FRAMEWORK FOR COORDINATED MULTIPOINT TRANSMISSION BASED ON A MULTICELL MAC/RRC DESIGN

• US 20120082082A1
• Filed: 06/22/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Etemad, Kamran, Davydov, Alexei, Yang, Xiangying, Zhu, Yuan, Zhang, Yujian
• Granted Patent: US 8,804,593 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/02 Details electronic switching or gating H03K17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, two or more cells are configured to perform coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission for one or more user equipment devices with a common media access control (MAC) or a common radio resource control (RRC). Measurement information is received from the one or more user equipment devices. One or more of the cells may be deactivated, or one or more additional cells may be activated for coordinated multipoint transmission based at least in part on the measurement information.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

configuring two or more cells to perform coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission for one or more user equipment devices with a common media access control (MAC) or a common radio resource control (RRC), or combinations thereof;

receiving measurement information from the one or more user equipment devices; and

deactivating one or more of the cells or activating one or more additional cells for coordinated multipoint transmission based at least in part on the measurement information.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measurement information comprises radio resource measurement (RRM) measurements.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein one or more of the cells comprises a remote radio element in a distributed antenna system.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein two or more of the cells comprise different collocated antenna configurations of an enhanced Node B on a single cell site.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cells are distinguished based at least in part on a physical (PHY) layer cell identification (Cell-ID).

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said configuring comprises determining if two or more cells are operating on the same frequency for eligibility for coordinated multipoint operation, and otherwise configuring cells operating on different frequencies for carrier aggregation.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising designating one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and providing downlink scheduling or control information, or combinations thereof, from the primary cell to the one or more secondary cells.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising designating one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and configuring channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) on the one or more secondary cells with the primary cell.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising designating one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and configuring uplink control channels on the one or more secondary cells with the primary cell.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising receiving feedback information from one or more of the cells, or one or more of the user equipment devices, or combinations thereof, to support coordinated multipoint transmission.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a radio-frequency transceiver;

a processor coupled to the radio-frequency transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to cause the radio-frequency transceiver to;

configure two or more cells to perform coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission for one or more user equipment devices with a common media access control (MAC) or a common radio resource control (RRC), or combinations thereof;

receive measurement information from the one or more user equipment devices; and

deactivate one or more of the cells or activating one or more additional cells for coordinated multipoint transmission based at least in part on the measurement information.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the measurement information comprises radio resource measurement (RRM) measurements.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein one or more of the cells comprises a remote radio element in a distributed antenna system.

14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein two or more of the cells comprise different collocated antenna configurations of an enhanced Node B on a single cell site.

15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the cells are distinguished based at least in part on a physical (PHY) layer cell identification (Cell-ID).

16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to determine if two or more cells are operating on the same frequency for eligibility for coordinated multipoint operation, and otherwise configuring cells operating on different frequencies for carrier aggregation.

17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to designate one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and provide downlink scheduling or control information, or combinations thereof, to the one or more secondary cells.

18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to designate one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and configure channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) on the one or more secondary cells.

19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to designate one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and configure uplink control channels on the one or more secondary cells.

20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to designate receiving feedback information from one or more of the cells, or one or more of the user equipment devices, or combinations thereof, to support coordinated multipoint transmission.

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

configuring two or more cells to perform coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission for one or more user equipment devices with a common media access control (MAC) or a common radio resource control (RRC), or combinations thereof;

receiving measurement information from the one or more user equipment devices; and

deactivating one or more of the cells or activating one or more additional cells for coordinated multipoint transmission based at least in part on the measurement information.

22. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the measurement information comprises radio resource measurement (RRM) measurements.

23. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein one or more of the cells comprises a remote radio element in a distributed antenna system.

24. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein two or more of the cells comprise different collocated antenna configurations of an enhanced Node B on a single cell site.

25. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the cells are distinguished based at least in part on a physical (PHY) layer cell identification (Cell-ID).

26. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21 wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in determining if two or more cells are operating on the same frequency for eligibility for coordinated multipoint operation, and otherwise configuring cells operating on different frequencies for carrier aggregation.

27. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in designating one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and providing downlink scheduling or control information, or combinations thereof, to the one or more secondary cells.

28. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in designating one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and configuring channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) on the one or more secondary cells.

29. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in designating one of the cells as a primary cell, and one or more of the cells as a secondary cell, and configuring uplink control channels on the one or more secondary cells.

30. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 21, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in receiving feedback information from one or more of the cells, or one or more of the user equipment devices, or combinations thereof, to support coordinated multipoint transmission.