METHOD, BASE STATION, TERMINAL AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR
SELECTING A COMPONENT CA
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
5 [0001] The present application generally relates to the field of wireless communication, and
in particular to the field of carrier aggregation communication. More particularly, the present
application relates to a method for selecting a component carrier and a method for updating a
component carrier in a carrier aggregating communication network. The present application
further relates to a device for implementing the above method, including a base station, a
10 terminal, and a communication system including the base station and the terminal.
ACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Future LTE-A (Long Term Evolution-Advanced) system will s' pport a transmission
bandwidth up to 100MHz. However, the maximum supportable transmission bandwidth in
15 LET (Long Term Evolution) standard is 20MHz, and thus it is necessary to aggregate multiple
carriers to achieve wider transmission bandwidth. Carrier aggregation is a technique proposed
by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) to aggregate multiple carriers for joint
transmission, so as to support the higher requirement on the transmission bandwidth by the
future mobile communication systems. According to the position of the carriers to be
20 aggregating in the frequency spectrum, the carrier aggregation can be classified into
continuous carrier aggregation and non-continuous carrier aggregation, and LTE-A
simultaneously supports both of the two aggregation scenes. While introducing the carrier
aggregation technique, 3GPP also takes into consideration of the backward compatibility. This
means that for a long period of time in the future, terminals that support carrier aggregation
25 and terminals that do not support carrier aggregation will coexist, the terminals that support
carrier aggregation can access multiple carriers at the same time, and the terminals that do not
support carrier aggregation can access only one carrier.
[0003] To simplify the radio resource management in the carrier aggregation scene, a
concept of primary component carrier (PCC) will be introduced into LTE-A. Therefore, the
30 carrier management in the carrier aggregation scene will develop from the distributed
management towards the centralized management. Thus, the primary component carrier will
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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necessarily have -functions a common carrier does not have, playing an important part in the
radio resource management.
[00041 Naturally, the carrier corresponding to the cell for the initial access of the terminal is
selected as the primary component carrier. However, with the increasing requirement on the
quality of service by the user, it may be necessary to add a new carrier to form the carrier
aggregation. With the variation in the terminal, the base station and the network conditions, it
is also possible to replace or delete some carriers in use. Because of the movement of the user
and the difference between the performances of the carriers that are aggregating, it may be
necessary to re-designate the primary component carrier.
10
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] Hereinafter, a brief summary of the present invention will be given, so as to provide
basic understanding of some aspects of the present invention. It is to be: understood that this
summary is not an exhaustive summary about the present invention. It is not intended to
15 determine the key or important part of the present invention, or to define the scope of the
present invention. It only aims to give some concepts in a simplified form to serve as a
preface to the more detailed description discussed later.
[0006] An object of the present application is to provide a method and a. device for selecting
a component carrier, including a base station and a terminal. A further object of the present
20 application is to provide a method and a device for updating a primary component carrier,
including a base station and a terminal; a method and a device for adding a secondary
component carrier, including a base station and a terminal; and a communication system
including the base station and the terminal.
[0007] Thus, according to a first aspect of the present application, there is provided a
25 method for selecting a component carrier in a carrier aggregating communication network, the
method including: determining a coverage range of each available carrier that can be used by
a terminal; determining whether a distribution of the coverage ranges of different available
carriers accords with a predetermined distribution mode; and determining a component carrier
to be used at least according to a rule that is decided by the distribution mode, in the case that
30 the distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers accords with the
predetermined distribution mode.
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Unitalen ref.: OP 1211 -06-0139
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[0008] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a method
for updating a primary component carrier in a carrier aggregating communication network,
the method including: determining a new primary component carrier with the method of the
first aspect described above; and switching from an old primary component carrier to the new
primary component carrier.
[0009] According to yet another aspect of the present application, there is provided a
method for adding a secondary component carrier in a carrier aggregating communication
network, the method including: determining a new secondary component carrier with the
method of the first aspect described above; and adding the new secondary component carrier.
10 [0010] According to still another aspect of the present application, there is provided a
device in a carrier aggregating communication network, the device including: a terminal
information acquiring unit for acquiring position information of a terminal and/or carrier
distribution information corresponding to the position of the terminal; a carrier distribution
mode determining unit for determining whether a distribution of the coverage ranges of
15 different available carriers corresponding to the position of the terminal accords with a
predetermined distribution mode; a component carrier determining unit for determining a
component carrier to be used at least according to a rule that is decided by the distribution
mode, in the case that the distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers
corresponding to the position of the terminal accords with the predetermined distribution
20 mode; and a notifying unit for notifying the component carrier determined to he used to a
counterpart device.
[0011] Wherein, the component carrier can be a primary component carrier, and can also be
a secondary component carrier.
[0012] The above device can be a base station, and wherein the counterpart device is a
25 terminal that communicates with the base station.
[0013] The above device can also be a terminal, and wherein the counterpart device is a
base station that communicates with the terminal.
[0014] According to a further aspect of the present application, there is further provided a
communication system including the above mentioned base station and/or terminal.
30 [0015] According to the above various embodiments , it is possible to reasonably select the
^3
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Unitalen ref: OP1211-06-0139
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component carrier to be used.
[0016] Another object of the present application is to provide a method for updating a
primary component carrier, and a corresponding base station, terminal and communication
system.
5 [0017] Thus, according to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a method
for updating a primary component carrier in a carrier aggregating communication network,
the method including: acquiring status information of a terminal, a base station and/or a
primary component carrier; determining whether the status information meets a
predetermined condition; and replacing an old primary component carrier with a new primary
10 component carrier in the case that the status information meets the predetermined condition.
[0018] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a base
station in a carrier aggregating communication network, the base station including: a status
acquiring unit for acquiring status information of a terminal, a base station and/or a primary
component carrier; a status determining unit for determining whether the status information
15 meets a predetermined condition; and a primary component carrier updating unit for replacing
an old primary component caraier with a new primary component carrier in the case that the
status information meets the predetermined condition.
[0019] According to yet another aspect of the present application, there is provided a
terminal adapted for a carrier aggregating communication network, the terminal including: a
20 reconfiguration information receiving unit for receiving "radio resource control"
reconfiguration information from a base station; a radio resource configuring unit for
configuring a new primary component carrier according to radio resource configuration
information contained in the "radio resource control" reconfiguration information; and a
deactivating unit for deactivating an old primary component carrier according to a presetting
25 or in accordance with a deactivation command sent by a base station.
[0020] According to still another aspect of the present application, there is further provided
a communication system including the above mentioned base station and terminal.
[0021] A further object of the present application is to provide a method and a device for
updating a secondary component carrier, and a corresponding base station, terminal and
30 communication system.
4
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Unitalen ref.: OP121 U06-0139
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[0022] Therefore, according to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a
method for updating a secondary component carrier in a carrier aggregating communication
network, the method including: acquiring status information of a terminal, a base station
and/or a secondary component carrier; determining whether the status information meets a
predetermined condition; and adding a new secondary component carrier or replacing an old
secondary component carrier with a new secondary component carrier in the case that the
status information meets the predetermined condition.
[0023] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a base
station in a carrier aggregating communication network, the base station including: a status
10 acquiring unit for acquiring status information of a terminal, a base station and/or a secondary
component carrier; a status determining unit for determining whether the status information
meets a predetermined condition; and a secondary component carrier updating unit for adding
a new secondary component carrier or replacing an old secondary component carrier with a
new secondary component carrier in the case that the status information meets the
15 predetermined condition.
[0024] According to yet another aspect of the present application, there is provided a
terminal adapted for a carrier aggregating communication network, the terminal including: a
reconfiguration information receiving unit for receiving "radio resource control"
reconfiguration information from a base station; and a radio resource configuring unit for
20 configuring a new secondary component carrier according to radio resource configuration
information contained in the "radio resource control" reconfiguration information.
