Patent ID: 8374633

Claim:
A method for measuring a time difference of arrival measurement in a mobile network, comprising: receiving a muting status indication in at least one of a system information block and a positioning assistance data set of a radio resource control signal; making a status determination of a muting status of a neighbor base station, where the status determination includes inferring that the muting status is inactive based on the received muting status indication; receiving a positioning reference signal transmitted from the neighbor base station; determining a time difference of arrival of the neighbor base station transmission based on the received positioning reference signal and based on the muting status; and sending a time difference of arrival report to the serving base station based on the determined time difference of arrival, wherein receiving a muting status indication comprises receiving a positioning assistance data from a serving base station, wherein the positioning assistance data includes at least a physical cell identifier corresponding to a neighbor base station, a muting status applicable to a positioning reference signal transmission from the neighbor base station, and a neighbor cell search offset applicable to a positioning reference signal transmission from the neighbor base station, where the muting status applicable to the positioning reference signal transmission from the neighbor base station follows a scheduled pattern, wherein making a status determination comprises making a status determination of a muting status of the positioning reference signal transmission from the neighbor base station based on the positioning assistance data, where the status determination includes inferring that the muting of positioning reference signal transmission from the neighbor base station is inactive, and wherein determining a time difference of arrival comprises determining a time difference of arrival of the neighbor base station transmission based on the received positioning reference signal, the muting status, and the neighbor cell search offset.