Carrier aggregation

• US 8,462,609 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2010
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Berggren, Fredrik, van de Beek, Jaap
• Primary Examiner(s): Skripnikov, Alex
• Application Number:
  US12/972,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20110103333A1
• Time in Patent Office: 904 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation

Abstract

Carrier aggregation in a radio communication system is disclosed, in which at least two Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) carriers are aggregated, each of the at least two OFDM carriers comprising subcarriers being spaced in accordance with a subcarrier spacing of the radio communication system, transmission on the at least two OFDM carriers being synchronized in time.

Claims

1. Method for carrier aggregation of at least two Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) carriers in a radio communication system, each of said at least two OFDM carriers comprising subcarriers being spaced in accordance with a subcarrier spacing of said radio communication system, respectively, the method comprising:

allocating frequencies in a spectrum, such that the subcarriers of said at least two OFDM carriers are located separated from each other by a multiple of said subcarrier spacing, and

synchronizing transmission on said at least two OFDM carriers in time,

wherein at least one of said at least two OFDM carriers is an extended legacy carrier being compatible with a legacy radio communication system, said extended legacy carrier being a legacy carrier of said legacy radio communication system, to which legacy carrier at least one additional subcarrier has been added;

wherein an aggregated carrier resulting from the carrier aggregation is used for downlink transmission in the radio communication system;

wherein said at least two OFDM carriers are transmitted from at least two different transmitters;

wherein, in a handover situation, said at least two OFDM carriers include at least one OFDM carrier being transmitted from a serving cell transmitter and at least one OFDM carrier being transmitted from a target cell transmitter.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein all of said at least two OFDM carriers are transmitted from a single transmitter.

3. Method according to claim 1, wherein an aggregated carrier resulting from the carrier aggregation is used for uplink transmission in the radio communication system.

4. Method as claimed in claim 3, wherein information being related to a configuration of said aggregated carrier to be used for the uplink transmission is signaled to or known by an uplink transmitter in said radio communication system.

5. Method according to claim 1, wherein said at least one additional subcarrier is added to at least one group of frequencies of said legacy carrier, said at least one group of frequencies being used as a guard band in said legacy radio communication system.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein said at least one additional subcarrier is added to said legacy carrier such that said extended legacy carrier is symmetric with respect to a center frequency of the legacy carrier.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein at least one, but less than all, of said at least one additional subcarriers is nulled.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein all of said at least two OFDM carriers are extended legacy carriers being compatible with said legacy radio communication system.

9. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein information being related to a configuration of said aggregated carrier being used for the downlink transmission is signaled to or known by a receiver of the downlink transmission in said radio communication system.

10. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a baseband equivalent representation of

said at least one extended legacy carrier or

an aggregated carrier resulting from the carrier aggregation

includes a Direct Current (DC) subcarrier, which DC subcarrier is excluded from transmission.

11. Computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium, that when executed in a computer, provides computer instructions to:

allocate frequencies in a spectrum, such that subcarriers of at least two Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) carriers are located separated from each other by a multiple of a subcarrier spacing, and

synchronize transmission on said at least two OFDM carriers in time, wherein

at least one of said at least two OFDM carriers is an extended legacy carrier being compatible with a legacy radio communication system, said extended legacy carrier being a legacy carrier of said legacy radio communication system, to which legacy carrier at least one additional subcarrier has been added;

wherein an aggregated carrier resulting from a carrier aggregation of said at least two OFDM carriers is used for downlink transmission in the radio communication system;

wherein said at least two OFDM carriers are transmitted from at least two different transmitters;

wherein, in a handover situation, said at least two OFDM carriers include at least one OFDM carrier being transmitted from a serving cell transmitter and at least one OFDM carrier being transmitted from a target cell transmitter.

12. A transmitter in a radio communication system comprising a downlink transmitter, said downlink transmitter being arranged for assisting in carrier aggregation of at least two Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) carriers, each of said at least two OFDM carriers comprising subcarriers being spaced in accordance with a subcarrier spacing of said radio communication system, respectively, said downlink transmitter comprising:

an allocation entity, being arranged for assisting in allocation of frequencies in a spectrum, such that the subcarriers of said at least two OFDM carriers are located separated from each other by a multiple of said subcarrier spacing, and

a synchronization entity, being arranged for assisting in synchronization of transmission on said at least two OFDM carriers in time, and

a transmission entity, being arranged for assisting in transmission of said at least two OFDM carriers,

wherein at least one of said at least two OFDM carriers is an extended legacy carrier being compatible with a legacy radio communication system, said extended legacy carrier being a legacy carrier of said legacy radio communication system, to which legacy carrier at least one additional subcarrier has been added;

wherein an aggregated carrier resulting from the carrier aggregation is used for downlink transmission in the radio communication system;

wherein said at least two OFDM carriers are from at least two different transmitters;

wherein, in a handover situation, said at least two OFDM carriers include at least one OFDM carrier from a serving cell transmitter and at least one OFDM carrier from a target cell transmitter.

13. The transmitter according to claim 12, wherein said transmitter is arranged for performing said carrier aggregation by itself, wherein:

said allocation entity is arranged for allocating frequencies in a spectrum for the subcarriers of all of said at least two OFDM carriers, such that all of said subcarriers are located separated from each other by a multiple of said subcarrier spacing,

said synchronization entity is arranged for synchronizing transmission on all of said at least two OFDM carriers, and

said transmission entity is arranged for transmitting all of said at least two OFDM carriers.

14. A radio communication system operating with an aggregated carrier, said aggregated carrier being created by carrier aggregation of at least two Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) carriers in the radio communication system, each of said at least two OFDM carriers comprising subcarriers being spaced in accordance with a subcarrier spacing of said radio communication system, respectively, comprising:

an allocation entity, being arranged for assisting in allocation of frequencies in a spectrum, such that the subcarriers of said at least two OFDM carriers are located separated from each other by a multiple of said subcarrier spacing, and

a synchronization entity, being arranged for assisting in synchronization of transmission on said at least two OFDM carriers in time, wherein

at least one of said at least two OFDM carriers is an extended legacy carrier being compatible with a legacy radio communication system, said extended legacy carrier being a legacy carrier of said legacy radio communication system, to which legacy carrier at least one additional subcarrier has been added;

wherein an aggregated carrier resulting from the carrier aggregation is used for downlink transmission in the radio communication system;

wherein said at least two OFDM carriers are transmitted from at least two different transmitters;

wherein, in a handover situation, said at least two OFDM carriers include at least one OFDM carrier being transmitted from a serving cell transmitter and at least one OFDM carrier being transmitted from a target cell transmitter.