Apparatus and method for handling system information in mobile telecommunications system user equipment

1. A method for handling system information in a user equipment device, the user equipment device configurable for use in a mobile telecommunications system, the method comprising:

providing a predefined order for applying system information associated with system information block (SIB) information elements (IEs), the predefined order being to act on system information associated with an IE in a SIB of type 11 (SIB 11) and then to act upon system information associated with a same type of IE in a SIB of type 12 (SIB 12);

receiving a SIB relating to measurement information of type 12 (SIB 12) which relates to connected mode and receiving a SIB relating to measurement information of type 11(SIB 11) which relates to idle and connected mode, at least one of the SIBs including an SIB IE, each IE related to a cell information list and having associated system information;

determining thereafter if a same IE type is included in each of the SIB 11 and the SIB 12; and thereafter:

responding to a determination that the same IE type is included in only one of the SIBs by applying an IE from the associated one of the SIBs; and

responding to a determination that the same IE type is included by acting upon the system information associated with the identified same IE types according to the predefined order.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the SIB IE is selected from the following SIB IEs: an IE related to an intra-frequency cell information list, an IE related to an inter-frequency cell information list and an IE related to an inter-Radio Access neTwork (RAT) cell information list.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the SIB IE is any of the following: “intra-frequency cell info list”, “inter-frequency cell info list” and “Inter-RAT cell info list”.

4. A method for handling system information in a user equipment device, the device enable for use in a UMTS mobile telecommunications system, the system comprising a network of a plurality of cells:

providing a predefined order for applying system information associated with system information block (SIB) information elements (IEs), the predefined order being to act on system information associated with an IE in a SIB of type II (SIB 11) and then to act upon system information associated with a same type of IE in a SIB of type 12 (SIB 12);

receiving a system information of type SIB 12 and of a system information of type SIB 11;

determining thereafter if each of the SIB 11 and the SIB 12 includes a same one or more IEs relating to any of “intra-frequency cell info list”, “inter-frequency cell info list” and “Inter-RAT cell info list”; and thereafter:

responding to a determination that the same IE type is included in only one of the SIBs, by applying an IE from the associated one of the SIBs; and

responding to a determination that each of the SIB 11 and SIB 12 includes the same IEs by acting upon the system information associated with the SIB IE in SIB 11 and then applying the system information associated with the corresponding SIB IE in SIB 12, according to the predefined order.

5. A user equipment device (UE) configurable for use in a mobile telecommunications system, the UE comprising:

a microprocessor operably connected to memory, the memory comprising software disposed therein, the software configured to be run by the microprocessor, where the microprocessor running the software is configured to carry out at least the following operations:

providing a predefined order for applying system information associated with system information block (SIB) information elements (IEs), the predefined order being to act on system information associated with an IE in a SIB of type II (SIB 11) and then to act upon system information associated with a same type of IE in a SIB of type 12 (SIB 12);

receiving a SIB relating to measurement information of type 11 (SIB 11) which relates to idle and connected mode and receiving a SIB relating to measurement information of type 12 (SIB 12) which relates to connected mode, at least one of the SIBs including an SIB IE, each IE related to a cell information list and having associated system information;

determining thereafter if a same IE type is included in each of the SIB 11 and the SIB 12;

responding to a determination that the same IE type is included in only one of the SIBs by applying an IE from the associated one of the SIBs; and thereafter responding to a determination that the same IE type is included by acting upon the system information associated with the identified same IE types according to the predefined order.

6. The device of claim 5 where the same cell information list IE is related to one of: “intra-frequency cell info list”, “inter-frequency cell info list” and “Inter-RAT cell info list”.