Apparatus and method for high priority search on RRC state change

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

• determining when the user equipment enters a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) state from a second RRC state;
• in response to a determination that the user equipment has entered the first RRC state, determining whether the user equipment has received complete system information for a serving cell;
• in response to a determination that the user equipment has received complete system information, performing a search for neighbor cells;
• and
• in response to a determination that the user equipment has not received complete system information, delaying performing a cell search until the user equipment has received complete system information for the serving cell.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for managing a wireless device in cells associated with at least one radio access technology (RAT), the computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• performing neighbor cell searches;
• determining when the user equipment enters a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) state from a second RRC state;
• and
• in response to the determination, delaying performing a cell search until the processor determines that the user equipment has received complete system information for a serving cell.