TECHNIQUES FOR USING CARRIER AGGREGATION IN DUAL CONNECTIVITY WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20150124743A1
• Filed: 10/23/2014
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: DAMNJANOVIC, Jelena, Chen, Wanshi
• Granted Patent: US 9,900,923 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0069 in case of dual connectivity, e.g. decoupled uplink/downlink
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/28 involving a plurality of connections, e.g. multi-call or multi-bearer connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to procedures for aggregation in dual connectivity. In one aspect, a wireless device may receive configuration information to communicate with a first network entity (e.g., master eNodeB) through a first primary cell (PCell) of a corresponding group of cells of the first network entity, and with a second network entity (e.g., secondary eNodeB) through a second primary cell (PCell_SCG) of a corresponding group of cells of the second network entity. The second network entity may be non-collocated with the first network entity. The wireless device may include an information convergence entity (e.g., PDCP entity) that aggregates the configuration information from the first and second network entities when the wireless device is in communication with both entities. In another aspect, the second network entity may have one of the cells in the corresponding group of cells operate as the second primary cell.

Claims

1. A method for aggregating data in wireless communications, the method comprising:

receiving, at a wireless device, first configuration information to communicate with a first network entity through a first primary cell of the first network entity;

receiving, at the wireless device, second configuration information to communicate with a second network entity through a second primary cell of the second network entity; and

aggregating, at an information convergence entity in the wireless device, the first configuration information from the first network entity and the second configuration information from the second network entity when the wireless device is in communication with the first network entity and the second network entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network entity operates a first set of cells including the first primary cell and a first set of one or more secondary cells, and the second network entity operates a second set of cells including the second primary cell and a second set of one or more secondary cells.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first primary cell is configured to provide upper level functionalities at the wireless device, and wherein the upper level functionalities include one or more of a security functionality, a connection to a network functionality, an initial connection functionality, and a radio link failure functionality.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first primary cell is configured to provide upper layer entity functionalities at an entity in the wireless device, and wherein the entity being one of a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity, an internet protocol (IP) entity, and a radio resource control (RRC) entity.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first network entity and the second network entity are non-collocated.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the second primary cell is configured to cross-carrier control any cell from the second set of one or more secondary cells, and each cell in the second set of one or more secondary cells is not configured to cross-carrier control the second primary cell.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein any one of the cells in the second set of one or more secondary cells is configured to cross-carrier control one or more of the remaining cells in the second set of one or more secondary cells.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the second primary cell has the lowest cell index in a second set of cells operated by the second network entity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first primary cell is part of a first set of cells operated by the first network entity and is configured to:

carry physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for cells in the first set of cells,

enable the first set of cells to have the same discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration,

configure and provide random access resources for one or both of contention-based and contention-free random access on the first network entity,

enable downlink grants to convey transmit power control (TPC) commands for PUCCH, and

enable pathloss estimation for cells in the first set of cells, and

wherein the first primary cell has a common search space configured among the cells in the first set of cells, and a semi-persistent scheduling configured among the cells in the first set of cells.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second primary cell is part of a second set of cells operated by the second network entity and is configured to provide lower layer entity functionalities for the second network at a layer entity in the wireless device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the entity includes at least one of a radio link control (RLC) entity, a media access control (MAC) layer entity and physical layer entity.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the lower layer entity functionalities include at least one of the following functionalities:

carry PUCCH for cells in the second set of cells,

enable the second set of cells to have the same DRX configuration,

configure random access resources for one or both of contention-based and contention-free random access on the second network entity,

downlink grants to convey TPC commands for PUCCH, and

pathloss estimation for cells in the second set of cells, and

wherein the second primary cell has a common search space configured among the cells in the second set of cells.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second primary cell has configured a semi-persistent scheduling.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

estimating a first pathloss associated with the first network entity based at least in part on the first primary cell; and

estimating a second pathloss associated with the second network entity based at least in part on the second primary cell.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the first configuration information and the second configuration information from an RRC entity.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the information convergence entity comprises one of a PDCP entity, an IP entity, and an RRC entity.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating, at an information convergence entity, data packets received from the first network entity and the second network entity comprises receiving a data packet of a bearer suitable for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission through both the first network entity and the second network entity.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first configuration information comprises power headroom reporting information for the first primary cell and the second configuration information comprises power headroom reporting information for the second primary cell.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first configuration information comprises logical channel (LC) information corresponding to bearers configured on the first network entity and mapped to uplink grants received by the wireless device on component carriers of a first set of cells operated by the first network entity.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the second configuration information comprises LC information corresponding to bearers configured on the second network entity and mapped to uplink grants received by the wireless device on component carriers of a second set of cells operated by the second network entity.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the first configuration information comprises SRS information for the first primary cell and the second configuration information comprises SRS information for the second primary cell.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network entity is a first base station and the second network entity is a second base station.

