Patent ID: 8559387

Claim:
An access node, comprising: a network connectivity device configured to communicate with a mobile station operating on a second radio access technology (RAT) and being unaware of a cell of a first RAT, wherein the network connectivity device is configured to communicate a permission to the mobile station to attempt to identify a cell of the first RAT in the absence of communicating to the mobile station a first radio access type neighbour cell list for a serving cell of the second RAT, the permission being communicated after the mobile station terminates a circuit switched (CS) service that was established as a result of a CS fallback operation from a cell of the first RAT, wherein the first RAT comprises an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), the network connectivity device further configured to communicate an E-UTRAN configuration status bit that in one state indicates an absence of neighbouring E-UTRAN cells when no E-UTRAN cells are available to the mobile station.