HOME EVOLVED NODE B (HeNB) BLIND DETECTION FOR HIERARCHY CONFIGURATION Russian patent published in 2015 - IPC H04W56/00 

FIELD: radio engineering, communication.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to communication engineering and can be used for blind detection performed by a home base station (eNodeB). An apparatus for determining a synchronisation level comprises deciding means configured to decide whether or not a predefined condition is met; receiving means configured to receive a first signal at predefined mute time intervals; control means configured to control time synchronisation based on a first signal; inhibiting means configured to inhibit sending a second signal at said predefined mute time intervals, if the deciding means decides that the predefined condition is met, wherein the second signal corresponds to the first signal; monitoring means configured to monitor, if the first signal is received at the defined mute time intervals, if the deciding means decides that the predefined condition is met, and determining means configured to determine a first mute time interval based on the monitoring results obtained by the monitoring means, and a predefined rule, wherein the first mute time interval is one of the predefined mute time intervals, wherein the monitoring means detects reception of the first signal, wherein, according to said predefined rule, a first synchronisation level is determined, which corresponds to the mute time interval of the received first signal, and a second synchronisation level associated with the apparatus is defined as the next synchronisation level below the first synchronisation level.

EFFECT: indicating the synchronisation state and level without using broadcast signalling.

8 cl, 5 dwg