Optimized method and system for activating and deactivating component carrier in multi-carrier system

• US 20120294213A1
• Filed: 09/01/2010
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Si, Zhang, Jian, Wang, Guanzhou
• Application Number:
  US13/511,671
• Publication Number:
  US 20120294213A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/06 Demodulator circuits; Receiver circuits
• 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

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an optimized method and system for activating and deactivating a component carrier in a multi-carrier system, the method comprises: when activating a Component Carrier (CC), a base station sends an activation command to a User Equipment (UE) through Downlink Control Information (DCI) to indicate the UE to activate the CC; if receiving the activation command successfully, the UE activates the CC and sends an acknowledgement of the activation command to the base station; when deactivating the CC, the base station sends a deactivation command to the UE through the DCI to indicate the UE to deactivate the CC; if receiving the deactivation command successfully, the UE deactivates the CC and sends an acknowledgement of the deactivation command to the base station. The present disclosure can improve the reliability of activation and deactivation of the carrier aggregation technology in an LTE-A system, and has the advantages such as simple configuration and operation, and keeping the status of CC in the base station and the status of CC in the UE consistent.

Claims

1. An optimized method for activating and deactivating a component carrier in a multi-carrier system, comprising:

when activating a Component Carrier (CC), sending, by a base station, an activation command to a User Equipment (UE) through Downlink Control Information (DCI) to indicate the UE to activate the CC;

if the UE receives the activation command successfully, activating the CC and sending an acknowledgement of the activation command to the base station by the UE;

when deactivating the CC, sending, by the base station, a deactivation command to the UE through the DCI to indicate the UE to deactivate the CC;

if receiving the deactivation command successfully, deactivating the CC and sending an acknowledgement of the deactivation command to the base station by the UE.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

after the base station sends the activation command to the UE, if the base station fails to receive the acknowledgement of the activation command at a specified moment, sending, by the base station, the activation command to the UE again;

after the base station sends the deactivation command to the UE, if the base station fails to receive the acknowledgement of the deactivation command at a specified moment, sending, by the base station, the deactivation command to the UE again.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the base station specifies a CC for transferring the acknowledgement of the activation command through the activation command, or system information or a Radio Resources Control (RRC) message;

the base station specifies a CC for transferring the acknowledgement of the deactivation command through the activation command, or the system information or the RRC message.

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

7. An optimized method for deactivating a component carrier in a multi-carrier system, comprising:

maintaining, by a UE, one or more timers;

when a timer times over or stops, deactivating, by the UE, one or more CCs corresponding to the timer;

or, when the timer times over or stops, reporting, by the UE, identifier information of one or more CCs corresponding to the timer to a base station.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

after the UE deactivates the one or more CCs corresponding to the timer, reporting, by the UE, the identifier information of the one or more CCs corresponding to the timer to the base station.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

after the UE reports the identifier information of the one or more CCs to the base station, sending, by the base station, a deactivation command and/or a scheduling command corresponding to the one or more CCs to the UE according to the received identifier information.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the UE reports the identifier information of the one or more CCs in a format of Media Access Control (MAC) control element.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the timer is a time adjustment timer, and the time adjustment timer corresponds to one or more CCs having activation and deactivation functions.

12. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the timer is an activation timer;

the method further comprising;

notifying, by the base station, the UE of a duration of the activation timer through a system message or a Radio Resources Control (RRC) message.

13. The method according to claim 7, wherein,

the timer is an activation timer;

the method further comprising;

stopping, by the UE, the activation timer under a stopping condition, wherein the stopping condition includes;

the UE receives a deactivation command, and the deactivation command indicates the UE to deactivate a CC corresponding to the activation timer; and

/or

a time adjustment timer times over, and one or more CCs corresponding to the overtime time adjustment timer include the CC corresponding to the activation timer.

14. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the timer is an activation timer;

the method further comprising;

starting or restarting, by the UE, the activation timer under a starting or restarting condition, wherein the starting or restarting condition includes;

the UE receives an activation command, and the activation command indicates the UE to activate a CC corresponding to the activation timer; and

/or

the UE receives downlink assignment on the CC corresponding to the activation timer; and

/or

the UE receives uplink grant on the CC corresponding to the activation timer; and

/or

the UE receives, on the CC corresponding to the activation timer, a non-acknowledgement message indicating that the sending of uplink data is failed; and

/or

the UE is ready to send uplink data and waits to receive uplink grant on the CC corresponding to the activation timer.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein

in a case that cross carrier scheduling is supported, the starting or restarting condition further includes:

the UE receives downlink assignment, and the downlink assignment indicates the UE to receive data on the CC corresponding to the activation timer; and

/or

the UE receives uplink grant, and the uplink grant indicates that an acknowledgement should be received on the CC corresponding to the activation timer;

in a case that Discontinuous Reception (DRX) is supported, the starting or restarting condition further includes;

a drx-InactivityTimer corresponding to the CC which corresponds to the activation timer is started or restarted; and

/or

a drx-RetransmissionTimer corresponding to any one of downlink Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) processes of the CC which corresponds to the activation timer is started;

in a case that random access is supported, the starting or restarting condition further includes;

during competitive random access, a mac-ContentionResolutionTimer is started or restarted; and

/or

during non-competitive random access, after random access is successful, the UE waits to receive downlink assignment or uplink grant indicating a first transmission.

16. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the timer is a deactivation timer;

the method further comprising;

starting or restarting, by the UE, the deactivation timer under a starting or restarting condition, wherein the starting or restarting condition includes;

downlink transmission is received successfully on a CC corresponding to the deactivation timer; and

/or

uplink transmission is sent successfully on the CC corresponding to the deactivation timer.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein

in a case that DRX is supported, the starting or restarting condition further includes:

a drx-InactivityTimer corresponding to the CC which corresponds to the deactivation timer times over; and

/or

drx-RetransmissionTimers corresponding to all downlink HARQ processes of the CC which corresponds to the deactivation timer times over.

18. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the timer is a deactivation timer;

the method further comprising;

stopping, by the UE, the deactivation timer under a stopping condition, wherein the stopping condition includes;

the UE receives downlink assignment on the CC corresponding to the deactivation timer; and

/or

the UE receives uplink grant on the CC corresponding to the deactivation timer; and

/or

uplink transmission is sent unsuccessfully on the CC corresponding to the deactivation timer; and

/or

downlink transmission is received unsuccessfully on the CC corresponding to the deactivation timer.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein

in a case that cross carrier scheduling is supported, the stopping condition further includes:

the UE receives downlink assignment, and the downlink assignment indicates the UE to receive data on the CC corresponding to the deactivation timer; and

/or

the UE receives uplink grant, and the uplink grant indicates that an acknowledgement should be received on the CC corresponding to the deactivation timer.

29. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

after the UE reports the identifier information of the one or more CCs to the base station, sending, by the base station, a deactivation command and/or a scheduling command corresponding to the one or more CCs to the UE according to the received identifier information.

30. The method according to claim 8, wherein the UE reports the identifier information of the one or more CCs in a format of Media Access Control (MAC) control element.

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27. An optimized system for activating and deactivating a component carrier in a multi-carrier system, comprising a base station and a UE, wherein

the UE is configured to:

maintain one or more timers, when a timer times over or stops, deactivate one or more CCs corresponding to the timer;

or, when the timer times over or stops, report identifier information of one or more CCs corresponding to the timer to the base station;

the base station is configured to send a deactivation command and/or a scheduling command corresponding to the one or more CCs to the UE according to the received identifier information.

28. (canceled)