[0025] According to still another aspect of the present application, there is further provided
a communication system including the above mentioned base station and terminal.
[0026] According to the above various embodiments, it is possible to efficiently update the
25 component carrier to be used.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027] The above and other objects, characteristics and advantages of the present invention
will be more easily understood, with reference to the following description of the
30 embodiments of the present invention made in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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Unitalen ref.: OP 1211-06-013 9
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In the drawings, the same or corresponding technical features or components will be denoted
by the same or corresponding reference numerals. The drawings together with the following
detailed description are contained in the present specification and form a part of the present
specification,, and are adopted to further illustrate the preferred embodiments of the present
invention and explain the principle and advantages of the present invention. In the drawings:
[0024] Figure 1 is a flowchart of a method for selecting a component carrier according to a
first embodiment of the present application;
[0029] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a first scene to which the method according to,the
first embodiment of the present application is applied;
10 [0030] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a second scene to which the method according to
the first embodiment of the present application is applied;
[0031 ] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a third scene to which the method according to
the first embodiment of the present application is applied;
[0032] Figures 5 to 7 are schematic diagrams of three situations of a position and motion
15 status of a terminal in the third scene shown in Figure 4;
[0033] Figure 8 is a flowchart of a method for selecting a component carrier according to
another embodiment of the present application;
[0034] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal adapted to select a
component carrier according to an embodiment of the present application;
20 [0035] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal adapted to select a
component carrier according to another embodiment of the present application;
[0036] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal adapted to select a
component carrier according to yet another embodiment of the present application;
[0037] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station adapted to select a
25 component carrier according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0034] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station adapted to select a
component carrier according to another embodiment of the present application;
[0039] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station adapted to select a
component carrier according to yet another embodiment of the present application;
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211--060139
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[0040] Figure 15 is a flowchart of a method for updating a primary component carrier
according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0041] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of a handover flow in the method for updating a
primary component carrier;
[0042] Figure 17 is a flowchart of a method for updating a primary component carrier
according to another embodiment of the present application;
[0043] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of a reconfiguring flow in the method for updating
a primary component carrier;
[0044] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of a variation of the reconfiguring flow;
10 [0045] Figures 20, 21 and 22 are schematic diagrams of a variation of the flow shown in
Figures 16, 18 and 19, respectively;
[0046] Figures 23, 24 and 25 are schematic diagrams of another variation of the flow shown
in Figures 16, 18 and 19, respectively;
[0047] Figure 26 is a flowchart of a method for updating a secondary component carrier
15 according to an embodiment of the present application;
[00481 Figure 27 is a schematic diagram of a reconfiguring flow in the method for updating
a secondary component carrier;
[0049] Figure 28 is a schematic diagram of a variation of the reconfiguring flow
[0050] Figure 29 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station adapted to update
20 a primary component carrier according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0051 ] Figure 30 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station and a
corresponding terminal adapted to update a primary component carrier according to another
embodiment of the present application;
[0052] Figure 31 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station and a
25 corresponding terminal adapted to update a primary component carrier according to yet
another embodiment of the present application;
[0®--] Figure 32 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station adapted to update
a secondary component carrier according to an embodiment of the present application; and
7
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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[0054] Figure 33 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a base station and a
corresponding terminal adapted to update a secondary component carrier according to another
embodiment of the present application.
ETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0055] Hereinafter, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described
in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. For clarity and conciseness, not all the
features of the practical embodiments are described in the specification. However, it is to be
understood that many embodiment-specific decisions needs to be made during the
10 development of any of such practical embodiments, so as to achieve the specific object of the
developer, for example, in accordance with those limiting conditions related to the system or
service, and those limiting conditions may vary with different embodiments. Further, it is also
to be understood that the development work may be very complicated and time-consuming,
but such development work is only a routine task for those skilled in the art that benefit from
15 the present disclosure.
[0056] Further, it is to be noted that only the apparatus configurations and/or processing
steps closely related to the solution at least based on the present invention are shown in the
drawings, and other details less related to the present invention are omitted, so as to avoid the
burring of the present invention due to unnecessary details.
20 [0057] Particularly, when the connecting relations and the information flows are referred to,
the depictions in the drawings and the descriptions in the specification only involve the part
closely related to the present invention, but not exhaust the depictions or list all the
connections and information flows.
25 Selection of a component carrier
First embodiment
[0058] In the present application, a carrier that can be used by a terminal and a base station
in a carrier aggregating communication network is referred to be an available carrier. A carrier
that a terminal has been using is referred to be a component carrier, which is also an available
30 carrier. The component carrier of a terminal that works in a carrier aggregation mode includes
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one primary component carrier (PCC), and at least one secondary component carrier (SCE').
[0059] In the carrier aggregating communication network, the base station and the terminal
can communicate with each other by using carriers located in different frequency bands. For
carriers in different frequency bands, a coverage range of a base station antenna usually varies.
5 In view of this, the present application proposes adopting different component carrier
selecting strategies for different distribution modes of coverage ranges.
[0060] Therefore, as shown in Figure 1, there is provided a method for selecting a
component carrier in a carrier aggregating communication network, and the method includes
the following steps: determining a coverage range of each available carrier that can be used by
10 a terminal (step 102); determining whether a distribution of the coverage ranges of different
available carriers accords with a predetermined distribution mode (step 104); and determining
a component carrier to be used at least according to a rule that is decided by the distribution
mode, in the case that the distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers
accords with the predetermined distribution mode (step 106).
15 [0061] The coverage range of each available carrier for a base station is known to the base
station. Thus, the coverage range of each available carrier that can be used by a terminal can
be obtained based on the position of the terminal. Obviously, a certain available carrier can be
used by the terminal means that the terminal is within the coverage range of this available
carrier. The position of the terminal can be jointly located by multiple base stations, and can
20 also be determined by the terminal by means of a satellite positioning system, such as the
GPS (Global Positioning System), and is supplied to the base station.
[0062] As described above, the present application proposes adjusting the component
carrier selecting strategy according to the distribution mode of the coverage ranges. The
present application assumes three potential application scenes, which are respectively shown
25 in Figures 2 to 4, and different component carrier selecting strategies can be adopted in
different scenes. Of course, it is also completely possible to consider only one or two of the
application scenes, or consider more application scenes and provide more selecting strategies.
For conciseness, there are only two available carriers in the examples recited in the present
application. However, there may be a plurality of available carriers in practice.
30 [0063] The first application scene, that is, the first distribution mode of the coverage ranges
of the available carriers, is shown in Figure 2. In this distribution mode, each of the base
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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stations 210, 220 and 230 respectively uses two carriers F1 and F2, and the cell coverage
ranges corresponding to Fl and F2 are substantially coincident with each other and provide
substantially identical coverage regions. In this case, Fl and F2 may be within the same
carrier frequency band, and it is a kind of typical continuous carrier aggregation.
5 [0064] In this application scene, the terminal 250 is within both of the coverage ranges of
the two carriers F1 and F2, as long as the terminal 250 is within the cell coverage range. Thus,
in this case, if no other condition is considered, the two carriers F1 and F2 have identical
priority, and any one of the carriers F1 and F2 can be selected randomly as a new component
carrier; alternatively, one carrier is selected from the two carriers F1 and F2 with other
10 conditions further taken into consideration.
[0065 1 For example, signal quality, interference magnitude, load conditions, and physical
resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink (such as PDCCH
(physical downlink control channel)) of each carrier can be used as the basis for selecting the
component carrier. Specifically, for a terminal, if it has higher signal quality on a certain
15 carrier, the signal is subjected to less interference on this carrier, this carrier has relatively low
load and more uplink and downlink physical resource, the probability that this carrier is
selected as the component carrier is relatively higher.
