Method and apparatus for supporting carrier aggregation

• US 8,811,284 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2010
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Chung, Jae Hoon, Kwon, Yeong Hyeon, Han, Seung Hee, Kim, So Yeon
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Anh-Vu
• Assistant Examiner(s): BHATTI, HASHIM S
• Application Number:
  US13/256,924
• Publication Number:
  US 20120002635A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,617 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/328
• 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: H04L 5/0098 Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for supporting carrier aggregation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for enabling user equipment to receive a signal from a base station in a wireless communication system which supports carrier aggregation, wherein said the method comprises the steps of: setting a first component carrier to a paused state; receiving state change information for the first component carrier via the second component carrier during the paused state of the first component carrier; and monitoring a control channel via the first component carrier if the state change information indicates a predetermined value. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for the method.

Claims

1. A method of performing power management at a user equipment configured with a primary frequency resource and one or more non-primary frequency resources in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

configuring a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle, the DRX cycle including an active time and a DRX time; and

performing Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) monitoring on one or more activated frequency resources during the active time of every DRX cycle,

wherein the same active time is applied to all of the one or more activated frequency resources,

wherein the primary frequency resource is always activated, and the one or more non-primary frequency resources can be activated or deactivated, and

wherein activation/deactivation of the one or more non-primary frequency resources is indicated using a field of Layer 2 (L2 ) message, the field having a fixed bit size regardless of a number of configured frequency resources.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

skipping PDCCH monitoring on the one or more activated frequency resources during the DRX time of every DRX cycle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary frequency resource includes a primary component carrier, and the one or more non-primary frequency resources include one or more non-primary component carriers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring the one or more non-primary frequency resources to an idle state; and

receiving state change information for the one or more non-primary frequency resources through the primary frequency resource while the one or more non-primary frequency resources are in the idle state.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more non-primary frequency resources in the idle state are activated in response to detection of corresponding paging indication information or a corresponding paging message on the primary frequency resource.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more non-primary frequency resources in the idle state are activated when the state change information of a PDCCH on the primary frequency resource indicates a predetermined value.

7. A user equipment for performing power management in a wireless communication system, wherein the user equipment is configured with a primary frequency resource and one or more non-primary frequency resources, the user equipment comprising:

a Radio Frequency (RF) module; and

a processor, wherein the processor is configured to;

configure a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle, the DRX cycle including an active time and a DRX time, and

perform Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) monitoring on one or more activated frequency resources during the active time of every DRX cycle,

wherein the same active time is applied to all of the one or more activated frequency resources,

wherein the primary frequency resource is always activated, and the one or more non-primary frequency resources can be activated or deactivated, and

wherein activation/deactivation of the one or more non-primary frequency resources is indicated using a field of Layer 2 (L2 ) message, the field having a fixed bit size regardless of a number of configured frequency resources.

8. The user equipment of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to skip PDCCH monitoring on the one or more activated frequency resources during the DRX time of every DRX cycle.

9. The user equipment of claim 7, wherein the primary frequency resource includes a primary component carrier, and the one or more non-primary frequency resources include one or more non-primary component carriers.

10. The user equipment of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to:

configure one or more non-primary frequency resources to an idle state; and

receive state change information for the one or more non-primary frequency resources through the primary frequency resource while the one or more non-primary frequency resources are in the idle state.

11. The user equipment of claim 10, wherein the one or more non-primary frequency resources in the idle state are activated in response to detection of corresponding paging indication information or a corresponding paging message on the primary frequency resource.

12. The user equipment of claim 10, wherein the one or more non-primary frequency resources in the idle state are activated when the state change information of a PDCCH on the primary frequency resource indicates a predetermined value.