Wireless communication system control of uplink carrier aggregation

• US 9,807,672 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2016
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Singh, Jasinder Pal, Saleh, Ahmad N., Rai, Deveshkumar Narendrapratap
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad, Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Song, Rebecca
• Application Number:
  US15/280,517
• Time in Patent Office: 397 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0087 when data requirements change
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0098 Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/34 TPC management, i.e. sharing limited amount of power among users or channels or data types, e.g. cell loading
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/343 taking into account loading or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/346 distributing total power among users or channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/365 Power headroom reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network

Abstract

A wireless relay wirelessly receives user data from User Equipment (UE) using a UE uplink Carrier Aggregation (CA) configuration. The wireless relay wirelessly transfers the user data using a relay uplink. The wireless relay determines available Power Headroom (PHR) for the relay uplink and translates the available PHR into a new UE uplink CA configuration. The wireless relay wirelessly receives additional user data from the UE using the new UE uplink CA configuration.

Claims

1. A method of operating a wireless communication system to control uplink Carrier Aggregation (CA), the method comprising:

a wireless relay wirelessly receiving user data from User Equipment (UE) using a UE uplink CA configuration;

the wireless relay wirelessly transferring the user data using a relay uplink;

the wireless relay determining available Power Headroom (PHR) for the relay uplink and translating the available PHR into a new UE uplink CA configuration; and

the wireless relay wirelessly receiving additional user data from the UE using the new UE uplink CA configuration.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the new UE uplink CA configuration comprises disabling uplink CA for the UE.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the new UE uplink CA configuration comprises disabling a percentage of uplink CA for the UE.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless relay determining the available PHR for the relay uplink comprises a relay user equipment determining the available PHR for the relay uplink and further comprising indicating the available PHR from the relay user equipment to an evolved NodeB (eNodeB) in the wireless relay.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein translating the available PHR into a new UE uplink CA configuration further comprises translating the available PHR and a donor base station load into the new UE uplink CA configuration.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising receiving the donor base station load from the donor base station.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a donor base station load from the donor base station over an X2 link.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a donor base station load from the donor base station over a Radio Resource Control (RRC) link.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a donor base station load from the donor base station over an Ethernet link.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless communication system comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system.

11. A wireless relay to control uplink Carrier Aggregation (CA), the wireless relay comprising:

a communication transceiver configured to wirelessly receive user data from User Equipment (UE) using a UE uplink CA configuration;

the communication transceiver configured to wirelessly transfer the user data using a relay uplink;

a data processor configured to determine available Power Headroom (PHR) for the relay uplink and translate the available PHR into a new UE uplink CA configuration; and

the communication transceiver configured to wirelessly receive additional user data from the UE using the new UE uplink CA configuration.

12. The wireless relay of claim 11 wherein the new UE uplink CA configuration comprises the data processor configured to disable uplink CA for the UE.

13. The wireless relay of claim 11 wherein the new UE uplink CA configuration comprises the data processor configured to disable a percentage of uplink CA for the UE.

14. The wireless relay of claim 11 wherein the data processor configured to determine available PHR for the relay uplink comprises a relay user equipment configured to determine the available PHR for the relay uplink and indicate the available PHR from the relay user equipment to an evolved NodeB (eNodeB) in the wireless relay.

15. The wireless relay of claim 11 wherein the data processor configured to translate the available PHR into a new UE uplink CA configuration further comprises the data processor configured to translate the available PHR and a donor base station load into the new UE uplink CA configuration.

16. The wireless relay of claim 15 further comprising the communication transceiver configured to receive the donor base station load from the donor base station.

17. The wireless relay of claim 11 further comprising the communication transceiver configured to receive a donor base station load from the donor base station over an X2 link.

18. The wireless relay of claim 11 further comprising the communication transceiver configured to receive a donor base station load from the donor base station over a Radio Resource Control (RRC) link.

19. The wireless relay of claim 11 further comprising the communication transceiver configured to receive a donor base station load from the donor base station over an Ethernet link.

20. The wireless relay of claim 11 wherein the wireless relay comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) relay.