Method of managing carriers in a broadband wireless access system

• US 8,320,342 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2010
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Eun Jong, Ryu, Ki Seon, Yuk, Young Soo
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Jianye
• Application Number:
  US12/815,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20100316026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/00 Orthogonal multiplex systems, e.g. using WALSH codesH04J13/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0028 Formatting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/188 Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0078 Timing of allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0098 Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management

Abstract

A method for managing carriers allocated to a mobile station in a broadband wireless access system supporting multiple carriers, and an apparatus for use in the method are disclosed. A carrier management method for allowing a mobile station to perform carrier management in a broadband wireless access system supporting multiple carriers includes receiving a first message, which includes activation information indicating activation of at least one target carrier from among one or more second carriers allocated through a first carrier, from a base station, and transmitting a second message, which informs the base station of readiness or non-readiness of the at least one target carrier according to a result of the activation, to the base station. The activation information includes information indicating an activation time point, and the transmitting of the second message is performed at a specific time indicated by the activation time point information.

Claims

1. A carrier management method for allowing a mobile station to perform carrier management in a broadband wireless access system supporting multiple carriers, the method comprising:

receiving a first message, which includes activation information indicating activation of at least one target carrier from among one or more second carriers allocated through a first carrier, from a base station; and

transmitting a second message, which confirms the base station of readiness of the at least one target carrier according to a result of the activation, to the base station,

wherein the activation information includes information indicating a time point, and

the transmission of the second message is performed at a specific time indicated by the time point information.

2. The carrier management method according to claim 1, wherein the time point information indicates a superframe number after the first message is transmitted from the base station.

3. The carrier management method according to claim 2, wherein the activation information includes at least one of an action code field set to a specific value indicating management of the second carrier, a field for indicating a number of the at least one target carrier, and a field for indicating each index of the at least one target carrier.

4. The carrier management method according to claim 2, wherein:

the first carrier is a primary carrier, and

the second carrier is an assigned secondary carrier which is allocated from the base station to the mobile station.

5. The carrier management method according to claim 4, wherein:

the first message is a carrier management command (AAI_CM-CMD) message or a ranging response (AAI_RNG-RSP) message,

the second message is a carrier management indication (AAI_CM-IND) message, and

the second carrier is allocated to the mobile station through a multi-carrier response (AAI_MC-RSP) message.

6. A carrier management method for allowing a base station to manage carriers of a mobile station in a broadband wireless access system supporting multiple carriers, the method comprising:

transmitting a first message, which includes activation information indicating activation of at least one target carrier from among one or more second carriers allocated to the mobile station through a first carrier, to the mobile station; and

receiving a second message, which confirms the base station of readiness of the at least one target carrier according to a result of the activation, from the mobile station,

wherein the activation information includes information indicating an time point, and

the reception of the second message is performed at a specific time indicated by the time point information.

7. The carrier management method according to claim 6, wherein the time point information indicates a superframe number after the first message is transmitted from the base station.

8. The carrier management method according to claim 7, wherein the activation information includes at least one of an action code field set to a specific value indicating management of the second carrier, a field for indicating a number of the at least one target carrier, and a field for indicating each index of the at least one target carrier.

9. The carrier management method according to claim 7, wherein:

the first carrier is a primary carrier, and

the second carrier is an assigned secondary carrier which is allocated from the base station to the mobile station.

10. The carrier management method according to claim 9, wherein:

the first message is a carrier management command (AAI_CM-CMD) message or a ranging response (AAI_RNG-RSP) message,

the second message is a carrier management indication (AAI_CM-IND) message, and

the second carrier is allocated to the mobile station through a multi-carrier response (AAI_MC-RSP) message.

11. A mobile station for supporting a multi-carrier operation in a broadband wireless access system, the mobile station comprising:

a processor; and

a radio frequency (RF) module for transmitting and receiving an RF signal to and from an external part upon receiving a control signal from the processor,

wherein the processor acquires activation information, which indicates activation of at least one target carrier from among one or more second carriers allocated through a first carrier, through a first message received from a base station; and

transmits a second message, which confirms readiness of the at least one target carrier according to a result of the activation, to the base station,

wherein the activation information includes information indicating an time point, and

the transmitting of the second message is performed at a specific time indicated by the time point information.

12. The carrier management method according to claim 11, wherein the time point information indicates a superframe number after the first message is transmitted from the base station.

13. The carrier management method according to claim 12, wherein the activation information includes at least one of an action code field set to a specific value indicating management of the second carrier, a field for indicating a number of the at least one target carrier, and a field for indicating each index of the at least one target carrier.

14. The carrier management method according to claim 12, wherein:

the first carrier is a primary carrier, and

the second carrier is an assigned secondary carrier which is allocated from the base station to the mobile station.

15. The carrier management method according to claim 14, wherein:

the first message is a carrier management command (AAI_CM-CMD) message or a ranging response (AAI_RNG-RSP) message,

the second message is a carrier management indication (AAI_CM-IND) message, and

the second carrier is allocated to the mobile station through a multi-carrier response (AAI_MC-RSP) message.