Secondary Cell Preparation for Inter-Site Carrier Aggregation

• US 20160050652A1
• Filed: 01/11/2012
• Published: 02/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Chunli Wu, Claudio Rosa, Henri Markus Koskinen, Woonhee Hwang
• Inventors: WU, Chunli, ROSA, Claudio, KOSKINEN, Henri Markus, HWANG, Woonhee
• Granted Patent: US 9,763,226 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management

Abstract

According to embodiments of the invention, an apparatus is provided which includes a connection unit configured to send and/or receive data to and/or from a secondary network control node, a processor configured to establish a configuration preparation message for the secondary network control node for preparing a carrier aggregation in which data to a user equipment is transmitted by at least two component carriers, and in which at least one first component carrier is provided between the apparatus and the user equipment and at least one second component carrier is provided between the secondary network control node and the user equipment, wherein the configuration preparation message includes configuration preparation information for the carrier aggregation, and the connection unit is configured to send the configuration preparation message to the secondary network control node.

Claims

1-54. -54. (canceled)

55. An apparatus comprising

a connection unit configured to send and/or receive data to and/or from a secondary network control node, and

a processor configured to establish a configuration preparation message for the secondary network control node for preparing a carrier aggregation in which data to a user equipment is transmitted by at least two component carriers, and in which at least one first component carrier is provided between the apparatus and the user equipment and at least one second component carrier is provided between the secondary network control node and the user equipment,

wherein the configuration preparation message comprises configuration preparation information for the carrier aggregation, and the connection unit is configured to send the configuration preparation message to the secondary network control node, and wherein the configuration preparation information comprise configuration parameters for the component carriers.

56. The apparatus according to claim 55, wherein the configuration parameters comprise common parameters for the component carriers, wherein the common parameters optionally comprise radio link control configuration parameters and/or medium access control configuration control parameters.

57. The apparatus according to claim 55, wherein the configuration preparation information comprises tunnel information for configuring a tunnel between the apparatus and the secondary network control node, and/or the configuration preparation information comprises quality of service information.

58. The apparatus according to claim 55, wherein the configuration preparation information comprises a temporary identifier for the user equipment to be used by the at least one second component carrier, and wherein the processor is configured to define a common temporary identifier for the user equipment to be used by the at least first component carrier and by the at least one second component carrier, or to negotiate a common temporary identifier for the user equipment with the secondary network control node.

59. The apparatus according to claim 55, wherein

the connection unit is configured to receive a configuration response message including configuration response information from the secondary network control node, and

the processor is configured to use the configuration response information for utilizing the at least one second component carrier and configuring it to the user equipment.

60. The apparatus according to claim 59, wherein the configuration response information includes cell specific information, and/or a temporary identifier for the user equipment to be used by the at least one second component carrier, and/or tunnel information for configuring a tunnel between the apparatus and the secondary network control node.

61. An apparatus comprising

a connection unit configured to send and/or receive data to and/or from a primary network control node, and

a processor,

wherein the connection unit is configured to receive a configuration preparation message including configuration preparation information for preparing a carrier aggregation in which data to a user equipment is transmitted by at least two component carriers, and in which at least one first component carrier is provided between the primary network control node and the user equipment and at least one second component carrier is provided between the apparatus and the user equipment, and wherein the configuration preparation information comprises configuration parameters for the component carriers, and

the processor is configured to configure the at least one second component carrier based on the received configuration preparation information.

62. The apparatus according to claim 61, wherein the configuration parameters comprise common parameters for the component carriers, wherein the common parameters optionally comprise radio link control configuration parameters and/or medium access control configuration control parameters.

63. The apparatus according to claim 61, wherein the configuration preparation information comprises tunnel information for configuring a tunnel between the apparatus and the primary network control node and/or the configuration preparation information comprises quality of service information.

64. The apparatus according to claim 61, wherein the configuration preparation information comprises a temporary identifier for the user equipment to be used by the at least one second component carrier, and wherein the processor is configured to define a common temporary identifier for the user equipment to be used by the at least first component carrier and by the at least one second component carrier, or to negotiate a common temporary identifier for the user equipment with the primary network control node.

65. The apparatus according to claim 61, wherein

the processor is configured to establish a configuration response message including configuration response information, and

the connection unit is configured to send the configuration response message to the primary network control node.

66. The apparatus according to claim 65, wherein the configuration response information includes cell specific information, and/or a temporary identifier for the user equipment to be used by the at least one second component carrier, and/or tunnel information for configuring a tunnel between the apparatus and the primary network control node.

67. An apparatus comprising

a transceiver unit configured to receive and/or to send at least a first component carrier from and/or to a primary network control node, and at least a second component carrier from and/or to a secondary network control node,

a processor configured to receive configuration information from the primary network control node and/or the secondary control node, and

to use a common temporary identifier or different temporary identifiers for the at least one first component carrier and the at least one second component carrier depending on the configuration information.

68. The apparatus according to claim 67, wherein the transceiver unit is configured to receive configuration information for configuring the at least one first component carrier and the at least one second component carrier from the primary network control node or the secondary control node.

69. A method comprising

establishing a configuration preparation message for a secondary network control node for preparing a carrier aggregation in which data to a user equipment is transmitted by at least two component carriers, and in which at least one first component carrier is provided between a primary network control node and the user equipment and at least one second component carrier is provided between the secondary network control node and the user equipment, wherein the configuration preparation message comprises configuration preparation information for the carrier aggregation and wherein the configuration preparation information comprise configuration parameters for the component carriers, and

sending the configuration preparation message to the secondary network control node.

72. A computer program product comprising code means for performing a method according to claim 69 when run on a processing means or module, wherein the computer program product is embodied on a non-transient computer-readable medium.

70. A method comprising

receiving a configuration preparation message including configuration preparation information for preparing a carrier aggregation in which data to a user equipment is transmitted by at least two component carriers, and in which at least one first component carrier is provided between a primary network control node and the user equipment and at least one second component carrier is provided between a primary network control node and the user equipment, wherein the configuration preparation information comprises configuration parameters for the component carriers, and

configuring the at least one second component carrier based on the received configuration preparation information.

71. A method comprising

receiving and/or sending at least a first component carrier from and/or to a primary network control node, and at least a second component carrier from and/or to a secondary network control node,

receiving configuration information from the primary network control node and/or the secondary control node, and

using a common temporary identifier or different temporary identifiers for the at least one first component carrier and the at least one second component carrier depending on the configuration information.