Apparatus and method for performing uplink synchronization in wireless communication system

• US 8,848,674 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2012
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pantech Co. Ltd. (Pantech Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kwon, Ki Bum, Jung, Myung Cheul, Ahn, Jae Hyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bokhari, Syed M
• Application Number:
  US13/481,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20120300752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 858 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/312, 370/314, 370/321, 370/324, 370328-330, 370336-337, 370/341, 370/350, 370/389, 370/474, 455/517
• US Class Current: 370/336
• 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 56/0005 synchronizing of arrival of multiple uplinks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0045 compensating for timing error by altering transmission time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

This specification relates to an apparatus and method for performing random access in a wireless communication system. This specification discloses a mobile station, including a reception unit for receiving TAG configuration information on which at least one serving cell configured in the mobile station is classified as a Timing Alignment Group (TAG) from a base station and a transmission unit for transmitting a random access preamble to the base station on one representative serving cell within the TAG. In accordance with this specification, a procedure of obtaining a TAV for a serving cell in order to secure and maintain uplink timing synchronization becomes clear, the time taken to obtain uplink synchronization for a serving cell may be reduced, and overhead due to excessive random access attempts may be reduced by obtaining a TAV for a plurality of serving cells through one random access procedure.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE) performing an uplink synchronization in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:

a receiving unit configured for receiving a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) from a base station (BS); and

a MAC processing unit configured for;

identifying that the MAC PDU includes a MAC header and a MAC control element (CE);

obtaining, from the MAC header, a subheader;

obtaining, from the subheader, a logical channel identifier (LCID) indicating an index to identify whether the MAC CE is for timing advance command (TAC);

obtaining, from the MAC CE, a TAC field with 6 bits indicating a timing alignment value (TAV) and a timing alignment group (TAG) index field with 2 bits identifying a TAG to control uplink timing adjustment identically with the TAV;

identifying the TAG to which the TAV is applied based on the TAG index field; and

controlling the uplink timing adjustment for at least one serving cell in the identified TAG.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the MAC processing unit is further configured for identifying the TAG among 4 TAGs defined by the 2 bits.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the MAC processing unit is further configured for identifying that the TAG to include a primary serving cell (PSC) when the TAG index field is set to 00.

4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the MAC processing unit is configured for identifying that the MAC CE includes the TAC field when the index indicated by the LCID is set to 11101.

5. The UE of claim 1, further comprising:

a radio resource control (RRC) processing unit configured for receiving, from the BS, an RRC message, the RRC message including TAG configuration information which includes at least one serving cell corresponding to at least one TAG to be configured.

6. A method of performing an uplink synchronization by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) from a base station (BS);

identifying that the MAC PDU includes a MAC header and a MAC control element (CE);

obtaining, from the MAC header, a subheader;

obtaining, from the subheader, a logical channel identifier (LCID) indicating an index to identify whether the MAC CE is for timing advance command (TAC);

obtaining, from the MAC CE, a TAC field with 6 bits indicating a timing alignment value (TAV) and a timing alignment group (TAG) index field with 2 bits identifying a TAG to control uplink timing adjustment identically with the TAV;

identifying the TAG to which the TAV is applied based on the TAG index field; and

controlling the uplink timing adjustment for at least one serving cell in the identified TAG.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the TAG is identified among 4 TAGs defined by the 2 bits.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the TAG is identified to include a primary serving cell (PSC) when the TAG index field is set to 00.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the MAC CE is identified to include the TAC field when the index indicated by the LCID is set to 11101.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, from the BS, an RRC message, the RRC message including TAG configuration information which includes at least one serving cell corresponding to at least one TAG to be configured.

11. A base station (BS) performing an uplink synchronization in a wireless communication system, the BS comprising:

a medium access control (MAC) processing unit configured for;

generating a timing advance command (TAC) field with 6 bits indicating a timing alignment value (TAV) and a timing alignment group (TAG) index field with 2 bits identifying a TAG to control uplink timing adjustment identically with the TAV;

generating a MAC control element (CE) by including the TAC field and the TAG index field in the MAC CE;

setting a logical channel identifier (LCID) indicating an index to identify whether the MAC CE is for TAC;

generating a header by including a subheader with the LCID in the header; and

generating a MAC protocol data unit (PDU) comprising the header and the MAC CE; and

a transmitting unit configured for transmitting the MAC PDU to a user equipment (UE).

12. The BS of claim 11, wherein the MAC processing unit is further configured for generating the TAG index field with 2 bits identifying the TAG among 4 TAGs defined by the 2 bits.

13. The BS of claim 11, wherein the MAC processing unit is further configured for setting the TAG index field to 00 to include a primary serving cell (PSC) in the TAG.

14. The BS of claim 11, wherein the MAC processing unit is configured for setting the index indicated by the LCID to 11101 to represent that the MAC CE includes the TAC field.

15. The BS of claim 11, further comprising:

a radio resource control (RRC) processing unit configured for generating an RRC message, the RRC message including TAG configuration information which includes at least one serving cell corresponding to at least one TAG to be configured,

wherein the transmitting unit is further configured for transmitting the RRC message to the UE.

16. A method of performing an uplink synchronization by a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

generating a timing advance command (TAC) field with 6 bits indicating a timing alignment value (TAV) and a timing alignment group (TAG) index field with 2 bits identifying a TAG to control uplink timing adjustment identically with the TAV;

generating a MAC control element (CE) by including the TAC field and the TAG index field in the MAC CE;

setting a logical channel identifier (LCID) indicating an index to identify whether the MAC CE is for TAC;

generating a header by including a subheader with the LCID in the header;

generating a MAC protocol data unit (PDU) comprising the header and the MAC CE; and

transmitting the MAC PDU to a user equipment (UE).

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the TAG is identified among 4 TAGs defined by the 2 bits.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the TAG is identified to include a primary serving cell (PSC) when the TAG index field is set to 00.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the MAC CE is identified to include the TAC field when the index indicated by the LCID is set to 11101.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

transmitting, to the UE, an RRC message, the RRC message including TAG configuration information which includes at least one serving cell corresponding to at least one TAG to be configured.