Method of scheduling signal quality measurements in a TDMA communication system

Claim 2

In a transceiver operating in a time division multiple access communication system, the transceiver having a primary server and at least one other potential server, the transceiver having communication frames with defined transmit slots and defined receive slots for communication with the primary server, a method of scheduling signal quality measurements from the at least one other potential server, comprising the steps of: identifying mandatory transmit slots from among the defined transmit slots according to a particular specification; developing a schedule having regular intervals governing signal quality measurements over a plurality of communication frames for the at least one other potential server based at least in part on the particular specification for identifying mandatory transmit slots; and shifting the schedule in its entirety whenever the schedule causes a signal quality measurement to coincide with a mandatory transmit slot.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein the particular specification is downloaded from the primary server to the transceiver.

Claim 4

In a time division multiple access communication system having communication frames with corresponding transmit time slots allocated to a transceiver, the transmit time slots including mandatory transmit slots, a method in the transceiver, of scheduling signal based measurements for a plurality of neighbor cells, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining a timing pattern for the mandatory transmit slots; upon obtaining the timing pattern, developing a schedule of intervals for taking neighbor cell signal based measurements for the plurality of neighbor cells over a plurality of communication frames; developing the schedule to ensure that neighbor cell signal based measurement do not coincide with the mandatory transmit slots during any of the plurality of communication frames; and performing neighbor cell signal based measurements for the plurality of neighbor cells according to the scheduled.

Claim 5

In a time division multiple access communication system having communication frames with corresponding transmit time slots allocated to a transceiver, the transmit time slots including mandatory transmit slots, a method in the transceiver, of scheduling signal based measurements for a plurality of neighbor cells, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining a timing pattern for the mandatory transmit slots; upon obtaining the timing pattern, developing a schedule of intervals for taking neighbor cell signal based measurements for the plurality of neighbor cells over a plurality of communication frames; developing the schedule to ensure that neighbor cell signal based measurement do not coincide with the mandatory transmit slots during any of the plurality of communication frames; and performing neighbor cell signal based measurements for the plurality of neighbor cells according to the scheduled.

Claim 6

In a time division multiple access communication system having communication frames with corresponding transmit time slots allocated to a transceiver, the transmit time slots including mandatory transmit slots, a method in the transceiver, comprising the steps of: determining a timing pattern for the mandatory transmit slots; and taking neighbor cell signal based measurements according to a schedule shifted based at least in part on the timing pattern of the mandatory transmit slots, including the steps of: determining a measurement periodicity, with respect to the communication frames, for the neighbor cell measurements; determining a mandatory transmit slot periodicity with respect to the communication frames; delaying initiation of neighbor cell signal based measurements until a subsequent communication frame, when: the transmit time slot for a current communication frame is a mandatory time slot; and the measurement periodicity is an integral multiple of the mandatory transmit slot periodicity.

Claim 7

In a time division multiple access communication system having communication frames with corresponding transmit time slots allocated to a transceiver, the transmit time slots including mandatory transmit slots, a method in the transceiver, comprising the steps of: determining a timing pattern for the mandatory transmit slots; and taking neighbor cell signal based measurements according to a schedule shifted based at least in part on the timing pattern of the mandatory transmit slots, including the steps of: determining a measurement periodicity, with respect to the communication frames, for the neighbor cell measurements; determining a mandatory transmit slot periodicity with respect to the communication frames; delaying initiation of neighbor cell signal based measurements until a subsequent communication frame, when: the transmit time slot for a current communication frame is a mandatory time slot; and the measurement periodicity is an integral multiple of the mandatory transmit slot periodicity.

Claim 8

In a time division multiple access communication system having communication frames with corresponding transmit time slots allocated to a transceiver, the transmit time slot including mandatory transmit slots, a method in the transceiver, comprising the steps of: determining a timing pattern for the mandatory transmit slots; and taking neighbor cell signal based measurements according to a schedule shifted based at least in part on the timing pattern of the mandatory transmit slots, including the steps of: determining a measurement periodicity, with respect to the communication frames, for the neighbor cell signal based measurements; determining a mandatory transmit slot periodicity with respect to the communication frames; delaying initiation of neighbor cell signal based measurements until a subsequent communication frame, when: the transmit time slot for a current communication frame is a mandatory time slot; and the mandatory transmit slot periodicity is a factor of the measurement periodicity.

Claim 9

In a time division multiple access communication system having communication frames with corresponding transmit time slots allocated to a transceiver, the transmit time slot including mandatory transmit slots, a method in the transceiver, comprising the steps of: determining a timing pattern for the mandatory transmit slots; and taking neighbor cell signal based measurements according to a schedule shifted based at least in part on the timing pattern of the mandatory transmit slots, including the steps of: determining a measurement periodicity, with respect to the communication frames, for the neighbor cell signal based measurements; determining a mandatory transmit slot periodicity with respect to the communication frames; delaying initiation of neighbor cell signal based measurements until a subsequent communication frame, when: the transmit time slot for a current communication frame is a mandatory time slot; and the mandatory transmit slot periodicity is a factor of the measurement periodicity.

Claim 10

In a time division multiple access communication system having communication frames with corresponding transmit time slots allocated to a transceiver, the transmit time slots including mandatory transmit slots, a method in the transceiver, comprising the steps of: determining a timing pattern for the mandatory transmit slots; and taking neighbor cell signal based measurements according to a schedule shifted based at least in part on the timing pattern of the mandatory transmit slot, including the steps of: determining a measurement periodicity, with respect to the communication frames, for the neighbor cell signal based measurements; determining a mandatory transmit slot periodicity with respect to the communication frames; delaying initiation of neighbor cell signal based measurements until a subsequent communication frame, when; the transmit time slot for a current communication frame is a mandatory time slot; the mandatory transmit slot periodicity is an integral multiple of the measurement periodicity, or the measurement periodicity is an integral multiple of the mandatory transmit slot periodicity; the mandatory transmit slot periodicity is not equal to one; and the measurement periodicity is not equal to one.

Claim 11

In a time division multiple access communication system having communication frames with corresponding transmit time slots allocated to a transceiver, the transmit time slots including mandatory transmit slots, a method in the transceiver, comprising the steps of: determining a timing pattern for the mandatory transmit slots; and taking neighbor cell signal based measurements according to a schedule shifted based at least in part on the timing pattern of the mandatory transmit slot, including the steps of: determining a measurement periodicity, with respect to the communication frames, for the neighbor cell signal based measurements; determining a mandatory transmit slot periodicity with respect to the communication frames; delaying initiation of neighbor cell signal based measurements until a subsequent communication frame, when; the transmit time slot for a current communication frame is a mandatory time slot; the mandatory transmit slot periodicity is an integral multiple of the measurement periodicity, or the measurement periodicity is an integral multiple of the mandatory transmit slot periodicity; the mandatory transmit slot periodicity is not equal to one; and the measurement periodicity is not equal to one.