DELIVERY OF MULTICAST AND BROADCAST SERVICES CONCURRENTLY WITH UNICAST DATA

• US 20120039229A1
• Filed: 06/07/2011
• Published: 02/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Etemad, Kamran, Zhang, Yujian
• Granted Patent: US 8,780,876 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1822 involving configuration of automatic repeat request [ARQ] with parallel processes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0007 for multicast or broadcast services, e.g. MBMS multicast or broadcast application services H04W4/06; resource management for broadcast services H04W72/30; connection management for selective distribution or broadcast H04W76/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/06 Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/36 by user or terminal equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/362 Conditional handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]

Abstract

Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, user equipment receives unicast services from a first carrier of a primary serving cell and determines if Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast services (MBMS) services are available on a second carrier based at least in part on information in a broadcast carrier channel that indicates the second carrier or an identification (ID) of the second carrier. If MBMS services are available on the second carrier, the user equipment at least temporarily switches to the second carrier to receive the MBMS services. The user equipment may provide feedback to the network or the primary serving cell when it starts and stops receiving MBMS services, and then may switch back to the primary serving cell when MBMS services have ended or the user equipment no longer desires to receive MBMS services.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving unicast services from a first carrier of a primary serving cell;

determining if Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast services (MBMS) services are available on a second carrier based at least in part on information in a broadcast carrier channel that indicates the second carrier, or an identification (ID) of the second carrier, or combinations thereof; and

if MBMS services are available on the second carrier, at least temporarily switching to the second carrier to receive the MBMS services.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information in the broadcast carrier channel comprises MBMS control channel (MCCH) information or Physical Downlink Control Channel Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDDCH) information, or combinations thereof

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information in the broadcast carrier channel is broadcast on the first carrier by a primary serving cell.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information in the broadcast carrier channel is broadcast on the second carrier.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising occasionally switching to the second carrier to determine MBMS control channel (MCCH) information or Physical Downlink Control Channel Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDDCH) information, or combinations thereof, and informing the primary serving cell when the receiving of the MBMS services starts or stops, or combinations thereof

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising monitoring determine MBMS control channel (MCCH) information or Physical Downlink Control Channel Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDDCH) information, and informing the primary serving cell when the receiving of the MBMS services starts or stops, or combinations thereof

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said receiving unicast services comprises receiving unicast services on two or more carriers via carrier aggregation with two or more receivers, and said at least temporarily switching comprises at least temporarily switching two or more of the two or more carriers to the second carrier and to a third carrier of an MBMS serving cell to receive MBMS services wherein at least one of the receivers receives unicast services from the MBMS serving cell, and at least another of the receivers receives MBMS services from the MBMS serving cell.

7. A method as claimed 1, wherein said receiving unicast services comprises receiving unicast services on two or more carriers via carrier aggregation with two or more receivers, and said at least temporarily switching comprises at least temporarily switching one of the two or more carriers to the second carrier to receive MBMS services while the first receiver continues to receive unicast services on the first carrier of the primary serving cell.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor and a memory coupled to the processor;

a radio-frequency transceiver coupled to the processor, wherein the memory is capable of configuring the processor to cause the radio-frequency transceiver to;

receive unicast services from a first carrier of a primary serving cell;

determine if Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast services (MBMS) services are available on a second carrier based at least in part on information in a broadcast carrier channel that indicates the second carrier or an identification (ID) of the second carrier, or combinations thereof; and

if MBMS services are available on the second carrier, at least temporarily switch to the second carrier to receive the MBMS services.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the information in the broadcast carrier channel comprises MBMS control channel (MCCH) information or Physical Downlink Control Channel Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDDCH) information, or combinations thereof

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the information in the broadcast carrier channel is broadcast on the first carrier by a primary serving cell.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the information in the broadcast carrier channel is broadcast on the second carrier.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the radio-frequency transceiver to occasionally switch to the second carrier to determine MBMS control channel (MCCH) information or Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDDCH) information, or combinations thereof, and inform the primary serving cell when the receiving of the MBMS services starts or stops, or combinations thereof

14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the radio-frequency transceiver to monitor MBMS control channel (MCCH) information or Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDDCH) information, and inform the primary serving cell when the reception of the MBMS services starts or stops, or combinations thereof

16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the radio-frequency transceiver to receive unicast services on two or more carriers via carrier aggregation with two or more receivers, and further configured to at least temporarily switching two or more of the two or more carriers to the second carrier and to a third carrier of an MBMS serving cell to receive MBMS services wherein at least one of the receivers receives unicast services from the MBMS serving cell, and at least another of the receivers receives MBMS services from the MBMS serving cell.

15. An apparatus as claimed 9, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the radio-frequency transceiver to receive unicast services on two or more carriers via carrier aggregation with two or more receivers, and further configured to at least temporarily switch one of the two or more carriers to the second carrier to receive MBMS services while the first receiver continues to receive unicast services on the first carrier of the primary serving cell.

17. A method, comprising:

providing unicast services to a remote device from a primary serving cell on a first carrier;

transmitting information in a broadcast carrier channel that indicates a second carrier on which Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast services (MBMS) services are available, wherein the second carrier, an identification (ID) of the second carrier, or combinations thereof, are indicated;

and at least temporarily ceasing the unicast services while the remote device receives MBMS services on the second carrier.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the information in the broadcast carrier channel comprises MBMS control channel (MCCH) information or Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDDCH) information, or combinations thereof

19. A method as claimed in claim 17, further comprising receiving from the remote device information when the remote device starts or stops, or combinations thereof, receiving the MBMS services on the second carrier.

20. A method as claimed in claim 17, further comprising configuring measurement gap, DRX, or HARQ timing, or combinations thereof, to reduce or avoid conflicts between unicast and MBMS transmissions.

21. An article of manufacture comprising a storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed, result in:

providing unicast services to a remote device from a primary serving cell on a first carrier;

transmitting information in a broadcast carrier channel that indicates a second carrier on which Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast services (MBMS) services are available, wherein the second carrier an identification (ID) of the second carrier, or combinations thereof, are indicated;

and at least temporarily ceasing the unicast services while the remote device receives MBMS services on the second carrier.

22. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the information in the broadcast carrier channel comprises MBMS control channel (MCCH) information or Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDDCH) information, or combinations thereof.

23. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in receiving from the remote device information when the remote device starts or stops, or combinations thereof, receiving the MBMS services on the second carrier.

24. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in configuring measurement gap, DRX, or HARQ timing, or combinations thereof, to reduce or avoid conflicts between unicast and MBMS transmissions.