UPLINK CONFIGURATION AND TRANSMISSION CONTROL IN INTER-SITE CARRIER AGGREGATION

• US 20150230236A1
• Filed: 09/10/2012
• Published: 08/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zeng, Erlin, Gao, Chunyan, Wang, Haiming, Bai, Wei, Tan, Shuang, Hong, Wei, Han, Jing
• Granted Patent: US 9,801,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/346 distributing total power among users or channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/367 Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 during macro-diversity or soft handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

There are provided measures for uplink configuration and transmission control in inter-site carrier aggregation. Such measures may exemplarily comprise measures for controlling configuration of a terminal device for an inter-site carrier aggregation mode, in which carriers from a macro cell and a micro cell are aggregated for uplink communication, with a configuration of uplink control information for the macro cell located at a first site and a configuration of uplink control information for the micro cell located at a second site, and/or measures for controlling transmission of a terminal device in the inter-site carrier aggregation mode with a handling of concurrent uplink transmissions at the terminal device.

Claims

1. A method comprising

setting a configuration of uplink control information for a macro cell located at a first site, and

signaling, via the macro cell, the configuration of uplink control information for the macro cell and configuration information for a micro cell located at a second site to a terminal device for an inter-site carrier aggregation mode in which carriers from the macro cell and the micro cell are aggregated for uplink communication.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the signaling comprises an indication for the terminal device to obtain a configuration of uplink control information for the micro cell in the micro cell, wherein the configuration information for the micro cell comprises system information of the micro cell.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

obtaining a configuration of uplink control information for the micro cell via the macro cell, wherein the configuration information for the micro cell comprises the configuration of uplink control information for the micro cell.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the signaling is performed upon entry of the terminal device in the inter-site carrier aggregation mode.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the entry of the terminal device in the inter-site carrier aggregation mode comprises

detecting connection of the terminal device to the macro cell,

detecting connectability of the terminal device to the micro cell,

determining allowability of inter-site carrier aggregation mode for the terminal device with the micro cell, and

instructing, via the macro cell, the terminal device to enter the inter-site carrier aggregation mode.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

obtaining configurations of uplink control information for micro cells from a plurality of micro cells,

optimizing the configurations of uplink control information for the micro cells in terms of minimizing uplink interference among the micro cells, and

signaling recommendation of optimized configurations of uplink control information for the micro cells to the micro cells.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the method is operable at or by a base station of the macro cell, and/or

a base station of the macro cell and a base station of the micro cell are connected via a backhaul link, and/or

the uplink control information comprises at least one of one or more parameters of a physical uplink control channel, a periodic channel state information mode, and an acknowledgment mode of a hybrid automatic repeat request.

8-26. -26. (canceled)

27. An apparatus comprising

at least one processor,

at least one memory including computer program code, and

at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus,

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

setting a configuration of uplink control information for a macro cell located at a first site, and

signaling, via the macro cell, the configuration of uplink control information for the macro cell and configuration information for a micro cell located at a second site to a terminal device for an inter-site carrier aggregation mode in which carriers from the macro cell and the micro cell are aggregated for uplink communication.

28. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein

the signaling comprises an indication for the terminal device to obtain a configuration of uplink control information for the micro cell in the micro cell, wherein the configuration information for the micro cell) comprises system information of the micro cell.

29. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

obtaining a configuration of uplink control information for the micro cell via the macro cell, wherein the configuration information for the micro cell comprises the configuration of uplink control information for the micro ceil.

30. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform the signaling upon entry of the terminal device in the inter-site carrier aggregation mode.

31. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus, for the entry of the terminal device in the inter-site carrier aggregation mode, to perform:

detecting connection of the terminal device to the macro cell,

detecting connectability of the terminal device to the micro cell,

determining allowability of inter-site carrier aggregation mode for the terminal device with the micro cell, and

instructing, via the macro cell, the terminal device to enter the inter-site carrier aggregation mode.

32. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

obtaining configurations of uplink control information for micro cells from a plurality of micro cells,

optimizing the configurations of uplink control information for the micro cells in terms of minimizing uplink interference among the micro cells, and

signaling recommendation of optimized configurations of uplink control information for the micro cells to the micro cells.

33. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein

the apparatus is operable as or at a base station of the macro cell, and/or

a base station of the macro cell and a base station of the micro cell are connected via a backhaul link, and/or

the uplink control information comprises at least one of one or more parameters of a physical uplink control channel, a periodic channel state information mode, and an acknowledgment mode of a hybrid automatic repeat request.

34. An apparatus comprising

at least one processor,

at least one memory including computer program code, and

at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus,

the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

setting a configuration of uplink control information for a micro cell located at a second site, and

signaling the configuration of uplink control information for the micro cell for configuring a terminal device for an inter-site carrier aggregation mode in which carriers from a macro cell located at a first site and the micro cell are aggregated for uplink communication.

35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

the signaling via the micro cell to the terminal device, or

the signaling via an inter-cell link to the macro cell.

36. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform the signaling upon entry of the terminal device in the inter-site carrier aggregation mode.

37. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein

the apparatus is operable as or at a base station of the micro cell, and/or

a base station of the macro cell and a base station of the micro cell are connected via a backhaul link, and/or

the uplink control information comprises at least one of one or more parameters of a physical uplink control channel, a periodic channel state information mode, and an acknowledgment mode of a hybrid automatic repeat request.

38-69. -69. (canceled)