METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING AND PROCESSING COMPONENT CARRIERS

• US 20140016506A1
• Filed: 07/12/2013
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gauvreau, Jean-Louis, Marinier, Paul, Zhang, Guodong, Olvera-Hernandez, Ulises
• Granted Patent: US 8,953,548 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0096 Indication of changes in allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0098 Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and apparatus are described which perform bandwidth aggregation by simultaneously monitoring and processing a number of simultaneous, non-contiguous or contiguous component carriers in the downlink. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) can be configured by an evolved Node-B (eNodeB) to support additional component carriers. A pre-configured additional component carrier may be used. Various methods for activating and deactivating the additional component carrier are also described.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising:

receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message configures the WTRU to support at least one additional component carrier and the RRC reconfiguration message does not activate the at least one additional component carrier; and

receiving a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the MAC CE indicates that the at least one additional component carrier is to be activated.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

activating the at least one additional component carrier based on receiving the MAC CE.

3. The method as in claim 2, wherein the at least one additional component carrier is activated after a predefined delay after receiving the MAC CE.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein the MAC CE comprises a bit combination field that is indicative of which component carriers are to be activated.

5. The method as in claim 4, wherein the bit combination field indicates that multiple component carriers are to be activated.

6. The method as in claim 4, wherein the bit combination field indicates that at least one active component carrier is to be deactivated.

7. The method as in claim 4, wherein the bit combination field comprises an aggregation of identifiers for a plurality of component carriers.

8. The method as in claim 1, further comprising maintaining a deactivation timer for each active component carrier, wherein the WTRU stops monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the active component carrier upon expiration of the deactivation timer for the active component carrier.

9. The method as in claim 8, wherein the deactivation timer for the active component carrier is started based on resources being assigned to the WTRU on the active component carrier.

10. The method as in claim 1, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises a cell identity and a carrier frequency for the at least one additional component carrier.

11. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising a processor configured to:

receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message configures the WTRU to support at least one additional component carrier and the RRC reconfiguration message does not activate the at least one additional component carrier; and

receive a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the MAC CE indicates that the at least one additional component carrier is to be activated.

12. The WTRU as in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

activate the at least one additional component carrier based on receiving the MAC CE.

13. The WTRU as in claim 11, wherein the MAC CE comprises a bit combination field that is indicative of which component carriers are to be activated.

14. The WTRU as in claim 12, wherein the bit combination field indicates that multiple component carriers are to be activated.

15. The WTRU as in claim 12, wherein the bit combination field indicates that at least one active component carrier is to be deactivated.

16. The WTRU as in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to maintain a deactivation timer for each active component carrier, wherein the WTRU is configured to stop monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the active component carrier upon expiration of the deactivation timer for the active component carrier.

17. The WTRU as in claim 16, wherein the deactivation timer for the active component carrier is started based on resources being assigned to the WTRU on the active component carrier.

18. The WTRU as in claim 11, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises a cell identity and a carrier frequency for the at least one additional component carrier.

19. The WTRU as in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to initiate reception of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the at least one additional component carrier in response to the WTRU receiving the MAC CE.

20. An evolved Node-B (eNB) comprising a processor configured to:

transmit a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message configures a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) to support at least one additional component carrier, and the RRC reconfiguration message does not activate the at least one additional component carrier; and

transmit a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the MAC CE indicates that the at least one additional component carrier is to be activated.