Apparatus and method for high priority search on RRC state change

1. A user equipment comprising:

transceiver circuitry configured to operate in cells associated with at least one radio access technology (RAT) network; and

a controller configured to perform neighbour cell searches, wherein the controller is further configured to determine when the user equipment enters a first RRC state from a second RRC state and, in response to the determination, to determine whether the time period since a most recent search is greater than a threshold value.

2. The user equipment as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the most recent search was a search for higher priority cells operating on a first carrier frequency.

3. The user equipment as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the first RRC state is one of at least: CELL_PCH, URA_PCH and IDLE.

4. The user equipment as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the second RRC state is one of at least CELL_FACH and CELL_DCH.

5. The user equipment as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the controller, in response to a determination that the time period since the most recent search is greater than the threshold value, is further configured to perform a new search.

6. The user equipment as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether the user equipment has changed cells since the most recent search was performed.

7. The user equipment as set forth in claim 6 , wherein the controller, in response to a determination that the user equipment has not changed cells since the most recent search was performed, is further configured to determine whether the time period since the most recent search is greater than a threshold value.

8. The user equipment as set forth in claim 7 , wherein the controller, in response to a determination that the time period since the most recent search is greater than the threshold value, is further configured to perform a new search.

9. The user equipment as set forth in claim 8 , wherein the most recent search searched for higher priority cells operating on a first carrier frequency.

10. A method of operating a user equipment configured to operate in cells associated with at least one radio access technology (RAT) network, the method comprising:

performing a search for neighbour cells;

determining when the user equipment enters a first RRC state from a second RRC state; and

in response to the determination, determining whether a time period since a most recent search is greater than a threshold value.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10 , wherein the most recent search was a search for higher priority cells operating on a first carrier frequency.

12. The method as set forth in claim 10 , wherein the first RRC state is one of at least: CELL_PCH, URA_PCH and IDLE.

13. The method as set forth in claim 10 , wherein the second RRC state is one of at least CELL_FACH and CELL_DCH.

14. The method as set forth in claim 10 , further comprising, in response to a determination that the time period since the most recent search is greater than the threshold value, performing a new search.

15. The method as set forth in claim 10 , further comprising determining whether the user equipment has changed cells since the most recent search was performed.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15 , further comprising, in response to a determination that the user equipment has not changed cells since the most recent search was performed, determining whether the time period since the most recent search is greater than a threshold value.

17. The method as set forth in claim 16 , further comprising, in response to a determination that the time period since the most recent search is greater than the threshold value, performing a new search.

18. The method as set forth in claim 10 , wherein the most recent search searched for higher priority cells operating on a first carrier frequency.