cellular-based call by communicating with the first base station; and

(c) means for directly resuming the monitoring of transmissions from the first base station for incoming calls, said monitoring being performed by using the base-station information for the first base station, in response to a completion of the wireless cellular-based call,

wherein said mobile apparatus does not clear the base-station information upon completion of the wireless cellular-based call,

wherein the base-station information includes at least two of: a search window, an available channel, a frequency to use and a pseudo-random noise (PN) code offset.

13. A mobile apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the base-station information includes a pseudo-random noise (PN) code offset.

14. A mobile apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the base-station information includes a frequency to use.

15. A mobile apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein said means (c) further performs the following steps in response to the completion of the wireless cellular-based call: determining how current the base-station information is; and conditioning the directly resuming monitoring of transmissions from the first base station by said means (c) on how current the base-station information is.

16. A mobile apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein said mobile apparatus does not directly resume monitoring transmissions from the first base station by said means (c) if the base-station information is more than approximately 10 minutes old.

17. A mobile apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the wireless cellular-based call is a packet data call.

18. A mobile apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein said mobile apparatus operates according to an IS2000 Wireless Standard that includes an Initialization state and an idle state, and wherein said means (c) directly returns to the idle state upon completion of the wireless cellular-based call.