METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING CELL SELECTION IN A CELLULAR COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

摘要

A base station (101) may transmit using different modulation schemes. The transmit power of a pilot signal used for cell selection varies depending on the modulation schemes currently used, for example due to varying power amplifier back-up requirements. The base station (101) comprises a modulation scheme processor (113) determining a modulation scheme distribution for a plurality of communication channels of the cell. The modulation scheme distribution reflects the current modulation scheme utilisation for the pilot signal and is indicative of the power variation of the pilot signal. A cell selection processor (115) modifies a cell selection criterion in response to the modulation scheme distribution. In particular, the cell selection processor (115) determines a cell selection power offset to be applied to measurements of the signal levels of the pilot signal. The cell selection power offset preferably corresponds to the average power variation resulting from the current modulation scheme utilisation thereby allowing this to be compensated. ® KIPO & WIPO 2007