METHODS, APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS FOR PERFORMING MULTI-RADIO ACCESS TECHNOLOGY CARRIER AGGREGATION

• US 20120140743A1
• Filed: 11/23/2011
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: MARINIER, Paul, PANI, Diana, PELLETIER, Ghyslain
• Granted Patent: US 9,271,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/335
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/34 TPC management, i.e. sharing limited amount of power among users or channels or data types, e.g. cell loading
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/38 TPC being performed in particular situations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• 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

A method of managing carrier aggregation for a multi-radio access technology (RAT) wireless transmitter/receiver unit (WTRU) is disclosed. The method may include: receiving, by the WRTU over a primary channel associated with a RAT of a first type, provisioning information for provisioning a supplementary channel associated with a RAT of a second type; establishing the supplementary channel associated with the RAT of the second type based on the received provisioning information; and wirelessly exchanging, by the WRTU, first data associated with a communication over the primary channel via the RAT of the first type, while wireless exchanging second data associated with the communication over the supplementary channel via the RAT of the second type.

Claims

1. A method of managing carrier aggregation for a multi-radio access technology (RAT) wireless transmitter/receiver unit (WTRU), the method comprising:

receiving, by the WRTU over a primary channel associated with a RAT of a first type, provisioning information for provisioning a supplementary channel associated with a RAT of a second type;

establishing the supplementary channel associated with the RAT of the second type based on the received provisioning information; and

wirelessly exchanging, by the WRTU, first data associated with a communication over the primary channel via the RAT of the first type, while wireless exchanging second data associated with the communication over the supplementary channel via the RAT of the second type.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wirelessly receiving provisioning information includes receiving via the primary channel associated with the RAT of the first type control information for the primary channel and control information for the supplementary channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of RAT is one of:

(1) a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) RAT;

(2) a high speed packet access (HSPA) RAT;

(3) a high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) RAT;

(4) a high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) RAT;

or (5) a long term evolution (LTE) RAT.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second type of RAT is a different one of:

(1) the WCDMA RAT;

(2) the HSPA RAT;

(3) the HSDPA RAT;

(4) the HSUPA RAT;

(5) a LTE RAT;

(6) a non-cellular RAT;

or (7) a WiFi RAT.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing of the supplementary channel associated with the RAT of the second type includes:

determining, from the received provisioning information, one or more carrier components associated with the RAT of the second type to be provisioned for wirelessly exchanging the second data over the supplementary channel; and

provisioning the supplementary channel using the determined one or more carrier components.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving by the WRTU the provisioning information, establishing the primary channel associated with the RAT of the first type,

wherein the establishing of the supplementary channel associated with the RAT of the second type includes;

establishing the supplementary channel using a single radio resource connection to control radio resources of the RATs of the first and second types.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the establishing of the single radio resource connection includes setting up a radio resource control (RRC) connection.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving by the WRTU the provisioning information, establishing the primary channel associated with the RAT of the first type,

wherein the establishing of the supplementary channel associated with the RAT of the second type includes;

establishing one or more supplementary channels using at least one respective radio resource connection for each of a plurality of different RAT types to control radio resources associated with the primary and one or more supplementary channels supported concurrently by the WTRU.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

maintaining the established radio resource connections that are applicable to different sets of one or more carrier components,

wherein the wirelessly exchanging of the first data over the primary channel via the RAT of the first type, while wireless exchanging second data over the supplementary channel via the RAT of the second type includes exchanging respective portions of the first and second data of the communication over different ones of the established radio resource via the different sets of carrier components.

26. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program code executable by computer for implementing the method of claim 1.

10. A method for performing wireless communications using a multi-mode wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that is configured to for concurrent operation on component carriers (CCs) associated with a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs), the method comprising:

exchanging information on a first CC in accordance with a first RAT;

concurrently exchanging information on a second CC in accordance with a second RAT; and

aggregating or segmenting the information exchanged via the first and second CCs.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

configuring one of;

(1) a single radio resource connection to maintain the exchange of the information on the first and second CCs;

(2) a radio resource connection for each CC used to maintain the exchange of the information on the first and second CCs;

or (3) a radio resource connection for each RAT used to maintain the exchange of the information on the first and second CCs.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

sending, by the WRTU, a block acknowledgment associated with the second CC on the first CC to provide a block acknowledgment/non-acknowledgement indication associated information exchanged on the second CC.