[0066] Various factors taken into consideration above can have different priority levels or
different weights.
20 [0067] In the case that a priority level is set for each factor, the decision is made based on
the factor with a higher priority level. For example, priority levels of any order can be set for
the signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink, the interference magnitude and the load conditions. That is, based on the setting of
the priority levels, the candidate component carrier can be determined based on any one of the
25 above factors. Alternatively, different priority level groups can be set for the above factors.
For example, the priority level of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for
uplink and physical resource amount for downlink is higher than that of the interference
magnitude and the load conditions; alternatively, an opposite order of priority levels is set, or
different priority level groups containing different factors or different number of factors are
30 set. That is, based on the setting of the priority level groups and the priority level order of the
priority level groups, the candidate component carrier can be determined solely based on any
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06.0139
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one group of factors.
[0068] A weight (which may be same or different depending on the situation) can be set for
each factor, inside each of the above priority level groups, for example, in the group
consisting of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical
resource amount for downlink.
[0069] In the case that different weights are set for different factors, the influence of each
factor on the selecting of the component carrier is taken into consideration synthetically.
Depending on the requirement in practice, any weight distribution can be set. Generally,, the
weight of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource
10 amount for downlink can be set higher than that of the interference magnitude and the load
conditions.
[0070] In the second application scene, that is, the second distribution mode of the coverage
ranges of the available carriers, as shown in Figure 3, each of the base stations 310, 320 and
330 respectively uses two carriers F3 and F4, and the coverage range of F4 is larger and
15 substantially contains the coverage range of F3. The cell corresponding to F4 mainly ensures
the coverage, and the cell corresponding to F3 is mainly used to improve the throughput. In
this case, F3 and F4 may be within different carrier frequency bands, and it is a
non continuous carrier aggregation.
[0071] In this application scene, when the terminal 250 is only within the coverage range of
20 F4 but not within the coverage range of F3, there is no problem of carrier selection, since
there is only one available carrier, i.e., F4. When the terminal 250 is within the coverage
ranges of F3 and F4 at the same time, there is a problem of carrier selection. According to an
embodiment proposed by the present application, in this case, if no other condition is
considered, the carrier with larger coverage range, that is F4, can be selected as the new
25 component carrier. If there are multiple carriers with larger coverage range and the coverage
ranges are substantially the same, then the component carrier is further selected in further
accordance with the selecting strategy in the first scene, which will be described in more
detail hereinafter.
[0072] Of course, similar to the first scene, one carrier can be selected with other conditions
30 further taken into consideration.
I I ..
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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[0073] For example, likewise, the signal quality, the interference magnitude, the load
conditions, and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink (such as PDCCH, etc.) of each carrier can also be used as the basis for selecting the
component carrier. Specifically, for a terminal, if it has higher signal quality on a certain
carrier, the signal is subjected to less interference on this carrier, this carrier has relatively low
load and more uplink and downlink physical resource, the probability that this carrier is
selected as the component carrier is relatively higher.
[0074] Various factors taken into consideration above, including the coverage range of each
available carrier, can have different priority levels or different weights.
10 [0075] In the case that a priority level is set for each factor, the decision is made based on
the factor with a higher priority level. For example, priority levels of any order can be set for
the coverage range of the available carrier, the signal quality, the physical resource amount for
uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, the interference magnitude and the load
conditions. That is, based on the setting of the priority levels, the candidate component Carrier
15 can be determined based on any one of the above factors. Alternatively, different priority level
groups can be set for the above factors. For example, the priority level of the coverage range
is higher than that of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and
physical resource amount for downlink, the priority level of the signal quality and the
physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink is higher than
20 that of the interference magnitude and the load conditions; alternatively, an opposite order of
priority levels is set, or different priority level groups containing different factors or different
number of factors are set. That is, based on the setting of the priority level groups and the
priority level order of the priority level groups, the candidate component carrier can be
determined solely based on any one group of factors.
25 [0076] A weight (which may be same or different depending on the situation) can be set for
each factor, inside each of the above priority level groups, for example, in the group
consisting of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical
resource amount for downlink.
[0077] In the case that different weights are set for different factors, the influence of each
30 factor on the selecting of the component carrier is taken into consideration synthetically.
Depending on the requirement in practice, any weight distribution can be set. Generally, the
-12e
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Unitalen ref.: OP 1211-06-0139
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weight of the coverage range can be set higher than that of the signal quality and the physical
resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, and the weight of the
signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink can be set higher than that of the interference magnitude and the load conditions.
5 [0078] In the third application scene, that is, the third distribution mode of the coverage
ranges of the available carriers, as shown in Figure 4, each of the base stations 410, 420 and
430 respectively uses two carriers F5 and F6, and the coverage ranges of the two available
carriers are substantially neither coincident with each other nor contained one in the other but
overlapped with each other. The cell corresponding to F5 mainly ensures the coverage, and
10 the cell corresponding to F6 is mainly used to improve the throughput (or vice versa). This
application scene is characterized in that the antenna of the cell corresponding to F6 is
directed to the edge region in the cell corresponding to F5, which will greatly improve the
throughput of the edge region in the cell corresponding to F5. In this situation, F5 and F6 may
be within different carrier frequency bands, and it is a non-continuous carrier aggregation.
15 [0079] In this application scene, when the terminal 250 is only within the coverage range of
F5 or only within the coverage range of F6, there is no problem of carrier selection, since
there is only one available carrier, i.e., F5 or F6. When the terminal 250 is within the coverage
ranges of F5 and F6 at the same time, that is, in the overlap region of the coverage ranges of
the two available carriers, the problem of carrier selection occurs.
20 [0080] According to an embodiment provided by the present application, in this situation, if
no other condition is considered, the candidate component carrier can be determined at least
according to the position where the terminal is located and the moving direction and moving
speed of the terminal.
[0081 ] In this application, three modes for the position and motion of the terminal are
25 assumed, as shown in Figure 5 to Figure 7. However, it is to be understood that the position
and motion of the terminal can be divided in other manners, and the three modes herein can
be varied, split or combined as well.
[0082] The first mode is shown in Figure 5, and the terminal 250 is at the edge of the
available carrier F5 and is leaving away from this available carrier. In this case, if the terminal
30 is leaving away from this available carrier quickly, a higher probability of becoming the
candidate component carrier will be assigned to the available carrier (F6 here) corresponding
13 ..
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Unitalen ref.: OP 1211 -06-0139
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to the leaving direction. Of course, the carrier corresponding to the leaving direction can be
directly selected as the candidate component carrier, that is, the probability is 100%. If there
are multiple available carriers corresponding to the leaving direction (besides F6, there still
exists other available carriers), then the candidate component carrier are selected from the
5 multiple available carriers at least according to the size of the coverage range, that is, similar
to the first or second application scene as described above.
[0083] Leaving "quickly" is mentioned above. Here, "quickly" means that according to the
speed of the terminal, it is predicted that the terminal will be soon out of the carrier coverage
range within which the terminal is currently located, but not only move in a small range. For
10 example, if the user of the terminal just walks around in a small range, but may not intend to
go out of this carrier coverage range (for example go to another place), unnecessary
operations will be induced if the carrier is updated at this time. In the specific application,
how high speed is actually meant by "quickly" can be particularly set according to the
practical application.
15 [0084] Figure 6 illustrates another mode for position and motion of the terminal, that is, the
terminal 250 is at the edge of a certain available carrier F5 and is moving into this available
carrier F5. In this situation, the candidate component carrier can be determined at least
according to the size of the coverage ranges of the available carriers F5 and F6, that is, similar
to the second application scene. If the coverage ranges are just the same, the selecting strategy
20 in the first scene will be applied.
