METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR NOTIFYING A UE OF MONITORED COMPONENT CARRIERS

• US 20120113811A1
• Filed: 04/23/2010
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Company Limited (China Information Communication Technology Group Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: China Academy of Telecom Technology (China Information Communication Technology Group Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Bao, Wei, Chen, Li, Li, Guoqing
• Granted Patent: US 9,008,012 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0098 Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for notifying a UE of monitored component carriers. The method comprises the following steps: an evolved Node B (eNB) sends an monitoring changing instruction and Component Carriers (CC) corresponding to the instruction to a UE with a Media Access Control (MAC) layer control command; according to the monitoring changing instruction and the corresponding CC, the UE activates or deactivates monitoring of the corresponding CC. The present invention allows the MAC PDU for instructing the UE to increase, decrease or change the monitored CC. Therefore, the configuration can be achieved in a simple and flexible manner and has higher reliability.

Claims

1. A method for notifying a UE of monitored component carriers, comprising the following steps:

an eNB sending an monitoring changing instruction and Component Carrier corresponding to the instruction to the UE with a MAC layer control command;

the UE activating or deactivating monitoring of the corresponding CC according to the monitoring changing instruction and the CC corresponding to the instruction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the eNB sending the monitoring changing instruction and the CC corresponding to the instruction to the UE with the MAC layer control command comprises:

the eNB adding one MAC CE, which bears the instruction and the corresponding CC, into the MAC PDU, and adding an identifier indicating existence of the MAC CE in a MAC head of the MAC PDU.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of adding an identifier indicating existence of the MAC CE in a MAC head of the MAC PDU comprises:

adding a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE into the MAC head, and LCID in the MAC subheader is an identifier for indicating the existence of the MAC CE;

or

the step of adding an identifier indicating existence of the MAC CE in a MAC head of the MAC PDU comprises;

the first MAC subheader of the MAC head bearing the identifier, and the MAC CE locating in initial position of MAC PDU payload.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the MAC CE has a fixed length, wherein each CC available for the UE corresponds to one bit of the MAC CE, a value of which is a command for the CC operation, wherein if the bit is 1, then it represents the carriers are activated, and if the bit is 0, then it represents the carriers are deactivated, or, if the bit is 0, it represents the carriers are activated, and if the bit is 1, it represents the carriers are deactivated;

or

the component carriers corresponding to each bit are sequenced according to one of the following factors;

cell levels, UE levels, frequencies from low to high and frequencies from high to low.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the MAC CE has a variable length, and the first bit in each byte of the MAC CE is configured for indicating whether a subsequent byte belongs to the MAC CE, and each CC available for the UE corresponds to one of other bits in the byte, a value of which is a command for the CC operation;

or

the MAC CE has a variable length, which is indicated by a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE, and each CC available for the UE corresponds to one bit in the MAC CE, a value of which is a command for the CC operation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein if the monitoring changing instruction is a deactivating instruction and a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request HARQ retransmission is performing on the CC corresponding to the instruction, then the eNB and the UE deactivate the CC after the HARQ retransmission.

4. (canceled)

6-7. -7. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

11. A system for notifying a UE of monitored component carriers, comprising a notification sending device and a notification receiving device, wherein

the notification sending device is at eNB side and is configured for sending a monitoring changing instruction and CC corresponding to the instruction to the UE with a MAC layer control command;

the notification receiving device is at the UE side and is configured for activating or deactivating the monitoring of the corresponding CC according to the monitoring changing instruction and the corresponding CC.

12. A notification sending device, comprising a MAC layer control command generating module and a sending module, wherein

the MAC layer control command generating module is configured for generating a MAC layer control command, which contains a monitoring changing instruction and CC corresponding to the instruction;

the sending module is configured for sending the MAC layer control command generated by the MAC layer control command generating module to the UE.

13. The notification sending device of claim 12, wherein the MAC layer control command generating module adds a MAC CE, which bears the instruction and the corresponding CC, into the MAC PDU, and adds an identifier for indicating existence of the MAC CE in a MAC head of the MAC PDU.

14. The notification sending device of claim 13, wherein the MAC layer control command generating module adds a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE into the MAC head, and LCID of the MAC subheader is an identifier for the existence of the MAC CE;

or

the first MAC subheader of the MAC head bears the identifier, and the MAC CE locates in initial position of MAC PDU payload.

16. The notification sending device of claim 13, wherein the MAC CE has a fixed length, wherein each CC available for the UE corresponds to one bit of the MAC CE, the value of which is a command for the CC operation, wherein if the bit is 1, then it represents the carriers are activated, and if the bit is 0, then it represents the carriers are deactivated, or, if the bit is 0, it represents the carriers are activated, and if the bit is 1, it represents the carriers are deactivated;

or

the component carriers corresponding to each bit are sequenced according to one of the following factors;

cell levels, UE levels, frequencies from low to high and frequencies from high to low.

19. The notification sending device of claim 13, wherein the MAC CE has a variable length, and the first bit in each byte of the MAC CE is configured for indicating whether a subsequent byte belongs to the MAC CE, and each CC available for the UE corresponds to one of other bits in the byte, a value of which is a command for the CC operation;

or

the MAC CE has a variable length, which is indicated by a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE, and each CC available for the UE corresponds to one bit in the MAC CE, a value of which is a command for the CC operation.

21. The notification sending device of claim 12, further comprising a determining module for determining whether a HARQ retransmission is performing on the CC corresponding to the instruction if the monitoring changing instruction is a deactivating instruction, and deactivating the CC after the HARQ retransmission if the HARQ retransmission is performing.

15. (canceled)

17-18. -18. (canceled)

20. (canceled)

22. A notification receiving device, comprising a receiving module and a monitoring control module, wherein

the receiving module is configured for receiving a monitoring changing instruction and CC corresponding to the instruction sent from an eNB with a MAC layer control command;

and

the monitoring control module is configured for activating or deactivating the monitoring of the corresponding CC according to the monitoring changing instruction and the corresponding CC.

23. The notification receiving device of claim 22, wherein the MAC PDU comprises a MAC CE, which bears the instruction and the corresponding CC, and a MAC head of the MAC PDU comprises an identifier for indicating existence of the MAC CE.

24. The notification receiving device of claim 23, wherein the MAC head comprises a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE, LCID of which is an identifier for indicating the existence of the MAC CE;

or

the first MAC subheader of the MAC head bears the identifier, and the MAC CE locates in initial position of MAC PDU payload.

26. The notification receiving device of claim 23, wherein the MAC CE has a fixed length, wherein each CC available for the UE corresponds to one bit of the MAC CE, the value of which is a command for the CC operation.

27. The notification receiving device of claim 26, wherein if the bit is 1, then it represents the carriers are activated, and if the bit is 0, then it represents the carriers are deactivated;

or, if the bit is 0, it represents the carriers are activated, and if the bit is 1, it represents the carriers are deactivated.

28. The notification receiving device of claim 23, wherein the MAC CE has a variable length, and the first bit in each byte of the MAC CE is configured for indicating whether a subsequent byte belongs to the MAC CE, and each CC available for the UE corresponds to one of other bits in the byte, a value of which is a command for the CC operation;

or

the MAC CE has a variable length, which is indicated by a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE, and each CC available for the UE corresponds to one bit in the MAC CE, a value of which is a command for the CC operation.

30. The notification receiving device of claim 22, further comprising a determining module for determining whether a HARQ retransmission is performing on the CC corresponding to the instruction if the monitoring changing instruction is a deactivating instruction, and deactivating the CC after the HARQ retransmission if the HARQ retransmission is performing.

25. (canceled)

29. (canceled)