Assisting measurements in small cells with an on/off scheme

A method, in a terminal device, comprising:

• obtaining a discovery signal window pattern, the discovery signal window pattern defining one or more discovery signal windows during which a base station for each of a plurality of cells of a cellular network is to transmit a corresponding discovery signal, each of the discovery signal windows comprising a plurality of subframes in which separate discovery signals can be transmitted;
• and
• performing one or more measurements for one or more of the plurality of cells during the one or more discovery signal windows.

A base station comprising a communications interface circuit and a processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

• obtain a discovery signal window pattern, the discovery signal window pattern defining one or more discovery signal windows during which each of a plurality of cells of a cellular network is to transmit a corresponding discovery signal, each of the discovery signal windows comprising a plurality of subframes in which separate discovery signals can be transmitted;
• and
• send an indication of the discovery signal window pattern from the base station to a terminal device.

A terminal device comprising a transceiver circuit and a processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

• obtain a discovery signal window pattern, the discovery signal window pattern defining one or more discovery signal windows during which a base station for each of a plurality of cells of a cellular network is to transmit a corresponding discovery signal, each of the discovery signal windows comprising a plurality of subframes in which separate discovery signals can be transmitted;
• and
• perform one or more measurements for one or more of the plurality of cells during the one or more discovery signal windows.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising, stored thereupon, a computer program product comprising program instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit of a base station in a communications network, cause the base station to:

• obtain a discovery signal window pattern, the discovery signal window pattern defining one or more discovery signal windows during which each of a plurality of cells of a cellular network is to transmit a corresponding discovery signal, each of the discovery signal windows comprising a plurality of subframes in which separate discovery signals can be transmitted;
• and
• send an indication of the discovery signal window pattern from the base station to a terminal device, using the communications interface circuit.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising, stored thereupon, a computer program product comprising program instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit of a terminal device operating in a communications network, cause the terminal device to:

• obtain a discovery signal window pattern, the discovery signal window pattern defining one or more discovery signal windows during which a base station for each of a plurality of cells of a cellular network is to transmit a corresponding discovery signal, each of the discovery signal windows comprising a plurality of subframes in which separate discovery signals can be transmitted;
• and
• perform one or more measurements for one or more of the plurality of cells during the one or more discovery signal windows, using the transceiver circuit.