[0085] Figure 7 illustrates another mode for position and motion of the terminal, that is, the
terminal 250 is at a position in the overlap region of the available carriers F5 and F6 but far
away from the edge of the overlap region, i.e., within the overlap region. In this situation, the
candidate component carrier can also be determined at least according to the size of the
25 coverage ranges of the available carriers F5 and F6, that is, similar to the second application
scene. If the coverage ranges are just the same, the selecting strategy in the first scene will be
applied.
[0086] Of course, similar to the first and second application scenes, one carrier can be
selected with other conditions further taken into consideration.
30 [0087] For example, likewise, the signal quality, the interference magnitude, the load
conditions, and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
Id
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downlink (such as PDCCFI) of each carrier can also be used as the basis for selecting the
component carrier. These factors, including the position where the terminal is located and the
moving direction and moving speed of the terminal, and the coverage range of each available
carrier, can have different priority levels or different weights.
5 [0088] In the case that a priority level is set for each factor, the decision is made based on
the factor with a higher priority level. For example, priority levels of any order can be set for
the position of the terminal, the moving direction of the terminal, the moving speed of the
terminal, the coverage range of the available carrier, the signal quality, the physical resource
amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, the interference magnitude and
10 the load conditions, That is, based on the setting of the priority levels, the candidate
component carrier can be determined based on any one of the above factors. Alternatively,
different priority level groups can be set for the above factors. For example, the priority level
of the position of the terminal, the moving direction of the terminal, the moving speed of the
terminal and the coverage range of the available carrier is higher than that of the signal quality
15 and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, and
the priority level of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and
physical resource amount for downlink is higher than that of the interference magnitude and
the load conditions; alternatively, an opposite order of priority levels is set, or different
priority level groups containing different factors or different number of factors are set. That is,
20 based on the setting of the priority level groups and the priority level order of the priority
level groups, the component carrier can be selected based solely on any one group of factors.
[0089] A weight (which may be same or different depending on the situation) can be set for
each factor, inside each of the above priority level groups, for example, in the group
consisting of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical
25 resource amount for downlink.
[0090] In the case that different weights are set for different factors, the influence of each
factor on the selecting of the component carrier is taken into consideration synthetically.
Depending on the requirement in practice, any weight distribution can be set. Generally, the
weight of the position of the terminal, the moving direction of the terminal, the moving speed
30 of the terminal and the coverage range of the available carrier can be set higher than that of
the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount
Sony China Ref: CNPA 10029[N00
Unitalen ref.: OP 1211 -06-0139
PCT/CN20 1 1 /072406
Spec for Entering FN
for downlink, and the weight of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink
and physical resource amount for downlink can be set higher than that of the interference
magnitude and the load conditions.
5 Second embodiment
[0091] In the first embodiment, the selecting of the component carrier has been described
with respect to different application scenes. In the practical application, various application
scenes may be mixed, as described in the above. For example, the coverage ranges of each
available carrier may be completely coincident with each other (the first application scene),
10 and may have inclusion relation (the second application scene) or partially overlapped with
each other (the third application scene).
[0092] Therefore, as shown in Figure 8, according to an embodiment proposed by the
present application, the candidate component carrier are selected by successively using
selecting strategies adapted for different application scenes, so as to reduce the scope of the
15 candidate component carriers, until the component carrier to be used is derived. That is, on
the basis of the first embodiment, when the distribution of the coverage ranges of different
available carriers includes at least two predetermined modes, the candidate component
carriers are firstly determined in accordance with the rule corresponding to one of the modes,
and then the secondary candidate component carriers are selected from the candidate
20 component carriers in accordance with the rule corresponding to another mode, until a unique
candidate component carrier is derived.
[0093] Specifically, as shown in Figure 8, the coverage range of each available carrier that
can be used by the terminal is firstly determined (step 102). Then it is determined whether the
distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers accords with predetermined
25 distribution mode (step 104). The two steps have been described in detail in the first
embodiment, which will not be repeated here.
[0094] In the case that it is determined that the coverage range has multiple distribution
modes, such as the first mode 806 and the second mode 810, the candidate component carriers
can be firstly determined in accordance with the first rule corresponding to the first mode
30 (step 808). For example, if the first mode is the third application scene described previously,
-- 16 --
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tJnitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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then the selecting strategy for the component carrier in the third application scene is adopted
to select the candidate component carriers. The determined candidate component carrier may
be unique, with which the flow is ended, and the determined candidate component carrier is
used. The determined candidate component carriers may also be not unique. For example, in
5 the third application scene, if there exist multiple available carriers in the moving direction of
the terminal, and the factors in other aspects of each available carrier or the factors taken into
consideration in accordance with the selecting strategy are substantially the same, there may
be multiple available carriers that can be used as the candidate component carriers. At this
time, it is necessary to continue selecting among the multiple candidate component carriers by
10 using the second rule corresponding to the second mode (for example, the selecting strategy
corresponding to the first or second application scene) (step 812), so as to derive the
component carrier to be used.
[00951 Figure 8 only illustrates the situation with two distribution modes. Obviously, there
may be multiple distribution modes, and the application order of the selecting strategies for
15 the various distribution modes can be optional.
Third embodiment
[0096] Further, when the terminal operates in the carrier aggregation mode, besides one
primary component carrier, there are still one or more secondary component carriers (SCC)
20 operating at the same time, which are all in the activated status. Meanwhile, it is also possible
that there are one or more carriers in configured but inactivated status, and it is also possible
that there are one or more carriers in unconfigured status.
[0097] When it is necessary to change the primary component carrier, a new primary
component carrier can be selected from the secondary component carriers already in use, and
25 can also be selected from the available carriers that have not been configured yet or that have
been configured but not activated yet. When it is necessary to add a secondary component
carrier, a new secondary component carrier can be selected from the available carriers that
have not been configured, and can also be selected from the available carriers that have been
configured but not activated yet.
30 [0098] Obviously, the carriers in different status have different: operation complexities when
17
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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being added. Therefore, on the basis of the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the
activation and configuration status of each available carrier can be obtained firstly when the
component carrier is selected, so as to further take into consideration of the activation and
configuration status of each available carrier when the candidate component carrier is
determined. Wherein, the priority level of the available carrier in the activated status is higher
than that of the available carrier that has been configured but not activated, and the priority
level of the available carrier that has been configured but not activated is higher than that of
the available carrier that has not been configured.
[0099] Here, "higher priority level" means higher weight, or in some situations, for
10 example, in the case that other conditions are the same or similar, it means playing a decisive
role.
Fourth embodiment
[00100] The method for selecting the component carrier described in the first to third
15 embodiments can be used to select the primary component carrier.
[00101] The carrier corresponding to the cell for the initial access of the terminal, or the
carrier used during the connection reestablishing by the terminal, is naturally defaulted as the
primary component carrier. However, with variations in the terminal, the base station status
and the network conditions, it may be necessary to update the primary component carrier. At
20 this time, a new primary component carrier can be determined by using the method for
selecting the component carrier described in the first to third embodiments, and then the old
primary component carrier is switched to the new primary component carrier.
[00102] The switching from the old primary component carrier to the new primary
component carrier can be performed in various manners, and there already exists various
25 manners in the prior art. In the present application, the applicant proposes a new flow for
updating the primary component carrier, which will be described in detail in the following
embodiments.
[00103] The updating of the primary component carrier can be performed several times. In
the updating of the primary component carrier for the first time when the terminal initially
30 accesses the cell or after the connection is re-establislned, the old primary component carrier is
18..
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Unitalen ref.: OP 1211 -06-0139
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Spec for Entering IN
the initial primary component carrier, that is, the carrier that is used during the initial access of
the terminal or the reestablishing of the radio resource connection, which is defaulted as the
primary component carrier.