23. An apparatus for aggregating data in wireless communications, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, at a wireless device, first configuration information to communicate with a first network entity through a first primary cell of the first network entity;

means for receiving, at the wireless device, second configuration information to communicate with a second network entity through a second primary cell of the second network entity; and

means for aggregating, at an information convergence entity in the wireless device, the first configuration information from the first network entity and the second configuration information from the second network entity when the wireless device is in communication with the first network entity and the second network entity.

24. A computer readable medium storing computer executable code comprising:

code for receiving, at a wireless device, first configuration information to communicate with a first network entity through a first primary cell of the first network entity;

code for receiving, at the wireless device, second configuration information to communicate with a second network entity through a second primary cell of the second network entity; and

code for aggregating, at an information convergence entity in the wireless device, the first configuration information from the first network entity and the second configuration information from the second network entity when the wireless device is in communication with the first network entity and the second network entity.

25. A communications device for aggregating data in wireless communications, comprising:

a carrier aggregation manager component configured to receive first configuration information to communicate with a first network entity through a first primary cell of the first network entity, wherein the carrier aggregation manager component is further configured to receive second configuration information to communicate with a second network entity through a second primary cell of the second network entity; and

an information convergence entity configured to aggregate the first configuration information from the first network entity and the second configuration information from the second network entity when the wireless device is in communication with the first network entity and the second network entity.

26. A method for aggregating data in wireless communications, the method comprising:

configuring a second network entity to operate a cell in a second set of cells as a second primary cell; and

transmitting, to a wireless device, configuration information through the second primary cell for the wireless device to communicate with the second network entity while in communication with a first network entity operating a first set of cells having a first primary cell.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the first primary cell is configured to provide upper level functionalities at the wireless device, the upper level functionalities including one or more of a security functionality, a connection to a network functionality, an initial connection functionality, and a radio link failure functionality.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the first primary cell is configured to provide upper level functionalities at an entity in the wireless device, the entity being one of a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity, an internet protocol (IP) entity, and a radio resource control (RRC) entity.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the first primary cell is configured to:

carry physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for cells in the first set of cells,

include the lowest cell index among the first set of cells,

enable the first set of cells to have the same discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration,

configure and provide random access resources for one or both of contention-based and contention-free random access on the first network entity,

enable downlink grants to convey transmit power control (TPC) commands for PUCCH, and

enable pathloss estimation for cells in the first set of cells, and

wherein the first primary cell has a common search space configured among the cells in the first set of cells, and a semi-persistent scheduling configured among the cells in the first set of cells.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the second primary cell is configured to provide at least one of the following lower layer entity functionalities:

carry PUCCH for cells in the second set of cells,

include the lowest cell index among the second set of cells,

enable the second set of cells to have the same DRX configuration,

configure random access resources for one or both of contention-based and contention-free random access on the second network entity,

downlink grants to convey TPC commands for PUCCH, and

pathloss estimation for cells in the second set of cells, and

wherein the second primary cell has a common search space configured among the cells in the second set of cells.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the second primary cell has configured a semi-persistent scheduling.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the first network entity and the second network entity are non-collocated.

33. An apparatus for aggregating data in wireless communications, the apparatus comprising:

means for configuring a second network entity to operate a cell in a second set of cells as a second primary cell; and

means for transmitting, to a wireless device, configuration information through the second primary cell for the wireless device to communicate with the second network entity while in communication with a first network entity operating a first set of cells having a first primary cell.

34. A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable code comprising:

code for configuring a second network entity to operate a cell in a second set of cells as a second primary cell; and

code for transmitting, to a wireless device, configuration information through the second primary cell for the wireless device to communicate with the second network entity while in communication with a first network entity operating a first set of cells having a first primary cell.

35. A network device for aggregating data in wireless communications, comprising:

a carrier aggregation manager component configured to configure a second network entity to operate a cell in a second set of cells as a second primary cell; and

a transmitter component configured to transmit, to a wireless device, configuration information through the second primary cell for the wireless device to communicate with the second network entity while in communication with a first network entity operating a first set of cells having a first primary cell.