Patent ID: 8681736

Claim:
A method in a communication system of adapting a time period based on signal measurements, comprising: obtaining a first measurement of a signal quality; comparing the first measurement to a plurality of different trigger thresholds that respectively correspond to a plurality of quality scaling factors (QSFs); if the first measurement passes a trigger threshold, initiating measurement of a time period; and adapting a length of the time period based on the first measurement of the signal quality by at least scaling the time period according to one of the QSFs based on a comparison of the first measurement to the plurality of different trigger thresholds, wherein the time period is scaled according to: Adapted TtT=QSF(Quality)×TtT Eq. 1 in which Adapted TtT is a scaled length of the time period, QSF(Quality) indicates a functional dependence of the QSF on signal quality, and TtT is a length of the time period before scaling; and the QSF used for scaling corresponds to the trigger threshold passed by the first measurement; wherein the length of the time period is adapted based on an amount that the first measurement passes a trigger threshold; and wherein the length of the time period is adapted according to: Adapted TtT=QSF(Quality)×(1−TCP)×TtT Eq. 2 in which TCP is a threshold condition penetration level.