[00104] The carrier aggregation may involve different frequency bands. That is, each carrier
5 that can be used by the terminal may be within the same frequency band, and may be within
different frequency bands. Whether the primary component carriers before and after updating
are within the same frequency band will affect the overhead required when updating the
primary component carrier. , Therefore, the frequency relationship between the available
carriers can also be taken into consideration for the updating of the primary component
10 carrier.
[00105] Specifically, during the updating of the primary component carrier, the frequency
spectrum information of each available carrier can be acquired at first, and then the
relationship between the frequency of each available carrier and the old primary component
carrier is also taken into consideration for determining the candidate component carrier.
15 Among the available carriers with the same activation and configuration status, the available
carriers within the same frequency band as the old primary component carrier have higher
priority levels. Likewise, "higher priority level" means higher weight, or in some situations,
for example, in the case that other conditions are the same or similar, it means playing a
decisive role.
20
Fifth embodiment
[00106] The method for selecting the component carrier described in the first to third
embodiments can be used to select the secondary component carrier.
[00107] The carrier corresponding to the cell for the initial access of the terminal, or the
25 carrier used during the connection reestablishing by the terminal, is naturally defaulted as the
primary component carrier. However, with the increasing requirement on the quality of
service by the user, it may be necessary to add a new carrier to form the carrier aggregation,
[00108] In this case, at first, a new secondary component carrier can be determined by using
the method for selecting the component carrier described in the first to third embodiments,
30 and then the new secondary component carrier is ark! d, The adding of the secondary
19-
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211--060139
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Spec for Entering IN
component carrier can be performed in various manners, and there already exists various
manners in the prior art. In the present application, the applicant also proposes a new flow for
adding the secondary component carrier, which will be described in detail in the following
embodiments.
Sixth embodiment
[00109] In the communication system, the method for selecting the component carrier
described in the first to fifth embodiments can be performed by the base station with the
assistance of the terminal, and can also be performed by the terminal with the assistance of
10 the base station.
[00110] Therefore, in this embodiment, a terminal that is can implement the various
embodiments described above is proposed firstly.
[00111] In the description of the terminal and the base station in this embodiment and the
following various embodiments, unless necessary, the detailed description of the various
15 embodiments described above will not be repeated any more, and reference can be made to
the description of the various embodiments described above.
[00112] As shown in Figure 9, a terminal 920 adapted for a carrier aggregating
communication network communicates with a base station 960, determines the component
carrier with the assistance of the base station 960, and notifies the component carrier to the
20 base station 960. Specifically, the terminal 920 includes: a terminal information acquiring unit
902 for acquiring the terminal position information and/or the carrier distribution information
corresponding to the terminal position; a carrier distribution mode determining unit 904 for
determining whether the distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers
corresponding to the position of the terminal accords with the predetermined distribution
25 mode; a component carrier determining unit 906 for determining the component carrier to be
used at least according to the rule that is decided by the distribution mode in the case that the
distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers corresponding to the position
of the terminal accords with the predetermined distribution mode; and a notifying unit 908 for
notifying the component carrier determined to be used to the base station (process (4)).
30 [00113] The object of the terminal information acquiring unit 902 is to acquire the
20
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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information on the coverage range of the carrier that can be used by the terminal, so that the
carrier distribution mode determining unit can determine the distribution mode of the
coverage ranges of the available carriers. The information on the coverage range of the
available carrier must be determined based on the position of the terminal and the parameter
of the carrier of the base station. The position of the terminal can be jointly determined by
multiple base stations 960, and can also be determined by the terminal 920 by means of the
satellite positioning system 940, such as the GPS (Global Positioning System).
[00114] Therefore, in the case of satellite positioning, the terminal information acquiring unit
902 can include a positioning device that is built in the terminal and communicates with the
10 satellite positioning system (process (1)), which positioning device transfers the position of
the terminal to the base station 960 (process (2)), and based on the terminal position
information, the base station 960 transfers the information on the coverage range of the
available carrier to the terminal information acquiring unit 902 (process (3)). In a variation of
the embodiment, the terminal 920 can acquire the information on the coverage range of the
15 available carrier Without the base station 960. For example, the terminal 920 can determine
whether itself is within the coverage range of a certain carrier by detecting the signal intensity
of each carrier. In this case, as for the determining of the coverage range of the available
carrier, the processes (2) and (3) are not needed.
[00115] Further, in the case of base station positioning, since the position of the terminal is
20 obtained by the base station, the base station can obtain the information on the coverage range
of the available carrier directly according to this position, so that the terminal information
acquiring unit 902 in the terminal can acquire the information from the base station 960
directly (process (3)).
[00116] If the carrier distribution mode determining unit 904 determines that the
25 predetermined distribution mode is that the coverage ranges of the available carriers are
substantially the same, the component carrier determining unit 906 takes all the available
carriers as the candidate component carriers.
[00117] If the carrier distribution mode determining unit 904 determines that the
predetermined distribution mode is that there exists at least one available carrier the coverage
30 ranges of which is substantially contained within the coverage range of at least one other
available carrier, the component carrier determining unit 906 determines the candidate
Sony China Ref: CNPA10029IN00
Unitalen ref.: OP1211-060139
PCT/CN20 1 1 /072406
Spec for Entering M
component carrier at least according to the size of the coverage range.
[00118] If the carrier distribution mode determining unit 904 determines that the
predetermined distribution mode is that there exist at least two available carriers the coverage
ranges of which are substantially not coincident with each other nor contained one in the other
but overlapped with each other, the terminal information acquiring unit 902 acquires
information on the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal, and the component
carrier determining unit 906 is further configured to determine the candidate component
carrier at least according to the position of the terminal and the moving direction and moving
speed [hereof.
10 [00119] The moving direction and moving speed of the terminal are determined based on the
positions of the terminal at different time instants. As mentioned above, the position of the
terminal can be determined by its inbuilt satellite positioning device, and can also be
determined by the base station 960. In whatever cases, the moving direction and moving
speed of the terminal can be calculated by the terminal information acquiring unit based on
15 the position information obtained from the satellite positioning device or the base station 960.
In the case that the position information is obtained from the base station 960, the base station
960 can provide the position information of the terminal to the terminal information acquiring
unit by means of the process (3) (which certainly can be other process).
[00120] Further, in the case that the position of the terminal is calculated by the base station
20 960, the calculating of the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal can evidently
also be performed by the base station 960. In this situation, the base station 960 only needs to
directly provide the position information of the terminal and the information on the moving
direction and moving speed of the terminal to the terminal information acquiring unit by
means of the process (3) (which certainly can be other process).
25 [00121] Thus, the component carrier determining unit 906 can be further configured so that
if the information obtained by the terminal information acquiring unit 902 indicates that the
terminal is at the edge of a certain available carrier and is leaving away from this available
carrier quickly, then a higher probability of becoming the candidate component carrier is
assigned to the available carrier corresponding to the leaving direction; and if the information
30 obtained by the terminal information acquiring unit 902 indicates that the terminal is at the
edge of a certain available carrier and is moving towards the interior of this available carrier,
-2.2-
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Unitalen ref.: OP 1211-06-0139
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or if the terminal is in a position within the overlap region but far away from the edge of the
overlap region, then the candidate component carrier can be determined at least according to
the size of the coverage range.
[00122] The component carrier determining unit 906 can be further configured so that if
there are multiple available carriers corresponding to the leaving direction, then the candidate
component carrier can be selected from the multiple available carriers at least according to the
size of the coverage range.
[00123] The component carrier determining unit 906 can be further configured to determine
the candidate component carrier at least according to at least one of the following factors: the
10 signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink, the interference magnitude and the load conditions.
[00124) Here, the signal quality is the information that can be obtained by the terminal itself
in accordance with the conventional techniques, and the interference of other base stations,
carriers, terminals or the like on the current terminal is also the information that can be
15 obtained based on the signal quality in accordance with the conventional techniques. The
physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink and the load
conditions are the information that can be obtained from the base station based on the
conventional techniques (see process (5) in Figure 10). If the interference of the current
terminal on other terminals is taken into consideration, it is necessary to acquire the related
20 information from the base station (the base station acquires the information from the report of
other terminals).
