Methods and apparatus for activating and deactivating secondary cells in a carrier aggregation environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019053060-A1
Application number	US-201816160484-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 15, 2018
Priority date	Aug 19, 2010
Publication date	Feb 14, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for activating and deactivating secondary cells in a carrier aggregation environment are provided. In one embodiment, a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) command is received from a base station for activating/deactivating a secondary cell associated with a User Equipment (UE). The secondary cell configured for the UE is activated/deactivated based on the MAC CE command. Further, a first uplink grant is received from the base station upon activation/deactivation of the secondary cell. Accordingly, quality information (e.g., channel quality information, sounding reference signal information, and the like) associated with the cell(s) is transmitted to the base station in the received first uplink grant over a physical uplink shared channel. Furthermore, a hybrid automatic repeat request entity associated with the secondary cell is reset.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for activating/deactivating a secondary cell at a user equipment (UE) in a communication system based on carrier aggregation, the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, control information for activating/deactivating at least one secondary cell; activating the at least one secondary cell using the control information; detecting an expiry of a timer related to a deactivation of the at least one secondary cell; and deactivating the at least one secondary cell in response to the expiry of the timer.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
resetting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity associated with the at least one secondary cell upon deactivating the at least one secondary cell.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
flushing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers associated with the one or more HARQ processes when the least one secondary cell is deactivated.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
stopping any uplink transmission on the at least one secondary cell in response to deactivating the at least one secondary cell.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein activating the at least one secondary cell comprises transmitting, to the base station, quality information comprising at least one of channel quality information (CQI), sounding reference signal (SRS), and a Power Head Room (PHR).

6 . A method for activating/deactivating a secondary cell at base station in a communication system based on carrier aggregation, the method comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), control information for activating/deactivating at least one secondary cell, wherein the at least one secondary cell is activated by the UE using the control information, and wherein the at least one secondary cell is deactivated by the UE in response to an expiry of a timer related to a deactivation of the at least one secondary cell.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity associated with the at least one secondary cell is reset by the UE upon deactivating the at least one secondary cell.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers associated with the one or more HARQ processes are flushed by the UE when the least one secondary cell is deactivated.

9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein any uplink transmission from the UE on the at least one secondary cell is stopped in response to deactivating the at least one secondary cell.

10 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising: receiving, from the UE, quality information comprising at least one of channel quality information (CQI), sounding reference signal (SRS), and a Power Head Room (PHR), for activating the at least one secondary cell.

11 . A user equipment (UE) for activating/deactivating a secondary cell in a communication system based on carrier aggregation, the UE comprising:
a transceiver; and a controller coupled to the transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to:
receive, from a base station, control information for activating/deactivating at least one secondary cell;
activate the at least one secondary cell using the control information;
detect an expiry of a timer related to a deactivation of the at least one secondary cell; and
deactivate the at least one secondary cell in response to the expiry of the timer.

12 . The UE of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
reset a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity associated with the at least one secondary cell upon deactivating the at least one secondary cell.

13 . The UE of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
flush hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers associated with the one or more HARQ processes when the least one secondary cell is deactivated.

14 . The UE of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
stop any uplink transmission on the at least one secondary cell in response to deactivating the at least one secondary cell.

15 . The UE of claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to transmit, to the base station, quality information comprising at least one of channel quality information (CQI), sounding reference signal (SRS), and a Power Head Room (PHR), for activating the at least one secondary cell.

16 . A base station for activating/deactivating a secondary cell at base station in a communication system based on carrier aggregation, the base station comprising:
a transceiver; and a controller coupled to the transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), control information for activating/deactivating at least one secondary cell,
wherein the at least one secondary cell is activated by the UE using the control information, and wherein the at least one secondary cell is deactivated by the UE in response to an expiry of a timer related to a deactivation of the at least one secondary cell.

17 . The base station of claim 16 , wherein a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity associated with the at least one secondary cell is reset by the UE upon deactivating the at least one secondary cell.

18 . The base station of claim 16 , wherein hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers associated with the one or more HARQ processes are flushed by the UE when the least one secondary cell is deactivated.

19 . The base station of claim 16 , wherein any uplink transmission from the UE on the at least one secondary cell is stopped in response to deactivating the at least one secondary cell.

20 . The base station of claim 16 , wherein the controller is further configured to receive, from the UE, quality information comprising at least one of channel quality information (CQI), sounding reference signal (SRS), and a Power Head Room (PHR), for activating the at least one secondary cell.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Baghel Sudhir Kumar
• Manepalli Venkateswara Rao

Classifications

• H04J11/0076

  Acquisition of secondary synchronisation channel, e.g. detection of cell-ID group · CPC title

• H04B7/2612

  Arrangements for wireless medium access control, e.g. by allocating physical layer transmission capacity (H04B7/2615 - H04B7/2643 take precedence; provision for broadband connection H04Q11/0478) · CPC title

• H04L5/001

  the frequencies being arranged in component carriers · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W16/00 Primary

  Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures · CPC title