13. A method for performing wireless communications in a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) supporting multi-radio access technology (RAT) carrier aggregation (CA), the method comprising:

configuring a first medium access control (MAC) entity in the WTRU that is associated with a first RAT;

configuring a second medium access control (MAC) entity in the WTRU that is associated with a second RAT; and

configuring a plurality of channels associated with the first MAC entity and the second MAC entity.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first RAT is long term evolution (LTE), and the second RAT is one of:

(1) wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA);

(2) high speed packet access (HSPA);

(3) high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA);

(4) high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA);

(5) a non-cellular radio access;

or (6) a WiFi radio access.

15. A method of managing carrier aggregation for a multi-radio access technology (RAT) wireless transmitter/receiver unit (WTRU), the method comprising:

receiving, by the WRTU over a primary channel associated with a 3GPP RAT, provisioning information for provisioning a supplementary channel associated with a WiFi RAT;

establishing the supplementary channel associated with the WiFi RAT based on the received provisioning information; and

wirelessly exchanging, by the WRTU, first data associated with a communication over the primary channel via the 3GPP RAT, while wireless exchanging second data associated with the communication over the supplementary channel via the 3GPP RAT.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the receiving of the provisioning information includes configuring a 3GPP RRC connection via a 3GPP access point and providing parameters for accessing a WiFi network associated with the WiFi RAT.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the providing of the parameters for accessing the WiFi network include:

at least one of;

(1) a frequency band of the WiFi network;

(2) a specific channel for the WiFi network;

(3) an operation mode for the WiFi network, (4) a Serving Set Identifier (SSID) of the WiFi network;

(5) a Basic SSID (BSSID) of a WiFi access point associated with the WiFi network;

(6) a set of one or more security parameters;

or (7) an indication to activate a WiFi transceiver in the WTRU.

18. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), comprising:

a transmit/receive unit configured to receive over a primary channel associated with a RAT of a first type, provisioning information for provisioning a supplementary channel associated with a RAT of a second type; and

a processor configured to establish the supplementary channel associated with the RAT of the second type based on the received provisioning information such that the transmit/receive unit wirelessly exchanges first data associated with a communication over the primary channel via the RAT of the first type, while wireless exchanging second data associated with the communication over the supplementary channel via the RAT of the second type.

19. The WTRU of claim 18, wherein the transmit/receive unit wirelessly receives, via the primary channel associated with the RAT of the first type, control information for the primary channel and control information for the supplementary channel.

20. The WTRU of claim 18, wherein the transmit/receive unit wirelessly exchanges the first data using one of:

(1) a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA);

(2) a high speed packet access (HSPA);

(3) a high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA);

(4) a high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA);

or (5) long term evolution;

(LTE) access;

21. The WTRU of claim 20, wherein the transmit/receive unit exchanges the second data, during the exchange of the first data, using at least a different one of:

(1) the WCDMA;

(2) the HSPA;

(3) the HSDPA;

(4) the HSUPA;

(5) the LTE access;

(6) a non-cellular access;

or (7) a WiFi access.

22. The WTRU of claim 18, wherein the processor determines from the received provisioning information one or more carrier components associated with the RAT of the second type to be provisioned for wirelessly exchanging the second data over the supplementary channel;

and provisions the supplementary channel using the determined one or more carrier components.

23. The WTRU of claim 18, wherein the processor, prior to receiving the provisioning information, establishes the primary channel associated with a single radio resource connection and, after receiving the provisioning information, establishes the supplementary channel associated with the same single radio resource connection of the primary channel to control radio resources of the RATs of the first and second types.

24. The WTRU of claim 18 wherein the processor, prior to receiving the provisioning information, establishes the primary channel associated with a first radio resource connection and, after receiving the provisioning information, establishes the supplementary channel associated with a second radio resource connection to respectively control radio resources of the RATs of the first and second types.

25. A multi-mode wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) for performing wireless communications and configured to support simultaneous or near-simultaneous operation on component carriers (CCs) associated with a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs), comprising:

a transmit/receive unit configured to exchange information via a first CC in accordance with a first RAT and to concurrently exchange information via a second CC in accordance with a second RAT; and

a processor configured to aggregate or to segment the information exchanged via the first and second CCs.