[00125] The component carrier determining unit 906 can be further configured so that for
determining the candidate component carrier, the importance of the coverage range, the
position of the terminal, and the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal is higher
25 than that of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical
resource amount for downlink, and the importance of the signal quality and the physical
resource amount for uplink and physical, resource amount for downlink is higher than that of
the interference magnitude and the load conditions; alternatively, the candidate component
carrier can be determined by any one factor or by multiple factors among the coverage range,
30 the position of the terminal and the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal, the
signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
.. 23 -
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downlink, the interference magnitude and the load conditions.
[00126] The component carrier determining unit 906 can be further configured so that when
the distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers includes at least two
predetermined modes, the candidate component carriers are firstly determined in accordance
5 with the rule corresponding to one of the modes, and then the secondary candidate component
carriers are selected from the candidate component carriers in accordance with the rule
corresponding to another mode, until a unique candidate component carrier is derived.
[00127] The terminal can further include a carrier status acquiring unit 910 (Figure 11), for
acquiring the activation and configuration status of each available carrier. The component
10 carrier determining unit 906 can be further configured so that the activation and configuration
status of each available carrier is also taken into consideration for determining the candidate
component carrier. The priority level of the available carrier that is in the activated status is
higher than that of the available carrier that has been configured but not activated, and the
priority level of the available carrier that has been configured but not activated is higher than
15 that of the available carrier that has not been configured.
[00128] It is to be noted that the embodiment shown in Figure 11 does not have the process
(5) in Figure 10. However, it can be seen from the above description that in another variation,
there can be the process (5) in Figure 10.
[00129] The component carrier determined by the terminal of this embodiment can be the
20 primary component carrier, and can also be the secondary component carrier.
[00130] When being used to determine the primary component carrier, the component carrier
determining unit 906 can be further configured so that the relationship between the frequency
of each available carrier and the old primary component carrier is also taken into
consideration for determining the candidate component carrier. Among the available carriers
25 with the same activation and configuration status, the available carriers within the same
frequency band as the old primary component carrier have a higher priority level.
[00131] The above description of the present embodiment discloses a terminal that interacts
with the base station. Obviously, it also discloses a communication system consisting of the
above terminal and the base station that communicates with the terminal.
30
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Seventh embodiment
[00132] .The sixth embodiment has described the terminal for implementing the method for
selecting the component carrier described in the first to fifth embodiments. The seventh
embodiment will describe the base station for implementing the method for selecting the
component carrier described in the first to fifth embodiments.
[00133] In the description of the terminal and the base station in this and the following
embodiments, unless necessary, the detailed description of the various embodiments described
above will not be repeated any more, and reference can be made to the description of the
various embodiments described above.
10 [00134] As shown in Figure 12, a base station 1220 in a carrier aggregating communication
network communicates with a terminal 1260, determines the component carrier with the
assistance of the terminal 1260, and notifies the component carrier to the terminal 1260.
Specifically, the base station 1220 includes: a terminal information acquiring unit 1202 for
acquiring the terminal position information and/or the carrier distribution information
15 corresponding to the terminal position; a carrier distribution mode determining unit 1204 for
determining whether the distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers
corresponding to the position of the terminal accords with the predetermined distribution
mode; a component carrier determining unit 1206 for determining the component carrier to be
used at least according to the rule that is decided by the distribution mode, in the case that the
20 distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers corresponding to the position
of the terminal accords with the predetermined distribution mode; and a notifying unit 1208
for notifying the component carrier determined to be used to the terminal (process (4)).
[00135] The object of the terminal information acquiring unit 1202 is to acquire the
information on the coverage range of the carrier that can be used by the terminal, so that the
25 carrier distribution mode determining unit can determine the distribution mode of the
coverage ranges of the available carriers. The information on the coverage range of the
available carrier must be determined based on the position of the terminal and the parameter
of the carrier of the base station. The position of the terminal can be measured by the base
station 1220 itself, and can also be determined by the terminal 1260 by means of the satellite
30 positioning system 940, such as the GPS (Global Positioning System) (process 1).
[00136] Therefore, in the case of satellite positioning, the terminal information acquiring "nit.
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Unitalen ref: OPI211-06-0139
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1202 can obtain from the terminal 1260 the positioning information of the inbuilt positioning
device (process (2)), so as to further obtain the information on the coverage range of the
carrier that can be used by the terminal based on the information on the available carrier of the
base station.
[00137] Further, in the case of base station positioning, since the position of the terminal is
obtained by the base station, the base station can obtain the information on the coverage range
of the available carrier directly according to this position.
[00138] If the carrier distribution mode determining unit 1204 determines that the
predetermined distribution mode is that the coverage ranges of the available carriers are
10 substantially the same, the component carrier determining unit 1206 takes all the available
carriers as the candidate component carriers.
[00139] If the carrier distribution mode determining unit 1204 determines that the
predetermined distribution mode is that there exists at least one available carrier the coverage
range of which is substantially contained within the coverage range of at least one other
15 available carrier, the component carrier determining unit 1206 determines the candidate
component carrier at least according to the size of the coverage range.
[00140] If the carrier distribution mode determining unit 1204 determines that the
predetermined distribution mode is that there exist at least two available carriers the coverage
ranges of which are substantially not coincident with each other nor contained one in the other
20 but overlapped with each other, the terminal information acquiring unit 1202 acquires the
information on the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal, and the component
carrier determining unit 1206 is further configured to determine the candidate component
carrier at least according to the position of the terminal and the moving direction and moving
speed thereof.
25 [00141] The moving direction and moving speed of the terminal are determined based on the
positions of the terminal at different time instants . As mentioned above, the positions of the
terminal can be determined by its inbuilt satellite positioning device, and can also be
determined by the base station 1220. In whatever cases, the moving direction and moving
speed of the terminal can be calculated by the terminal information acquiring unit based on
30 the position information obtained from the terminal 1260 or the position of the terminal
calculated by the base station.
-26..
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[00142] Further, in the case that the position of the terminal is obtained by the terminal 1260
by means of the satellite positioning device, the calculating of the moving direction and
moving speed of the terminal can certainly also be performed by the terminal itself. In this
situation, the terminal 1260 only needs to directly provide the position information of the
terminal and the information on the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal to the
terminal information acquiring unit 1202 by means of the process (2) (which of course can be
other process).
[00143] Thus, the component carrier determining unit 1206 can be further configured so that
if the information obtained by the terminal information acquiring unit 1202 indicates that the
10 terminal is at the edge of a certain available carrier and is leaving away from this available
carrier quickly, then a higher probability of becoming the candidate component carrier is
assigned to the available carrier corresponding to the leaving direction; and if the information
obtained by the terminal information acquiring unit 1202 indicates that the terminal is at the
edge of a certain available carrier and is moving towards the interior of this available carrier,
15 or if the terminal is in a position within the overlap region but far away from the edge of the
overlap region, then the candidate component carrier can be determined at least according to
the size of the coverage range.
[00144] The component carrier determining unit 1206 can be further configured so that if
there are multiple available carriers corresponding to the leaving direction, then the candidate
20 component carrier can be selected from the multiple available carriers at least according to the
size of the coverage range.
[00145] The component carrier determining unit 1206 can be further configured to determine
the candidate component carrier at least according to at least one of the following factors: the
signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
25 downlink, the interference magnitude and the load conditions.
