PAGING METHOD AND APPARATUS CONSIDERING CARRIER AGGREGATION ENVIRONMENT IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20110105141A1
• Filed: 11/04/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: JUNG, Kwang Ryul, PARK, Aesoon
• Granted Patent: US 8,903,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/453
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like

Abstract

Provided is a paging method and apparatus considering a carrier aggregation (CA) environment in a mobile communication system. A paging method of a user equipment may include: selecting a component carrier (CC) set of the user equipment by selecting a CC for each component carrier element (CCE); receiving, from an evolved Node-B (eNB), a paging message containing a CC set; setting up a connection with the eNB through the CC set of the user equipment when the received CC set is the same as the CC set of the user equipment, or when all the CCs are included in the received CC set; and changing the CC set of the user equipment to the received CC set and setting up the connection with the eNB through the changed CC set when the received CC set is different from the CC set of the user equipment.

Claims

1. A paging method of a user equipment in a carrier aggregation environment, the method comprising:

selecting a component carrier set of the user equipment by selecting a component carrier for each component carrier element;

camping on a cell through the component carrier selected for each component carrier element;

receiving a paging message from an evolved Node-B (eNB);

verifying a component carrier set that is included in the paging message and thereby is received;

comparing the received component carrier set with the component carrier set of the user equipment; and

setting up a connection with the eNB through the component carrier set of the user equipment, when the received component carrier set is the same as the component carrier set of the user equipment, or when all the component carriers are included in the received component carrier set.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the eNB, a connection setup complete message indicating that a connection setup with the eNB is completed, when the connection setup is completed with respect to all the component carriers included in the component carrier set of the user equipment.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing the component carrier set of the user equipment to the received component carrier set when the received component carrier set is different from the component carrier set of the user equipment; and

setting up the connection with the eNB through the component carrier set of the user equipment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the changing comprises changing a primary component carrier and a secondary component carrier, included in the component carrier set of the user equipment, to be the same as a primary component carrier and a secondary component carrier included in the received component carrier set.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the setting up comprises:

performing a random access through a primary component carrier included in the component carrier set of the user equipment; and

acquiring an uplink synchronization of a secondary component carrier included in the component carrier set of the user equipment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the performing comprises performing the random access of the primary component carrier using a dedicated preamble of the primary component carrier, when the dedicated preamble of the primary component carrier is included in the received component carrier set.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the acquiring comprises acquiring the uplink synchronization by performing the random access through the secondary component carrier.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the random access through the secondary component carrier is performed using a dedicated preamble of the secondary component carrier when the random access through the primary component carrier is performed, and when the dedicated preamble of the secondary component carrier is received.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the acquiring comprises acquiring the uplink synchronization of the secondary component carrier using a timing alignment of the secondary component carrier when the random access through the primary component carrier is performed, and when the timing alignment of the secondary component carrier is received.

10. A paging method of an evolved Node-B (eNB) in a carrier aggregation environment, the method comprising:

receiving a paging request;

setting a component carrier set of a user equipment in response to the paging request;

generating a paging message containing information associated with the component carrier set;

transmitting the paging message to the user equipment through all the component carriers of the eNB; and

performing a random access with the user equipment through a primary component carrier included in the component carrier set.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

performing the random access with the user equipment through a secondary component carrier included in the component carrier set.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the settling comprises setting the component carrier set of the user equipment through load balancing to prevent traffic from being concentrated on a particular component carrier among component carriers used at the eNB.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the generating comprises:

determining whether a dedicated preamble is to be assigned to the user equipment; and

assigning the dedicated preamble to a primary component carrier in the component carrier set of the user equipment when the dedicated preamble is determined to be assigned to the user equipment.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

assigning a dedicated preamble corresponding to each of all the component carriers included in the component carrier set of the user equipment when the dedicated preamble is determined to be assigned to the user equipment, and when all the component carriers of the eNB are assigned to the component carrier set of the user equipment.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

releasing all the dedicated preambles assigned to remaining component carriers excluding the primary component carrier from all the component carriers when a request for a random access through a primary component carrier using a dedicated preamble is received from the user equipment.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining comprises determining whether the dedicated preamble is to be assigned, based on at least one of a predetermined user class of the user equipment, a fee type being used, and an emergency.

17. A user equipment paging in a carrier aggregation environment, the user equipment comprising:

at least two component carrier elements, each to communicate with an evolved Node-B (eNB) using a different component carrier;

a control unit to select a component carrier set of the user equipment by selecting a component carrier for each component carrier element, and to control the user equipment to camp on a cell through the component carrier selected for each component carrier element; and

a paging processing unit to verify a component carrier set that is included in a paging message and thereby is received when the paging message is received from the eNB, to compare the received component carrier set with the component carrier set of the user equipment, and to set up a connection with the eNB through the component carrier set of the user equipment when the received component carrier set is the same as the component carrier set of the user equipment, or when all the component carriers are included in the received component carrier set.

18. The user equipment of claim 17, wherein when the received component carrier set is different from the component carrier set of the user equipment, the paging processing unit changes the component carrier set of the user equipment to the received component carrier set, and sets up the connection with the eNB through the component carrier set of the user equipment.

19. An evolved Node-B (eNB) paging in a carrier aggregation environment, comprising:

a network communication unit to receive a paging request;

at least two component carrier elements, each to perform a communication using a different component carrier;

a call processing unit to set a component carrier set of a user equipment in response to the paging request; and

a paging processing unit to generate a paging message containing information associated with the component carrier set, to transmit the paging message to the user equipment through all of the at least two component carrier elements, and to perform a random access with the user equipment through a primary component carrier included in the component carrier set.