Communications in a Wireless Network for Carrier Selection and Switching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016183263-A1
Application number	US-201514975522-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 18, 2015
Priority date	Dec 19, 2014
Publication date	Jun 23, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Communications in a wireless network for carrier Selection and switching are provided. A terminal in the wireless network is simultaneously receiving data on at most m carriers. A base station in the wireless network sends an activation command associated with more than m carriers to the terminal. The terminal activates the more than m carriers. Then the base station selects a first subset from the activated carriers, and sends a first monitoring command associated with the first subset via a first physical-layer signaling to the terminal. When load and/or interference situations are changed, the base station selects a second subset from the activated carriers, and sends a second monitoring command associated with the second subset via a second physical-layer signaling to the terminal, wherein the first subset is different from the second subset.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for communicating with a terminal by a base station in a wireless network, wherein the terminal is capable of simultaneously receiving data on at most m carriers, the method comprising:
sending an activation command associated with more than m carriers to the terminal; selecting a first subset from the more than m carriers; sending a first monitoring command associated with the first subset of the more than m carriers via a first physical-layer signaling to the terminal, wherein a number of the carriers in the first subset is less or equal to m; selecting a second subset from the more than m carriers; and sending a second monitoring command associated with the second subset of the more than m carriers via a second physical-layer signaling to the terminal, wherein a number of the carriers in the second subset is less or equal to m, and the first subset is different from the second subset.

2 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
receiving a channel state information (CSI) measurement report associated with the more than m carriers from the terminal; wherein the first subset and the second subset are selected based on the CSI measurement report.

3 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
sending an instruction via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling to instruct the terminal to perform radio resource management (RRM) measurement; receiving a RRM measurement report from the terminal; and selecting the more than m carriers in the activation command based on the RRM measurement report.

4 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
selecting the more than m carriers in the activation command based on a coordinated decision with another base station or a network coordinator in the wireless network.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a carrier frequency in the first subset is in a band licensed for cellular communication, and wherein a carrier frequency in the second subset is in a band reserved for unlicensed communication.

6 . The method of claim 1 , the first physical-layer signaling and the second physical-layer signaling are downlink control information (DCI) signaling carried by physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or by enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH).

7 . A method for communicating with a base station by a terminal in a wireless network, wherein the terminal is capable of simultaneously receiving data on at most m carriers, the method comprising:
receiving an activation command associated with more than m carriers from the base station; activating the more than m carriers in accordance with the activation command; receiving a first monitoring command associated with a first subset of the activated carriers via a first physical-layer signaling from the base station, wherein a number of carriers in the first subset is less than or equal to m; monitoring the carriers in the first subset of the activated carriers to receive data; receiving a second monitoring command associated with a second subset of the activated carriers via a second physical-layer signaling from the base station, wherein a number of carriers in the second subset is less than or equal to m, and the first subset is different from the second subset; and monitoring the carriers in the second subset of the activated carriers to receive data.

8 . The method of claim 7 , the method further comprising:
receiving serving cell configurations associated with the more than m carriers via at least a radio resource control (RRC) signaling from the base station; and configuring the more than m carriers as serving cells of the terminal in accordance with the serving cell configurations.

9 . The method of claim 7 , before the step of the receiving of the activation command, the method further comprising:
receiving a radio resource management (RRM) measurement instruction associated with the more than m carriers from the base station; performing RRM measurements on the more than m carriers in accordance with the RRM measurement instruction; and reporting RRM measurements of the more than m carriers to the base station.

10 . The method of claim 7 , the method further comprising:
receiving a channel state information (CSI) measurement instruction associated with the more than m carriers from the base station; performing CSI measurements on the activated carriers; and reporting CSI measurements of the activated carriers to the base station.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the CSI measurements on one or more of the activated carriers are performed by using gaps in accordance with a CSI measurement gap configuration received from the base station.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the CSI measurements on one or more of the activated carriers are performed by using gaps in accordance with a trigger associated with a CSI measurement.

13 . A base station for communicating with a terminal in a wireless network, comprising:
a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and storing programming for execution by the processor; the processor is configured to execute the programming to perform operations of: send an activation command associated with more than m carriers to the terminal, wherein the terminal is capable of simultaneously receiving data on at most m carriers; select a first subset from the more than m carriers; send a first monitoring command associated with the first subset of the more than m carriers via a first physical-layer signaling to the terminal, wherein a number of the carriers in the first subset is less or equal to m; select a second subset from the more than m carriers; and send a second monitoring command associated with the second subset of the more than m carriers via a second physical-layer signaling to the terminal, wherein a number of the carriers in the second subset is less or equal to m, and the first subset is different from the second subset.

14 . The base station of claim 13 , the processor is further configured to execute the programming to perform operations of:
receive a channel state information (CSI) measurement report associated with the more than m carriers from the terminal; wherein the first subset and the second subset are selected based on the CSI measurement report.

15 . The base station of claim 13 , the processor is further configured to execute the programming to perform operations of:
send an instruction via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling to instruct the terminal to perform radio resource management (RRM) measurement; receive a RRM measurement report from the terminal; and select the more than m carriers in the activation command based on the RRM measurement report.

16 . The base station of claim 13 , the processor is further configured to execute the programming to perform operations of:
select the more than m carriers in the activation command based on a coordinated decision with another base station or a network coordinator in the wireless network.

17 . A terminal for communicating with a base station in a wireless network, wherein the terminal is capable of simultaneously receiving data on at most m carriers, comprising:
a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and storing programming for execution by the processor; the processor is configured to execute the programming to perform operations of: receive an activation command associated with more than m carriers from the base station; activate the more than m carriers in accordance with the activation command; receive

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Liu Jialing
• Xiao Weimin
• Cheng Qian

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W72/27

  between access points · CPC title

• H04W24/10

  Scheduling measurement reports {; Arrangements for measurement reports} · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W72/0453 Primary

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title