Communications method and apparatus for carrier aggregation

• US 9,973,254 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2016
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: Chen, Po-Ying, Wu, Wei-De, Chiang, Ping-Hung, Chiu, Mao-Ching
• Primary Examiner(s): Yuen, Kan
• Application Number:
  US15/390,931
• Publication Number:
  US 20170111100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 504 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0871 using different reception schemes, at least one of them being a diversity reception scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0885 with combination
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0085 when channel conditions change
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality

Abstract

A communications apparatus and method are provided. The communications method for an apparatus capable of Carrier Aggregation (CA), wherein the apparatus includes a plurality of processing engines and antennas, includes the steps of determining whether the apparatus is configured in a single component carrier for a first group of the antennas, and activating a second group of the antennas when the apparatus is configured in the single component carrier. T the first group of antennas are configured for a first part of the processing engines and the second group of antennas are configured for a second part of the processing engines, and the first part of the processing engines and the second part of the processing engines share a MIMO detector.

Claims

1. A communications method, for an apparatus capable of Carrier Aggregation (CA), wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of processing engines and antennas, comprising:

determining whether the apparatus is configured in a single component carrier for a first group of the antennas;

activating a second group of the antennas when the apparatus is configured in the single component carrier;

performing a symbol combining processing, wherein the first part of the processing engines and the second part of the processing engines share a MIMO pre-processor;

wherein the first group of antennas are configured for a first part of the processing engines and the second group of antennas are configured for a second part of the processing engines; and

wherein the first part of the processing engines and the second part of the processing engines share a MIMO detector and a MIMO pre-processor.

2. The communications method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a normal Carrier Aggregation mechanism when the apparatus is configured in more than one component carrier.

3. The communications method of claim 2, wherein in the normal Carrier Aggregation mechanism, the first group of the antennas is configured for all processing engines.

4. The communications method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a bits combining processing before a bit rate processing (BRP).

5. The communications method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the antennas to activate according to indicators.

6. The communications method of claim 5, wherein the indicators comprise channel state information (CSI) and quality of service (QoS) requirement.

7. The communications method of claim 1, wherein the first part of the processing engines and the second part of the processing engines share a MIMO pre-processor.

8. The communications method of claim 1, further comprise:

deactivating the second group of antennas when the apparatus is converted to a normal Carrier Aggregation mechanism; and

performing the normal Carrier Aggregation mechanism.

9. The communications method of claim 1, wherein the first group of antennas comprises two antennas and the second group of antennas comprises one or two antennas.

10. A communications apparatus capable of Carrier Aggregation (CA), comprising:

a plurality of processing engines, comprised in an RF signal processing device and connected with a plurality of processing antennas;

a processor configured to detect whether the communications apparatus is configured in a single component carrier,

wherein the antennas are divided into a first group of the antennas and a second group of the antennas, the first group of antennas are configured for a first part of the processing engines, and the second group of antennas are configured for a second part of the processing engines;

wherein the processor activates the second group of the antennas when the apparatus is configured in the single component carrier;

a MIMO detector, wherein the first part of the processing engines and the second part of the processing engines share the MIMO detector;

a MIMO pre-processor, wherein the first part of the processing engines and the second part of the processing engines share a MIMO pre-processor; and

a symbol combiner, connected with the MIMO pre-processor and configured to perform a symbol combining processing for outputs of the MIMO pre-processor.

11. The communications apparatus of claim 10, wherein a normal Carrier Aggregation mechanism is performed by the processor when the communications apparatus is configured in more than one component carrier.

12. The communications apparatus of claim 11, wherein in the normal Carrier Aggregation mechanism, the first group of the antennas is configured for all processing engines.

13. The communications apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a MIMO pre-processor, wherein the first part of the processing engines and the second part of the processing engines share the MIMO pre-processor.

14. The communications apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

an antenna selector, connected with the MIMO detector and configured to select the antennas to activate according to indicators from the MIMO detector.

15. The communications apparatus of claim 14, wherein the indicators comprise channel state information (CSI) and quality of service (QoS) requirement.

16. The communications apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second group of antennas is deactivated when the apparatus is converted to a normal Carrier Aggregation mechanism;

and the normal Carrier Aggregation mechanism is performed.

17. The communications apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first group of antennas comprises two antennas and the second group of antennas comprises one or two antennas.