Patent ID: 8855634

Claim:
A method for optimizing the operational times and cell exchange performance of mobile terminals in a mobile communication network having adjacent radio cells, comprising: under the control of a computer program having a program code stored in and executed in a mobile terminal operating in the mobile communication network, based on attempts by the mobile terminal to gain access to individual radio cells and having access rejected the terminal temporarily storing network specific characteristics for adjacent radio cells within a PLMN to which access has been denied and are therefore unsuitable for cell exchange when the mobile communication network is in operation and using said characteristics as decision criteria for cell exchange; the mobile terminal storing a plurality of lists of specific said unsuitable target radio cells in the PLMN to which attempted access by the mobile terminal has been denied, which prevents further measurements of such potential target radio cells of adjacent radio cells configured by a radio channel that are unsuitable candidates for cell exchange; the plurality of lists including a first list and a second list having different informational content than the first list, the first list including location area identities of forbidden location areas for roaming within the PLMN in which a location area update for an initiated cell exchange has been rejected, and the second list including identities of adjacent radio cells within the location areas of the PLMN in which a location area update failed or in which the radio cells that a mobile terminal has measured, but that could not be used for a cell exchange because they belong to a location area included on the first list of forbidden location areas for roaming; the mobile terminal using the different first and second lists to optimize operational time by avoiding unnecessary identification of adjacent radio cells in the PLMN, suppressing radio measurements and identification procedures of such unsuitable target cells on the first and second lists.