[00146] Here, the signal quality is the information that can be obtained by the terminal itself
in accordance with the conventional teclnriques, and the interference of other base stations,
carriers, terminals or the like on the current terminal is also the information that can be
obtained by the terminal based on the signal quality in accordance with the conventional
30 techniques. The physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink and the load conditions are the information that can be held by the base station itself
- 27-
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based on the conventional techniques. If the interference of the current terminal on other
terminals is taken into consideration, the related information is obtained by the base station
based on the information reported by other terminals. Therefore, the component carrier
determining unit 1206 obtains the related information from the terminal 1260 as required (see
process (5) in Figure 13).
[00147] The component carrier determining unit 1206 can be further configured so that for
determining the candidate component carrier, the importance of the coverage range, the
position of the terminal, and the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal is higher
than that of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical
10 resource amount for downlink, and the importance of the signal quality and the physical
resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink is higher than that of
the interference magnitude and the load conditions; alternatively, the candidate component
carrier can be determined by any one factor or by multiple factors among the coverage range,
the position of the terminal and the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal, the
15 signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink, the interference magnitude and the load conditions.
1001481 The component carrier determining unit 1206 can be further configured so that when
the distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers includes at least two
predetermined modes, the candidate component carriers are firstly determined in accordance
20 with the rule corresponding to one of the modes, and then the secondary candidate component
carriers are selected from the candidate component carriers in accordance with the rule
corresponding to another mode, until a unique candidate component carrier is derived.
[00149] The base station can further include a carrier status acquiring unit 1210 for acquiring
the activation and configuration status of each available carrier. The component carrier
25 determining unit 1206 can be further configured so that the activation and configuration status
of each available carrier is also taken into consideration for determining the candidate
component carrier. The priority level of the available carriers in the activated status is higher
than that of tine available carriers configured but not activated, and the priority level of the
available carrier configured but not activated is higher than that of the available carrier that
30 has not been configured. Here, the activation and configuration status of the available carrier
is the status of the terminal itself, thus the base station of this embodiment needs to obtain
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from the terminal 1260 the activation and configuration status information of the available
carrier of this terminal through the process (6) (Figure 141).
[00150] It is to be noted that the embodiment shown in Figure 14 does not have the process
(5) in Figure 13. However, it can be seen from the above description that in another variation,
there can be the process (5) in Figure 13.
[00151] The component carrier determined by the base station of this embodiment can be the
primary component carrier, and can also be the secondary component carrier.
[00152] When being used to determine the primary component carrier, the component carrier
determining unit 1206 can be further configured so that the relationship between the
10 frequency of each available carrier and the old primary component carrier is also taken into
consideration for determining the candidate component carrier. Among the available carriers
with the same activation and configuration status, the available carriers within the same
frequency band as the old primary component carrier have a higher priority level.
[00153] The above description of the present embodiment discloses a base station that
15 interacts with the terminal. Obviously, it also discloses a communication system consisting of
the above base station and the terminal that communicates with the base station.
Updating of a component carrier
Eighth embodiment
20 [00154] The above embodiments have described how to select a component carrier,
including the primary component carrier and the secondary component carrier.
[00155] After the component carrier is selected, it is necessary to switch from the old
primary component carrier to the selected new primary component carrier by using a suitable
flow, or add the selected new secondary component carrier, or replace a certain old secondary
25 component carrier with the selected new secondary component carrier (actually the
combination of an adding action and a deleting action). Further, it is also necessary to
appropriately determine the opportunity for updating or adding the component carrier.
[00156] Therefore, as shown in Figure 15, in this embodiment, there is proposed a method
for updating the primary component carrier in the carrier aggregating communication network,
29-
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Unitalen ref.: OP121 U06-0139
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and the method includes the following steps: acquiring the status information of the terminal,
the base station and/or the primary component carrier (step 1502); determining whether the
status information meets the predetermined condition (step 1504); and replacing the old
primary component carrier with the new primary component carrier in the case that the status
information meets the predetermined condition (step 1506).
[00157] In the prior art, there may be various parameters for representing the terminal, the
base station, the performance and status of the component carrier in use and the carrier that
can be used by the base station, and the like. The related information can be obtained by
various measurement or communication means. For such information, various predetermined
10 conditions can be set according to the requirement in the practical application, and the
primary component carrier will be updated when the predetermined condition is satisfied.
[00158] As an illustrative example but not the restrictive enumeration, the conditions taken
into consideration for updating the primary component carrier can include at least. one of the
following:
15 [00159] 1. The terminal moves out of the coverage range of the old primary component
carrier;
[00160] 2. The signal quality of the old primary component carrier is degraded;
[00161] 3. The physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink of the old primary component carrier is not enough;
20 [00162] 4. The original base station requires to update the primary component carrier
considering problems such as the balance of the overall load of the network and the
interference between the users; and
[00163] 5. The terminal moves into the coverage range of the new base station.
[00164] The updating of the primary component carrier can be implemented by using the
25 handover flow, and can also be implemented by using the reconfiguring flow. As shown in
Figure 16, in the handover flow, the base station which the old primary component carrier
belongs to transmits "radio resource control (RRC)" reconfiguration information to the
terminal. The "radio resource control" reconfiguration information includes mobility control
information which includes radio resource configuration information of the new primary
30 component carrier. Then, the terminal reconfigures MAC (Medium Access Control), PDCP
- 30-
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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Spec for Entering 1N
(Packet Data Convergence Protocol) and RLC (Radio Link Control) layers and updates the
security key by using the mobility control information in the "radio resource control"
reconfiguration information, and configures the new primary component carrier by using the
radio resource configuration information of the new primary component carrier.
5 [00165] Then a random access process is initiated, for accessing the new primary component
carrier. The random access process can be initiated by the terminal, or initiated by the base
station. If the random access process is initiated by the terminal, the random access process is
a competitive process, in which the access request is made by the terminal and the base
station the new primary component carrier belongs to performs the assignation according to
10 the resource and the access requests from other terminals, that is, the random access is a
process during which the terminals grab the resource. If the random access is unsuccessful, it
may be retried as required, or it is necessary to reconfigure the radio resource configuration
information, or it is necessary to re-switch. If the random access process is initiated by the
base station the new primary component carrier belongs to, then the base station has already
15 reserved corresponding resource for the terminal in advance. Therefore, the terminal only
needs to respond to this, unless the situation at the side of the terminal changes. Such random
access is referred to be a noncompetitive random access.
[00166] After the new primary component carrier is accessed, the old primary component
carrier can be deactivated . The deactivating can be performed in two manners . One manner is
20 that the base station the new primary component carrier belongs to directly transmits a
deactivating command to the terminal (as shown in Figure 16), and the terminal deactivates
the old primary component carrier after receiving the deactivating command. The other
manner is to deactivate the old primary component carrier in an implicit deactivating manner
(not shown in Figure 16), that is , the terminal does not need to receive the deactivating
25 command from the base station, but auto-deactivates the old primary component carrier. Such
automatic action can be for example performed based on a timer, that is, the system defines in
advance the time for deactivating the old primary component carrier, or defines in advance the
trigger condition for the deactivating timer.
[00167] It is to be noted that "the base station the new primary component carrier belongs
30 to" and "the base station the old primary component carrier belongs to" are mentioned here.
When the new and old primary component carriers belong to the same base station, the above
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211a06-0139
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two terms refer to the same base station.
[00168] As described above, the updating of the primary component carrier can also be
performed by using the reconfiguring flow. As shown in Figure 18, as compared with the
handover flow, the reconfiguring flow can be free of random access process and key updating
5 process. Further, the content of the RRC reconfiguration information is simplified, not
including the mobility control information but only including the radio resource configuration
information of the new primary component carrier. Therefore, after receiving the RRC
reconfiguration information, the terminal only needs to configure the new primary component
carrier, but does not need to reconfigure the MAC, PDCP, RLC layers and update the security
10 key. Therefore, the additional system overhead caused by the updating of the primary
component carrier can be reduced, and the problem of lowered quality of service for the user
due to the updating of the primary component carrier can be avoided. In this situation, it is
unnecessary to include all the related configuration information of the new primary
component carrier in the RRC information body (for example, not including the mobility
15 control information), and it is necessary to include only the configuration information that is
updated compared with the old primary component carrier, i.e., the radio resource
configuration information, which can be referred as increment signaling.
