Method and system for mitigation of unlisted cell impacts in idle mode of cellular systems

A method for operating a user equipment in an idle mode, comprising:

• receiving, by the user equipment, signals from a serving cell and a plurality of neighbor cells, wherein the plurality of neighbor cells include listed neighbor cells that are listed in a neighboring cell list and unlisted neighbor cells that are unlisted in the neighboring cell list;
• storing, by the user equipment, samples of the received signals from the listed neighbor cells and the unlisted neighbor cells;
• performing, by the user equipment, a cell search within the stored samples to identify a first unlisted neighbor cell from among the unlisted neighbor cells, the cell search comprising:
• validating the first unlisted neighbor cell based on a corresponding stored sample from among the stored samples, wherein the validating comprises measuring a signal strength of the first unlisted neighbor cell;
• adding the validated unlisted neighbor cell to the neighboring cell list;
• and
• mitigating interference, caused by the validated unlisted neighbor cell, from the stored samples;
• repeating, by the user equipment, the cell search for a second unlisted neighbor cell from among the unlisted neighbor cells using the mitigated stored samples;
• and
• using the validated unlisted neighbor cell as a subsequent serving cell based on a measured multipath profile and an associated power level of the validated unlisted neighbor cell.

A user equipment, comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive signals from a serving cell and a plurality of neighbor cells, wherein the plurality of neighbor cells include listed neighbor cells that are listed in a neighboring cell list and unlisted neighbor cells that are unlisted in the neighboring cell list;
• a memory;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• store, in the memory, samples of the received signals from the listed neighbor cells and the unlisted neighbor cells;
• perform a cell search within the stored samples of the received listed and unlisted neighbor cell signals to identify a first unlisted neighbor cell from among the unlisted neighbor cells;
• validate the first unlisted neighbor cell based on a corresponding first stored sample from among the stored samples of the received listed and unlisted neighbor cell signals;
• add the validated unlisted neighbor cell to the neighboring cell list;
• mitigate interference caused by the validated unlisted neighbor cell from the stored samples of the received listed and unlisted neighbor cell signals;
• and
• perform a second cell search for a second unlisted neighbor cell from among the unlisted neighbor cells using the mitigated stored samples.