Long term evolution (LTE) network control of carrier aggregation for user equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9860898-B1
Application number	US-201514941947-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 16, 2015
Priority date	Nov 16, 2015
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

A Long Term Evolution (LTE) network wirelessly exchanges data over an LTE channel with a plurality of User Equipment (UE) by using Carrier Aggregation with at least some of the UEs. The LTE network compares a number of the UEs using the LTE channel to an admission threshold, and if the number of UEs exceeds the admission threshold, then identifying individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for a Carrier Aggregation Secondary Component Carrier but not for a Carrier Aggregation Primary Component Carrier. The LTE network disables the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to control Carrier Aggregation, the method comprising:
wirelessly exchanging data over an LTE channel with a plurality of User Equipment (UE);
comparing a number of the UEs using the LTE channel to a channel admission threshold, and if the number of UEs exceeds the channel admission threshold, then identifying individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for a Carrier Aggregation Secondary Component Carrier but not for a Carrier Aggregation Primary Component Carrier; and
disabling the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:
identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are also using another LTE channel for another Secondary Component Carrier; and
disabling the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier comprises disabling the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs that are using the other LTE channel for their other Secondary Component Carrier.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:
identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Inter-Band Carrier Aggregation; and
disabling the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises disabling the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Inter-Band Carrier Aggregation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:
identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Intra-Band Non-Contiguous Carrier Aggregation; and
disabling the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises disabling the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Intra-Band Non-Contiguous Carrier Aggregation.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:
identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Intra-Band Contiguous Carrier Aggregation; and
disabling the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises disabling the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Intra-Band Contiguous Carrier Aggregation.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after disabling the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs, identifying additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Primary Component Carrier but not for their Secondary Component Carrier and responsively switching their Primary Component Carrier and their Secondary Component Carrier; and
disabling the LTE channel for the additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein:
identifying additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Primary Component Carrier but not for their Secondary Component Carrier and further comprises identifying additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Inter-Band Non-Contiguous Carrier Aggregation and responsively switching their Primary Component Carrier and their Secondary Component Carrier; and
disabling the LTE channel for the additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises disabling the LTE channel for the additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Inter-Band Carrier Aggregation.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein:
identifying additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Primary Component Carrier but not for their Secondary Component further comprises identifying additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Intra-Band Non-Contiguous Carrier Aggregation, and responsively switching their Primary Component Carrier and their Secondary Component Carrier; and
disabling the LTE channel for the additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises disabling the LTE channel for the additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Intra-Band Non-Contiguous Carrier Aggregation.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein:
identifying additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Primary Component Carrier but not for their Secondary Component Carrier further comprises identifying additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Intra-Band Contiguous Carrier Aggregation and responsively switching their Primary Component Carrier and their Secondary Component Carrier; and
disabling the LTE channel for the additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier further comprises disabling the LTE channel for the additional ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for Intra-Band Contiguous Carrier Aggregation.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing the number of the UEs using the LTE channel to the admission threshold to identify the individual ones of the UEs comprises comparing a number of the UEs using Carrier Aggregation on the LTE channel to a Carrier Aggregation admission threshold, and if the number of UEs using Carrier Aggregation on the LTE channel exceeds the Carrier Aggregation admission threshold, then identifying the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for the Secondary Component Carrier but not for the Primary Component Carrier.

11. A Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to control Carrier Aggregation, comprising:
a communication interface configured to wirelessly exchange data over an LTE channel with a plurality of User Equipment (UE);
a data processing system configured to compare a number of the UEs using the LTE channel to an admission threshold, and if the number of UEs exceeds the admission threshold, then identify individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for a Carrier Aggregation Secondary Component Carrier but not for a Carrier Aggregation Primary Component Carrier; and
the data processing system configured to disable the LTE channel for the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for their Primary Component Carrier.

12. The LTE network of claim 11 wherein:
the data processing system configured to identify the individual ones of the UEs that are using the LTE channel for their Secondary Component Carrier but not for thei

Assignees

• Sprint Communications Co Lp

Inventors

• Liu Chunmei
• Pawar Hemanth Balaji
• Kothari Pratik
• Sitaram Krishna D

Classifications

• H04L5/001

  the frequencies being arranged in component carriers · CPC title

• H04L5/0098 Primary

  Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands · CPC title

• H04W76/30

  Connection release · CPC title

• H04W76/06

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W72/0453 Primary

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