A METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR PROVIDING INCREASED FLEXIBILITY IN A COMBINED TDMA/FDMA RADIO COMMUNICATION NETWORK

摘要

The invention provides a communication unit (MS1), communicating with a first radio base station (BTS1) on a dedicated communication channel (CH1) in a radio communication network (NET1) using a combination of TDMA and FDMA, with an increased flexibility in terms of when the communication unit (MS1) can receive signals from a second base station (BTS4). The increased flexibility is achieved by the communication unit (MS1) selecting some of the time slots comprising the dedicated communication channel (CH1) and ignoring to communicate with the first radio base station in these selected time slots and instead using them to receive signals (BCCH4) from the second radio base station (BTS4). In a GSM mobile station (MS1) according to the invention, the 'stolen' time slots are used for identification of a neighbouring base tranceiver station (BTS4), i.e. for detection and decoding of the frequency correction channel and synchronization channel, resulting in faster identification and thus enabling the mobile station (MS1) to perform handover faster.