Patent ID: 7620395

Claim:
A method of determining a most suitable cell during network acquisition for a cellular communications device, based on a characteristic of signals received from a plurality of cells, the signals from each cell being provided over a band of frequencies, said method comprising: taking a series of measurements of said characteristics by said cellular communication device for each frequency of a first frequency band, so as to obtain an average measurement value of said characteristic for each frequency of said first frequency band, wherein the series of measurements on said first frequency band are equally spaced in time, with equal time intervals therebetween; and during the time intervals between measurements for said first frequency band, taking a series of measurements of said characteristic for each frequency of a second frequency band, wherein said first and second frequency bands operate in different operating modes, wherein said series of measurements on said first frequency band that is equally spaced in time is repeated a predetermined number of times to calculate said average measurement for each said frequency, wherein, before a completion of said predetermined number of times occurs and before said average measurement value is obtained, a second stage search operation processing is initiated for at least one detected strong signal.