Methods and apparatus for enabling further L1 enhancements in LTE heterogeneous networks

• US 10,455,612 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2018
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Song, Yi, Bontu, Chandra Sekhar, Cai, Zhijun
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phuongchau Ba
• Application Number:
  US15/920,184
• Publication Number:
  US 20180227946A1
• Time in Patent Office: 588 Days
• Field of Search: 370252, 370280, 370328, 370330, 370331
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/00 Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received correcting synchronisation H04L7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0016 involving special memory structures, e.g. look-up tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0077 Cooperative coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1621 Group acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message defining a range of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/00 Baseband systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2602 Signal structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0035 Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0069 Allocation based on distance or geographical location allocation based on terminal or device properties in general, H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1469 using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0278 using buffer status reports dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 : Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 : of uplink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1273 : of downlink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 : Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 : in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 : using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A network element in a first cell in a wireless telecommunication network is provided. The network element comprises a processor configured such that the network element provides uplink and downlink grants in the first cell, wherein the first cell is a low-power cell within the coverage area of a second, high-power cell, and wherein the first cell acts as a secondary cell and the second cell acts as a primary cell in a carrier aggregation mode, and wherein at least one uplink control signal is received by one of only the first cell or both the first cell and the second cell.

Claims

1. A network element in a first cell in a wireless telecommunication network, the network element comprising:

at least one storage device; and

a processor configured to execute instructions stored on the at least one storage device such that when executed, the network element;

provides uplink and downlink grants in the first cell, wherein the first cell is a low-power cell within the coverage area of a second cell that is a high-power cell, and wherein the first cell acts as a secondary cell and the second cell acts as a primary cell in a carrier aggregation (CA) mode;

schedules the uplink and downlink grants based on information received from the second cell via an X2 interface between the first and second cells, wherein at least one uplink control signal is received by one of only the first cell or both the first cell and the second cell; and

assigns a first cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) to a user equipment (UE), wherein the first C-RNTI is different from a second C-RNTI that the second cell assigns to the UE, and wherein the network element indicates to the UE to use a higher modulation order in the first cell than in the second cell.

2. The network element of claim 1, wherein the uplink and downlink grants are for data transmissions with the UE on both the first cell and the second cell, and wherein different discontinuous reception (DRX) configurations are applied on the first cell and the second cell in the CA mode.

3. The network element of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to receive at least one of a buffer request or a scheduling request independently from a buffer request or a scheduling request sent to the second cell.

4. The network element of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to use a different duplex mode in the first cell than that used in the second cell during the CA mode, wherein dynamic time division duplexing (TDD) with fast adaptation is the different duplex mode used in the first cell, and wherein a RadioResourceConfigCommonSCell information element in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 36.331 is modified to indicate to a user equipment (UE) that dynamic TDD with fast adaptation is in use in the first cell.

5. The network element of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to reserve at least one C-RNTI for the second cell to assign to at least one UE configured to maintain dual connectivity with the first cell and the second cell, and notify the second cell about the at least one reserved C-RNTI.

6. The network element of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to receive all data transmitted from a UE from which the at least one uplink control signal is received, the at least one uplink control signal comprising at least one acknowledgement (ACK) signal, negative acknowledgement (NACK) signal or channel state information (CSI) signal.

7. The network element of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to use a different duplex mode in the first cell than that used in the second cell during the CA mode, wherein a time division duplexing (TDD) mode is the different duplex mode used in the first cell while a frequency division duplexing (FDD) mode is used in the second cell during the CA mode, and wherein the first cell operates on a higher frequency than the second cell.

8. A method for communication in a wireless telecommunication network, the method comprising:

providing, by a network element in a first cell in the network, uplink and downlink grants in the first cell, wherein the first cell is a low-power cell within the coverage area of a second cell that is a high-power cell, and wherein the first cell acts as a secondary cell and the second cell acts as a primary cell in a carrier aggregation (CA) mode, wherein the network element schedules the uplink and downlink grants based on information received from the second cell via an X2 interface between the first and second cells, and wherein at least one uplink control signal is received by one of only the first cell or both the first cell and the second cell;

assigning, by the network element, a first cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) to a user equipment (UE), wherein the first C-RNTI is different from a second C-RNTI that the second cell assigns to the UE; and

indicating, by the network element to the UE, use of a higher modulation order in the first cell than in the second cell.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the uplink and downlink grants are for data transmissions on both the first cell and the second cell, and wherein different discontinuous reception (DRX) configurations are applied on the first cell and the second cell in the CA mode.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving, by the network element, at least one of a buffer request or a scheduling request independently from a buffer request or a scheduling request sent to the second cell.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising using, by the network element, a different duplex mode in the first cell than that used in the second cell during the CA mode, wherein dynamic time division duplexing (TDD) with fast adaptation is the different duplex mode used in the first cell, and wherein a RadioResourceConfigCommonSCell information element in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 36.331 is modified to indicate to a user equipment (UE) in the first cell that dynamic TDD with fast adaptation is in use in the first cell.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the network element, at least one C-RNTI for the second cell to assign to at least one UE configured to maintain dual connectivity with the first cell and the second cell; and

notifying, by the network element, the second cell about the at least one reserved C-RNTI.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the network element receives all data transmitted from a UE from which the at least one uplink control signal is received, the at least one uplink control signal comprising at least one acknowledgement (ACK) signal, negative acknowledgement (NACK) signal or channel state information (CSI) signal.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising using, by the network element, a different duplex mode in the first cell than that used in the second cell during the CA mode, wherein a time division duplexing (TDD) mode is the different duplex mode used in the first cell while a frequency division duplexing (FDD) mode is used in the second cell during the CA mode, and wherein the first cell operates on a higher frequency than the second cell.

15. A user equipment (UE) configured to maintain dual connectivity with a first cell and a second cell in a wireless telecommunication network, the UE comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the processor to;

send at least one uplink control signal to one of only the first cell or both the first cell and the second cell, wherein the second cell is a high-power cell and the first cell is a low-power cell within the coverage area of the second cell, and wherein the second cell acts as a primary cell and the first cell acts as a secondary cell in a carrier aggregation mode;

receive, from the first cell, an assignment of a first cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) to the UE, wherein the first C-RNTI is different from a second C-RNTI that is assigned to the UE by the second cell; and

receive from the network element, an indication to use, by the UE, a higher modulation order in the first cell than in the second cell.

16. The UE of claim 15, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to send one of a buffer status report or a scheduling request to the first cell independently from a buffer status report or a scheduling request the UE sends to the second cell.

17. The UE of claim 15, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to, during the carrier aggregation mode, send uplink control signals to the SCell rather than the PCell, the uplink control signals comprising at least one of an acknowledgement (ACK), negative acknowledgement (NACK), or channel state information (CSI).