Mobile communication terminal and cell search circuit

1. A mobile communication terminal used in a cellular mobile communication system, comprising:

a module configured to measure, at a first interval between successive searches, a reception quality of a radio signal transmitted from an active base station serving the mobile communication terminal in a standby mode;

a module configured to evaluate the measured reception quality;

a module configured to change the first interval between successive searches to a second interval, different from the first interval, on the basis of an evaluation result of the reception quality;

a module configured to store the measured reception quality; and

a filtering module configured to execute filtering processing for the measured latest reception quality and a stored past reception quality on the basis of an evaluation result of the reception quality by the evaluation module and input the reception qualities that have undergone the filtering processinq to the evaluation module,

wherein the reception quality evaluation module determines whether the measured reception quality is in a satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than a threshold value,

when the measured reception quality has changed from a degraded state wherein the reception quality is less than the threshold value to the satisfactory state, the interval change module changes the first interval to the second interval longer than the first interval, and

wherein the evaluation module determines whether the measured reception guality is in a satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than a threshold value, and when the evaluation module evaluates that the reception quality is in the satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than the threshold value, the filtering module selects the measured latest reception quality and inputs the latest reception quality to the evaluation module, and when the evaluation module evaluates that the reception quality is in a degraded state wherein the reception guality is less than the threshold value, the filtering module selects both the measured latest reception quality and the stored past reception quality, calculates a reception quality, and inputs the calculated reception guality to the evaluation module.

2. A terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the filtering module weights the selected latest and past reception qualities by using different weight coefficients and calculates the reception quality based on the weighted reception qualities.

3. A terminal according to claim 1 , wherein when the evaluation module evaluates that the reception quality is in the degraded state wherein the reception quality is less than the threshold value, the filtering module adaptively changes the number of past reception qualities to be used for the calculation of the reception quality in accordance with a level of degradation.

4. A terminal according to claim 1 , wherein when the evaluation module evaluates that the reception quality is in the degraded state wherein the reception quality is less than the threshold value, the filtering module selects a plurality of past reception qualities to be used for the calculation of the reception quality and weights the plurality of selected past reception qualities by using weight coefficients which become larger as a measurement timing becomes later.

5. A terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the filtering module executes the filtering processing for the latest and past reception qualities by selection by a switch.

6. A terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the filtering module executes the filtering processing for the latest and past reception qualities by changing a weight coefficient to be given to the reception quality.

7. The terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the interval changing module has a function of changing an interval rate of cell search for the active base station in which synchronization has been established with the mobile communication terminal, and for neighboring base stations located around the active base station.

8. A cell search circuit used in a mobile communication terminal, comprising:

a module configured to measure, at a first interval between successive searches, a reception quality of a radio signal transmitted from an active base station serving the mobile communication terminal in a standby mode;

a module configured to evaluate the measured reception quality;

a module configured to change the first interval between successive searches to a second interval, different from the first interval, on the basis of an evaluation result of the reception quality;

a module configured to store the measured reception quality; and

a filtering module configured to execute filtering processing for measured latest reception quality and a stored past reception quality on the basis of an evaluation result of the reception quality by the evaluation module and input the reception qualities that have underqone the filtering processing to the evaluation module,

wherein the reception quality evaluation module determines whether the measured reception quality is in a satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than a threshold value,

when the measured reception quality has changed from a degraded state wherein the reception quality is less than the threshold value to the satisfactory state, the interval change module changes the first interval to the second interval longer than the first interval, and

wherein the evaluation module determines whether the measured reception quality is in a satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than a threshold value, and when the evaluation module evaluates that the reception quality is in the satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than the threshold value, the filtering module selects the measured latest reception quality and inputs the latest reception quality to the evaluation module, and when the evaluation module evaluates that the reception quality is in a degraded state wherein the reception quality is less than the threshold value, the filtering module selects both the measured latest reception quality and the stored past reception quality, calculates a reception quality, and inputs the calculated reception quality to the evaluation module.

9. A mobile communication terminal used in a cellular mobile communication system, comprising:

a module configured to measure, at a first interval between successive searches, a reception quality of a radio signal transmitted from an active base station serving the mobile communication terminal in a standby mode;

a module configured to evaluate the measured reception quality; and

a module configured to change the first interval between successive searches to a second interval, different from the first interval, on the basis of an evaluation result of the reception quality,

wherein the reception quality evaluation module determines whether the measured reception quality is in a satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than a threshold value,

when the measured reception quality has changed from the satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than the threshold value to a degraded state, the interval change module changes the first interval to the second interval shorter than the first interval, and

wherein the first interval and the second interval are based on a ratio of number of cell search cycles for the active base station to a number of cell search cycles for neighboring base stations.

10. A cell search circuit used in a mobile communication terminal, comprising:

a module configured to measure, at a first interval between successive searches, a reception quality of a radio signal transmitted from an active base station serving the mobile communication terminal in a standby mode;

a module configured to evaluate the measured reception quality; and

a module configured to change the first interval between successive searches to a second interval, different from the first interval, on the basis of an evaluation result of the reception quality,

wherein the reception quality evaluation module determines whether the measured reception quality is in a satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than a threshold value,

when the measured reception quality has changed from the satisfactory state wherein the reception quality is more than the threshold value to a degraded state, the interval change module changes the first interval to the second interval shorter than the first interval, and

wherein the first interval and the second interval are based on a ratio of number of cell search cycles for the active base station to a number of cell search cycles for neighboring base stations.