TIMING ALIGNMENT PROCEDURES FOR DUAL PUCCH

• US 20160044617A1
• Filed: 08/04/2015
• Published: 02/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Vajapeyam, Madhavan Srinivasan, Chen, Wanshi, Damnjanovic, Jelena, Gaal, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 10,462,758 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0005 synchronizing of arrival of multiple uplinks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0045 compensating for timing error by altering transmission time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are described for wireless communication. A base station may configure a set of timing adjustment groups (TAGs) and a set of PUCCH cell groups for a user equipment (UE). The serving cells in the TAGs may be associated with different PUCCH cell groups. The UE may initiate a time alignment timer for each TAG, and if the timer expires prior to receiving a timing adjustment command, the UE may initiate a timing alignment procedure for a subset of serving cells based on the association between the TAGs and the PUCCH cell groups.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

identifying a set of timing adjustment groups (TAGs);

identifying a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell groups comprising a first PUCCH cell group and a second PUCCH cell group; and

determining a timing alignment procedure based on an association between the set of TAGs and the set of PUCCH cell groups.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating a time alignment timer for each TAG of the set of TAGs; and

performing the timing alignment procedure for serving cells of at least one of the first or second PUCCH cell groups upon expiration of the time alignment timer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the timing alignment procedure comprises at least one of:

notifying a radio resource control (RRC) control entity to release a PUCCH in a PUCCH-enabled cell;

notifying the RRC control entity to release an SRS;

flushing a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARM) buffer for a serving cell;

clearing a downlink (DL) assignment for a serving cell;

or clearing an uplink (UL) grant for a serving cell.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying an association between the set of PUCCH cell groups and a primary TAG (pTAG);

wherein the set of TAGs consists of the pTAG.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

initiating a time alignment timer for the pTAG; and

performing a timing alignment procedure for serving cells of the set of PUCCH cell groups upon expiration of the time alignment timer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying an association between a primary TAG (pTAG) and the first PUCCH cell group; and

identifying an association between a PUCCH secondary TAG (psTAG) and the second PUCCH cell group;

wherein the set of TAGs comprises the pTAG and the psTAG.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

initiating a first time alignment timer for the pTAG and a second time alignment timer for the psTAG; and

performing a timing alignment procedure for serving cells of the first PUCCH cell group upon expiration of the first time alignment timer or for serving cells of the second PUCCH cell group upon expiration of the second time alignment timer.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying an association between a secondary TAG (sTAG) and either the first or second PUCCH cell groups;

wherein the set of TAGs comprises the sTAG.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying an association between a first serving cell of a secondary TAG (sTAG) and the first PUCCH cell group; and

identifying an association between a second serving cell of the sTAG and the second PUCCH cell group;

wherein the set of TAGs comprises the sTAG.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

initiating a first time alignment timer for the pTAG and a second time alignment timer for the psTAG; and

performing a time alignment procedure for serving cells associated with the first PUCCH cell group upon expiration of the first time alignment timer or for serving cells associated with the second PUCCH cell group upon expiration of the second time alignment timer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first PUCCH cell group is a set of serving cells comprising a primary cell (PCell); and

the second PUCCH cell group is a set of serving cells comprising a PUCCH-enabled secondary cell (PSCell).

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the association between the set of TAGs and the set of PUCCH cell groups is asymmetric.

13. A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

configuring a primary timing adjustment group (pTAG) for a user equipment (UE);

configuring a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell groups for the UE, the set of PUCCH cell groups comprising a first PUCCH cell group and a second PUCCH cell group; and

associating a first set of serving cells of the pTAG with the first PUCCH cell group.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

associating a second set of serving cells of the pTAG with the second PUCCH cell group.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first PUCCH cell group and the second PUCCH cell group consist of serving cells for the UE.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

configuring a PUCCH secondary timing adjustment group (TAG) (psTAG) for the UE; and

associating the psTAG with the second PUCCH cell group.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

configuring a secondary TAG (sTAG) for the UE; and

associating the sTAG with either the first or second PUCCH cell groups.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

configuring a secondary TAG (sTAG) for the UE;

associating a first set of serving cells of the sTAG with the first PUCCH cell group; and

associating a second set of serving cells of the sTAG with the second PUCCH cell group.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the first PUCCH cell group is a set of serving cells comprising a primary cell (PCell); and

the second PUCCH cell group is a set of serving cells comprising a PUCCH-enabled secondary cell (PSCell).

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

initiating a time alignment timer for the pTAG and a PUCCH secondary TAG (psTAG).

21. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

initiating a time alignment timer for a secondary TAG (sTAG).

22. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to;

identify a set of timing adjustment groups (TAGs);

identify a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell groups comprising a first PUCCH cell group and a second PUCCH cell group; and

determine a timing alignment procedure based on an association between the set of TAGs and the set of PUCCH cell groups.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to:

initiate a time alignment timer for each TAG of the set of TAGs; and

perform the timing alignment procedure for serving cells of at least one of the first or second PUCCH cell groups upon expiration of the time alignment timer.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the timing alignment procedure comprises at least one of:

notifying a radio resource control (RRC) control entity to release a PUCCH in a PUCCH-enabled cell;

notifying the RRC control entity to release an SRS;

flushing a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARD) buffer for a serving cell;

clearing a downlink (DL) assignment for a serving cell;

or clearing an uplink (UL) grant for a serving cell.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to:

identify an association between the set of PUCCH cell groups and a primary TAG (pTAG);

wherein the set of TAGs consists of the pTAG.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to:

identify an association between a primary TAG (pTAG) and the first PUCCH cell group; and

identify an association between a PUCCH secondary TAG (psTAG) and the second PUCCH cell group;

wherein the set of TAGs comprises the pTAG and the psTAG.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein:

the first PUCCH cell group is a set of serving cells comprising a primary cell (PCell); and

the second PUCCH cell group is a set of serving cells comprising a PUCCH-enabled secondary cell (PSCell).

28. An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to;

configure a primary timing adjustment group (pTAG) for a user equipment (UE);

configure a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) cell groups for the UE, the set of PUCCH cell groups comprising a first PUCCH cell group and a second PUCCH cell group; and

associate a first set of serving cells of the pTAG with the first PUCCH cell group.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to:

associate a second set of serving cells of the pTAG with the second PUCCH cell group.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the first PUCCH cell group and the second PUCCH cell group consist of serving cells for the UE.