Multi-Carrier Control Signaling in Wireless Communication System

• US 20110205978A1
• Filed: 02/20/2010
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nory, Ravikiran, Love, Robert T., Nangia, Vijay, Kuchibhotla, Ravi
• Granted Patent: US 9,306,723 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0096 Indication of changes in allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0098 Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands

Abstract

A method in a wireless communication terminal including monitoring a terminal specific search space of a first Component Carrier (CC) from a base unit, wherein the search space corresponds to a set of Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) candidates monitored by the terminal for PDCCH messages, and receiving an activation message on the first CC, wherein the activation message activates at least one additional CC. The size of the search space monitored by the terminal after receiving the activation message is greater than the size of the search space monitored before receiving the activation message.

Claims

1. A method in a wireless communication User Equipment (UE), the method comprising:

monitoring a search space on a first Component Carrier (CC), the first CC transmitted from a base unit,

the search space is specific to the UE and the search space corresponds to a set of Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) candidates monitored by the UE for PDCCH messages;

receiving an activation message on the first CC, the activation message activating at least one additional CC,

wherein the size of the search space monitored by the UE after receiving the activation message is greater than the size of the search space monitored by the UE before receiving the activation message.

2. The method in claim 1, receiving the activation message in a control region of a subframe of the first CC on a PDCCH.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising,

receiving a cross scheduling configuration (CSC) message on the first component carrier (CC),

wherein the size of the search space monitored by the UE after receiving the activation message and the CSC message is greater than the size of the search space monitored by the UE before receiving the activation message.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the CSC message indicates that the UE is expected to receive the PDCCH messages including a carrier indicator field (CIF) on the first CC, the CIF signals whether each received PDCCH message corresponds to the first CC or the at least one additional CC.

5. The method claim 4 further comprising receiving a particular PDCCH message in the monitored search space, wherein the CIF in the particular PDCCH message indicates that a Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) data assignment in the particular PDCCH message corresponds to the at least one additional CC.

6. The method claim 1 further comprising receiving a particular PDCCH message in the monitored search space, wherein the particular PDCCH message schedules a Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) data assignment for the at least one additional CC.

7. The method claim 1 further comprising, receiving a particular PDDCH message in the monitored search space, wherein the particular PDCCH message schedules a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) data assignment for the at least one additional CC.

8. The method claim 1 further comprising receiving system information for the at least one additional CC in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message on the first CC before receiving the activation message, wherein the first CC and the additional CC constitute a configured CC set of the UE.

9. The method claim 8, wherein the RRC configuration message indicates that the UE is expected to receive the PDCCH messages including a carrier indicator field (CIF) on the first CC, the CIF signals whether each received PDCCH message corresponds to the first CC or the at least one additional CC.

10. The method of claim 1, the search space is characterized by an aggregation level, wherein each PDCCH candidate comprises a number of logically consecutive CCEs in a control region of a subframe in the first CC, wherein the aggregation level corresponds to the number of logically consecutive CCEs.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising

de-activating the at least one additional CC,

wherein the size of the search space monitored by the UE after de-activating the at least one additional CC is smaller than the size of the search space monitored by the UE before de-activating the at least one additional CC.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising

de-activating the at least one additional CC,

wherein the size of the search space monitored by the UE after de-activating the at least one additional CC is same as the size of the search space monitored by the UE before activating the at least one additional CC.