METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING CARRIER AGGREGATION

• US 20140321346A1
• Filed: 07/11/2014
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: CHUNG, Jae Hoon, KWON, Yeong Hyeon, HAN, Seung Hee, KIM, So Yeon
• Granted Patent: US 9,155,044 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0035 Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• 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 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for supporting carrier aggregation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for enabling user equipment to receive a signal from a base station in a wireless communication system which supports carrier aggregation, wherein said the method comprises the steps of: setting a first component carrier to a paused state; receiving state change information for the first component carrier via the second component carrier during the paused state of the first component carrier; and monitoring a control channel via the first component carrier if the state change information indicates a predetermined value. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for the method.

Claims

1. A method of performing power management at a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

configuring, by the UE, a DRX (Discontinuous Reception) cycle, the DRX cycle including a DRX ON duration and a DRX opportunity,

wherein the same DRX ON duration is applied to all of two or more activated component carriers; and

monitoring, by the UE, a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control CHannel) for each of the two or more activated component carriers during the DRX ON duration of every DRX cycle, the two or more activated component carriers including an activated primary component carrier assigned to the UE and at least one activated non-primary component carrier assigned to the UE and excluding any deactivated non-primary component carriers assigned to the UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein activation/deactivation of the at least one activated non-primary component carriers is indicated using a field of Layer 2 (L2) message, the field having a fixed bit size regardless of a number of configured component carriers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the PDCCH monitoring is not performed on the two or more activated component carriers during the DRX opportunity.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring the at least one activated non-primary component carriers to a deactivated state; and

receiving state change information for the deactivated at least one non-primary component carriers through a PDCCH of the activated primary component carrier while the at least one non-primary component carriers are in the deactivated state.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the deactivated at least one non-primary component carriers are activated in response to detection of corresponding paging indication information or a corresponding paging message on the activated primary component carrier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the deactivated at least one non-primary component carriers are activated when the state change information of the PDCCH on the activated primary component carrier indicates a predetermined value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a function, by the UE, based on the monitoring.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the function comprises one of:

receiving data via one of the two or more activated component carriers;

transmitting data via one of the two or more activated component carriers; and

performing power control.

9. A user equipment configured to perform power management in a wireless communication system, the user equipment comprising:

a Radio Frequency (RF) module; and

a processor,

wherein the processor is configured to;

configure a DRX (Discontinuous Reception) cycle, the DRX cycle including a DRX ON duration and a DRX opportunity,

wherein the same DRX ON duration is applied to all of two or more activated component carriers; and

monitor a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control CHannel) for each of the two or more activated component carriers during the DRX ON duration of every DRX cycle, the two or more activated component carriers including an activated primary component carrier assigned to the UE and at least one activated non-primary component carrier assigned to the UE and excluding any deactivated non-primary component carriers assigned to the UE.

10. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein activation/deactivation of the at least one activated non-primary component carriers is indicated using a field of Layer 2 (L2) message, the field having a fixed bit size regardless of a number of configured component carriers.

11. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the PDCCH monitoring is not performed on the two or more activated component carriers during the DRX opportunity.

12. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

configure at least one activated non-primary component carriers to a deactivated state; and

receive state change information for the deactivated at least one non-primary component carriers through a PDCCH of the activated primary component carrier while the at least one non-primary component carriers are in the deactivated state.

13. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the deactivated at least one non-primary component carriers are activated in response to detection of corresponding paging indication information or a corresponding paging message on the activated primary component carrier.

14. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the deactivated at least one non-primary component carriers are activated when the state change information of the PDCCH on the activated primary component carrier indicates a predetermined value.

15. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to perform a function based on the monitoring.

16. The user equipment of claim 15, wherein the function comprises one of:

receiving data via one of the two or more activated component carriers;

transmitting data via one of the two or more activated component carriers; and

performing power control.