OPERATING WITH MULTIPLE SCHEDULERS IN A WIRELESS SYSTEM

• US 20140056243A1
• Filed: 08/23/2013
• Published: 02/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pelletier, Ghyslain, Marinier, Paul, Pani, Diana, Terry, Stephen E., Adjakple, Pascal M., Kaur, Samian J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,113,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/32 Hierarchical cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0072 of resource information of target access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/365 Power headroom reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1263 Mapping of traffic onto schedule, e.g. scheduled allocation or multiplexing of flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 of uplink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• 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

Systems and methods are disclosed for a WTRU to operate using multiple schedulers. The WTRU may exchange data with the network over more than one data path, such that each data path may use a radio interface connected to a different network node and each node may be associated with an independent scheduler. For example, a WTRU may establish a RRC connection between the WTRU and a network. The RRC connection may establish a first radio interface between the WTRU and a first serving site of the network and a second radio interface between the WTRU and a second serving site of the network. The RRC connection may be established between the WTRU and the MeNB and a control function may be established between the WTRU and the SCeNB. The WTRU may receive data from the network over the first radio interface or the second radio interface.

Claims

1. A method for a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) to operate using multiple layers that are independently scheduled, the method comprising:

establishing a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a first serving site;

receiving a reconfiguration message from the first serving site, the reconfiguration message comprising a configuration for the WTRU to connect to one or more cells associated with a second serving site, wherein the reconfiguration message indicates at least one radio bearer (RB) to be used by the WTRU at the second serving site;

determining to activate a connection to the second serving site; and

monitoring a control channel of at least one of the one or more cells associated with the second serving site based on determining activate the connection to the second serving site.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration message comprises an RRC connection reconfiguration message, and the at least one RB comprises a new RB established for use at the second serving site.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration message comprises an RRC connection reconfiguration message that includes a mobility control information element, the at least one RB comprises an RB that was previously mapped to the first serving site, and the RRC connection reconfiguration message triggers the WTRU to begin associating the RB that was previously mapped to the first serving site with the second serving site.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration message comprises a plurality of radio resource management (RRM) configurations for a given cell associated with the second serving site.

5. The method as in claim 4, wherein upon activating the connection to the second serving site, the WTRU applies a default RRM configuration of the plurality of RRM configurations.

6. The method as in claim 5, further comprising:

receiving one or more of physical layer signaling or layer 2 signaling, wherein the one or more of physical layer signaling or layer 2 signaling is indicative of another RRM configuration of the plurality of RRM configurations that the WTRU should apply at the given cell of the second serving site; and

applying the another RRM configuration when connected to the given cell of the second serving site.

7. The method as in claim 6, wherein the one or more of physical layer signaling or layer 2 signaling comprises one or more of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission or a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), and the WTRU determines which of the plurality of RRM configurations to apply based on an index received in the one or more of physical layer signaling or layer 2 signaling.

8. The method as in claim 7, wherein at least one RRM configuration of the plurality of RRM configurations comprises one or more of a physical layer configuration, a channel quality indication (CQI) reporting configuration, or a MAC configuration.

9. The method as in claim 1, wherein a network RRC entity associated with both the first serving site and the second serving site is located at the second serving site.

10. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

performing one or more measurements of at least one or the one or more cells associated with the second serving site; and

reporting the one or more measurements to the first serving site.

11. A wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) comprising a processor configured to:

establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a first serving site;

receive a reconfiguration message from the first serving site, the reconfiguration message comprising a configuration for the WTRU to connect to one or more cells associated with a second serving site, wherein the reconfiguration message indicates at least one radio bearer (RB) to be used by the WTRU at the second serving site;

determine to activate a connection to the second serving site; and

monitor a control channel of at least one of the one or more cells associated with the second serving site based on determining activate the connection to the second serving site.

12. The WTRU as in claim 11, wherein each of the first serving site and the second serving site are associated with independent packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) instances for the WTRU.

13. The WTRU as in claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to utilize the same security key for ciphering PDCP packets to be sent to either a first PDCP instance associated with the first serving site or a second PDCP instance associated with the second serving site.

14. The WTRU as in claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to use a different BEARER parameter for each of the first PDCP instance associated with the first serving site and the second PDCP instance associated with the second serving site.

15. The WTRU as in claim 14, wherein a respective BEARER parameter used for ciphering transmissions to the second PDCP entity at the second serving site is determined based on a layer identity associated with the second serving site.

16. The WTRU as in claim 11, further comprising a first medium access control (MAC) instance configured to access cells associated with the first serving site, and a second MAC instance configured to access cells associated with the second serving site.

17. The WTRU as in claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to data associated with at least one logical channel using either of the first MAC instance or the second MAC instance.

18. The WTRU as in claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to deactivate at least one bearer associated with the first serving site based on activating the connection to the second serving site.

19. The WTRU as in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to measure at least one cell associated with the second serving site, and determine to autonomously activate the at least one cell based on the measurements.

20. The WTRU as in claim 19, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprised a preconfiguration for the at least one cell, and the processor is configured to autonomously activate the at least one cell using a random access channel (RACH) procedure.