Patent ID: 8462651

Claim:
A method comprising: a base station detecting initiation of a silence interval for a reverse-link air interface, wherein one or more access terminals are synchronized with the base station to detect initiation of the silence interval, and wherein each of the one or more access terminals refrain from transmitting communications on the reverse-link air interface during the silence interval unless transmitting an access probe to initiate an emergency communication; during the silence interval, the base station initiating a measurement; and during the silence interval, the base station monitoring the reverse-link air interface to determine whether any of the one or more access terminals transmitted the access probe via the reverse-link air interface during the silence interval, wherein if the base station determines that at least one of the one or more access terminals transmitted the access probe via the reverse-link air interface during the silence interval, then the base station terminating the measurement before completion of the measurement, and wherein if the base station determines that the one or more access terminals did not transmit the access probe via the reverse-link air interface during the silence interval, then the base station completing the measurement during the silence interval.