Qualcomm Incorporated

Wen Jing New

Paul T Williamson

Jan C Ault

John Richard Sorenson

Parvathanathan Subrahmanya

Bhupesh Manoharlal Umatt

Ashok Bhatia

Messay Amerga

James A Hutchison, Iv

Baaziz Achour

Robbin D Hughes

Subramanya P Rao

Eric John Lekven

Isaac Ta-yan Siu

Henti Tung

Vikas Nagpal

Mark D Levin

Yugandhar Chiniga

Parvathanathan Subrahamanya

Methods and apparatus are presented to optimize the likelihood of a successful acquisition of frame timing information of an asynchronous base station by providing a mechanism that copes with short-term degradations caused by a dynamic radio environment. An acquisition search is performed in a plurality of stages, wherein a declaration indicating a failure at a stage is delayed through the use of a verification stage. The verification stage can be repeated a variable number of times. The number of repetitions of the verification stage can be dependent upon the stage at which the failure occurred. Declaration of failure occurs only after the predetermined number of verification searches have been performed.

Verification methods and apparatus for improving acquisition searches of asynchronous cells

Techniques for reducing the time required for frequency scan in acquisition are disclosed. In one aspect, received power measurements are made at one or more of the possible carrier frequencies and system search is performed on one or more of those frequencies when the power measurement exceeds a threshold. In another aspect, the power is measured at one or more frequencies in a band of frequencies surrounding a frequency at which the measured power exceeded a threshold. If the measured power at one or more of the frequencies in the band exceeds a second threshold, a system search is performed at one or more of those frequencies. In yet another aspect, frequencies meeting certain criteria are sorted in order of measured power prior to system search or further power measurement, and subsequent processing is performed in order of descending measured power. Various other aspects are also presented. These aspects have the benefit of reducing acquisition time, which results in faster system access and allows for more efficient use of system resources.

Frequency scan for CDMA acquisition

Methods and apparatus are presented for scheduling asynchronous neighboring cells within a wireless communication system. The Neighbor Set is apportioned into a Synchronated Neighbor Set and an Asynchronous Neighbor Set. Rather than performing a full frame timing acquisition search upon the Neighbor Set, only portions of the full frame timing acquisition search are selectively applied to the Asynchronous Neighbor Set. In addition, a synchronous search is performed on the Synchronated Neighbor Set.

Conducting searches amidst asynchronous cells of a communication system

Techniques to efficiently process paging channels in an asynchronous wireless communication system. In one aspect, if the base stations are not synchronized with each other and a remote terminal's designated page time is different from base station to base station, the remote terminal can wake up based on the earliest base station in a reacquisition search list that includes candidate base stations to which the remote terminal may be handed off. In another aspect, the criteria to select base stations for evaluation as reacquisition targets may be based on the received power of the base stations as well as their timing, both of which may be made relative to that of a preferred base station. In yet another aspect, the remote terminal may wake up multiple times in a particular paging cycle (i.e., a frame cycle or a DRX cycle) if there are one or more candidates base station to which the remote terminal may be handed off.

Method and apparatus for performing idle mode reacquisition and handoff in an asynchronous communication system

A system for facilitating the acquisition of a most desirable wireless service for a wireless phone. The system includes a scanning mechanism for periodically scanning for a signal indicative of a wireless service having a coverage area that overlaps one or more coverage areas of other wireless services. A service acquisition mechanism acquires the wireless service or one of the other wireless services based on predetermined selection criteria and the signal. More specifically, the present invention includes a wireless phone having a first mechanism for determining if a detected system, i.e., service is associated with a coverage area that overlaps one or more coverage areas of different systems. A second mechanism compares the different systems to the detected system and selects a preferred system based on the comparison. A third mechanism acquires the preferred system. In the specific embodiment, the wireless phone includes a computer that runs software for implementing the first, second, and third mechanisms.

Techniques for facilitating optimal service acquisition

A method and apparatus for acquiring an emergency service from one or more candidate mobile radio communication systems. An attempt is made by the mobile radio unit to acquire normal non-emergency service. If the attempt of acquiring normal non-emergency services fails and the user needs to originate an emergency call, an emergency scan list containing one or more candidate mobile radio communication systems is scanned, and an attempt is made to acquire emergency service from one of these systems. The emergency scan list is different from the normal preferred roaming list stored in the mobile radio unit. Next, the invention originates an emergency call in accordance with the service acquired from the emergency scan list.

Method and apparatus for acquiring emergency service in a mobile radio communication system

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Wen Jing New