Communications system

1. A method performed by a communications node of an E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) communications system, the method comprising:

changing handover and/or cell reselection parameters of an E-UTRAN cell;

generating a message for a neighboring cell of a different Radio Access Technology (RAT), another RAT, the message including at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter for use in determining new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the neighboring cell of the other RAT; and

sending the message to a base station operating the neighboring cell of the other RAT.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the generating and sending are performed prior to the changing.

3. The method according to claim 1 , performed by a E-UTRAN cell.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said changing changes the threshold values transmitted by the cell that are used by mobile communications devices to control measurements performed by the mobile communications devices as part of a handover or cell reselection process.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said threshold values that are changed include one or more of: a threshold used to detect when the mobile device should consider other cells to which to handover; and a threshold used to define a low signal quality for the serving cell.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter included in the message comprises the new handover and/or cell selection parameters for the other RAT cell.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter included in the message comprises data identifying the changes made to the handover and/or cell reselection parameters of the E-UTRAN cell.

8. A method performed by a base station of a non E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) cell, the method comprising:

transmitting handover and/or cell reselection parameters for use by mobile communications devices to control signal measurements performed thereby as part of a handover and/or cell reselection process;

receiving a message from an E-UTRAN communications node, the message including at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter for use in determining new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non E-UTRAN cell;

determining, from said at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter, said new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non E-UTRAN cell; and

transmitting the new handover and/or cell reselection parameters into the non-E-UTRAN cell for use by mobile communications devices to control signal measurements performed thereby as part of a handover and/or cell reselection process.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter included in the message comprise the new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non E-UTRAN cell.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter included in the message comprise data identifying changes made to the handover and/or cell reselection parameters of the E-UTRAN cell.

11. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the message is received from the E-UTRAN communications node via the core network.

12. A communications node of a communications system comprising:

means for changing handover and/or cell reselection parameters of an E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) cell;

means for generating a message for a neighboring cell of a different Radio Access Technology (RAT), another RAT, the message including at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter for use in determining new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the neighboring cell of the other RAT; and

means for sending the message to a base station operating the cell of the other RAT.

13. A base station of a non E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) cell comprising:

transmission circuitry for transmitting handover and/or cell reselection parameters for use by mobile communications devices to control signal measurements performed thereby as part of a handover and/or cell reselection process;

receiving circuitry for receiving a message from an E-UTRAN communications node, the message including at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter for use in determining new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non E-UTRAN cell wherein the base station is operable to determine, from said at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter, said new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non E-UTRAN cell; and

wherein said transmission circuitry is operable to broadcast the new cell selection parameters into the non-E-UTRAN cell.

14. The base station of the non E-UTRAN cell according to claim 13 , wherein said circuitry is formed by software modules running on a programmable processor.

15. A communications system comprising:

a mobile communications device, an E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) communications system and a non-E-UTRAN communications system,

wherein a communications node of the E-UTRAN communications system is operable:

to change handover and/or cell reselection parameters of the E-UTRAN cell;

to provide a message for a neighboring cell of a different Radio Access Technology, RAT, the message including at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter for use in determining new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the neighboring cell of the non E-UTRAN cell; and

to send the message to a base station operating the non E-UTRAN cell,

wherein the mobile communications device is operable to make signal measurements in accordance with handover and/or cell reselection parameters transmitted by a serving cell,

wherein the base station operating the non E-UTRAN cell comprises:

transmission circuitry for transmitting handover and/or cell reselection parameters for use by mobile communications devices to control signal measurements performed thereby as part of a handover and/or cell reselection process;

receiving circuitry for receiving the message from the communications node of the E-UTRAN communications system, the message including at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter for use in determining new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non E-UTRAN cell, wherein the base station is operable to determine, from said at least one handover and/or cell reselection parameter, said new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non E-UTRAN cell,

wherein said transmission circuitry is operable to transmit the new handover and/or cell reselection parameters into the non-E-UTRAN cell, and

wherein the mobile communications device is operable to select a cell for handover and/or cell reselection in accordance with the changed handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the E-UTRAN cell and the new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non-E-UTRAN cell.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer implementable instructions for causing a programmable computer device to perform the method of claim 1 .

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer implementable instructions for causing a programmable computer device to perform the method of claim 8 .

18. The method according to claim 2 , performed by a E-UTRAN cell.

19. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said changing changes the threshold values transmitted by the cell that are used by mobile communications devices to control measurements performed by the mobile communications devices as part of a handover or cell reselection process.

20. A mobile communications device of the communications system according to claim 15 , the mobile communications device comprising:

means for making signal measurements in accordance with handover and/or cell reselection parameters transmitted by a serving cell; and

means for selecting a cell for handover and/or cell reselection in accordance with the changed handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the E-UTRAN cell and the new handover and/or cell reselection parameters for the non-E-UTRAN cell.