Patent ID: 8009595

Claim:
A method for controlling a transmit power of a mobile user equipment being in radio communication with at least one base station of a wireless communication system, wherein the transmit power of the user equipment is normally controlled by the communication system via power control commands, the method comprising: in response to ascertaining that a handover event has been triggered, conditionally overriding said power control commands from the base station, wherein overriding said power control commands from the base station comprises increasing the transmit power emitted by the user equipment before or during sending of a handover message to a base station, the handover message requesting an action in the communication system and requiring a response from the base station, said increasing being performed by the user equipment irrespective of said power control commands from the base station, and resuming normal operation in the user equipment before performing said requested action, wherein normal operation comprises controlling the transmit power of the user equipment in accordance with the power control commands of the communication system, wherein the transmit power of the user equipment is, during normal operation in the user equipment, controlled by a closed loop power control system, arranged so that the transmission results in a signal-to-interference ratio value equal to a target signal-to-interference ratio value; the method further comprises: adjusting the closed loop power control system into an open loop power control system, for increasing the transmit power during said overriding of said power control commands from the base station, wherein the power control system emits power control signals for increasing or decreasing the power emitted by the user equipment, and the method further comprises: generating, by the user equipment, a number of power increase signals, in order to initially increase the transmit power during open loop control.