Ninth embodiment
20 [00169] Obviously, the updating of all the primary component carriers can be performed in
the handover manner. However, not all the updating of the primary component carriers can be
performed in the reconfiguring manner. This is because that only if the new and old primary
component carriers have the same security key and it is unnecessary to reconfigure the MAC,
PDCP and RLC layers, it is possible to use the reconfiguring flow.
25 [00170] Therefore, the present application continues to propose that the flow for updating is
decided according to the updating scene. If the primary component carriers before and after
the updating belong to the same base station, the primary component carrier is updated by
using the reconfiguring flow. If the primary component carriers before and after the updating
belong to the different base stations, the primary component carrier is updated by using the
30 handover flow.
.,32-
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Uni'talen ref.: 0P121 1 -06-0139
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Spec for Entering IN
[00171] Specifically, as shown in Figure 17, the flow for updating the primary component!
carrier includes: determining whether the new primary component carrier and the old primary
component carrier belong to the same base station (step 1702); replacing the old primary
component carrier with the new primary component carrier by this base station by using the
5 reconfiguring flow, if the new primary component carrier and the old primary component
carrier belong to the same base station (step 1704); otherwise, transmitting a handover request
to the base station the new primary component carrier belongs to by the base station the old
primary component carrier belongs to, for acquiring the related information from the base
station the new primary component carrier belongs to (step 1704), and then replacing the' old
10 primary component carrier with the new primary component carrier by using the handover
flow (step 1706).
[00172] Specifically, in step 1704 , the base station the old primary component carrier
belongs to (referred as the old base station for short hereinafter) transmits the handover
request to the base station the new primary component carrier belongs to (referred as the new
15 base station for short hereinafter), so that the new base station can prepare the configuration
information required for handover of the terminal to the new primary component carrier, and
thus the old base station can obtain the necessary configuration information from the new
base station , so that the old base station can prepare during the handover flow the RRC
reconfiguration information to be sent to the terminal.
20 [00173] The reconfiguring flow 1704 and the handover flow 1706 in this embodiment are the
same as those described in conjunction with Figure 16 and Figure 18 hereinbefore. The slight
difference is that since the new and old primary component carriers belong to different base
stations, although the RRC reconfiguration information is still sent by the old base station, the
random access process after the configuration is completed is the interaction with the new
25 base station (which is described in detail in conjunction with Figure 31 hereinafter). The
response (or confirmation) message after the terminal completes the configuration is also sent
to the new base station directly.
[00174] By comparing the eighth embodiment with the ninth embodiment, it can be seen that
because it is necessary to reconfigure the MAC, PDCP, and RLC layers and update the
30 security key during the handover process, the system overhead will be increased and the
phenomenon of communication interrupt will occur inevitably. If the reconfiguring flow is
-33_
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Unitalen ref.: OP121 tU06m0139
PCT/CN20 1 1 /072406
Spec for Entering IN
adopted, the system overhead will be reduced significantly, and time length of the
communication interrupt is decreased. Thus, the method proposed by the ninth embodiment,
in which whether the handover flow or the reconfiguring flow is used to update the primary
component carrier is determined according to whether the primary component carriers before
and after the updating belong to the same base station, can reduce the additional system
overhead due to the updating of the primary component carrier, and avoid the problems such
as the degraded quality of service for the user due to the updating of the primary component
carrier.
[00175] In the above reconfiguring flow, the new primary component carrier and the old
10 primary component carrier are generally within the same frequency band, have the same time
advance and both keep synchronous with the base station. If such conditions are not satisfied,
it is necessary to initiate the random access of the new primary component carrier before the
old primary component carrier is deactivated, as shown in Figure 19.
15 Tenth embodiment
[00176] In the eighth and ninth embodiments, the implicit premise is that the new primary
component carrier has been initially configured and activated. However, in practice, there also
exists the scene in which the new primary component carrier has not been initially configured,
or has been initially configured but not activated.
20 [00177] In this scene, no doubt, it is necessary to initially configure and activate the carrier
to be used as the new primary component carrier which has not been initially configured yet,
and to activate the carrier to be used as the new primary component carrier which has been
initially configured but not activated yet. The initial configuration (i.e., the adding of this
carrier) should be performed at the beginning of the handover flow or the reconfiguring flow
25 (not shown in the Figures), but the activation process is relatively flexible in terms of time
order. As shown in Figures 20 to 22 corresponding to Figures 16, 18 and 19, during the
activation process, the activating command can be sent by the base station after the
configuration is completed or after the random accessI process, or before the old primary
component carrier is deactivated (as shown in the Figures, the base station transmits the
30 deactivating connnand, but as described above, the deactivation process can also be the
implicit deactivating by the terminal itself). Alternatively, as shown in Figures 23 to 25
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corresponding to Figures 16, 18 and 19, during the activation process, the activating
command can also be sent by the base station before the RRC reconfiguration information is
sent.
[00178] Further, the activating command can be combined or sent simultaneously with other
5 commands. For example, if the new primary component carrier is in the status in which it is
not initially configured, the initial configuration and activation processes can be combined to
be defined as a new "configuring and activating" process to perform the configuration and
activation simultaneously, that is, the base station transmits a "configuring and activating"
command. The terminal performs the configuration and activation simultaneously after
10 receiving this command. Further, the activating command can be sent together with the "radio
resource control" reconfiguration information.
[00179] In another embodiment, the initial configuring flow and the following handover flow
or reconfiguring flow can be combined to be contained in one command to be performed, but
not separated. That is, the initial configuring command can be combined with the RRC
15 reconfiguration information,
Eleventh embodiment
[00180] The updating of the secondary component carrier will be described in the following.
As described above, the updating of the secondary component carrier includc::^ adding the
20 selected new secondary component carrier, or replacing a certain old secondary component
carrier with the selected new secondary component carrier. The latter situation is in fact the
combination of the adding action and the deleting action, Similar to the consideration in the
eighth embodiment, this embodiment proposes a method for updating the secondary
component carrier, for properly determining the opportunity for updating or adding the
25 component carrier.
[00181] As shown in Figure 26, the method of this embodiment includes the following steps:
acquiring the status information of the terminal, the base station and/or the secondary
component carrier (step 2202); determining whether the status information meets the
predetermined condition (step 2204); and adding the new secondary component carrier or
30 replacing the old secondary component carrier with the new secondary component carrier in
..35..
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
PCT/CN2011 /072406
Spec for Entering tN
the case that the status information meets the predetermined condition (step 2206).
[00182] In the prior art, there exists various parameters for representing the terminal, the
base station, and the performance and status of the component carrier in use or the carrier that
can be used by the base station, and the like, and the related information can be obtained by
various measurement or communication means. For such information, various predetermined
conditions can be set depending on the requirement in the practical application, and the
secondary component carrier will be updated when the predetermined condition is satisfied.
[00183] As an illustrative example but not the restrictive enumeration, the conditions taken
into consideration for updating the secondary component carrier can include at least one of
10 the followinn:
[00184] 1. More secondary component carriers are needed due to the requirement of service;
[00185] 2. The terminal moves out of the coverage range of the old secondary component
carrier;
[00186] 3. The signal quality of the old secondary component carrier is degraded;
15 [00137] 4. The physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink of the old secondary component carrier is not enough;
[00188] 5. The original base station requires to update the secondary component carrier
considering problems such as the balance of the overall load of the network and the
interference between the users; and
20 [00189] 6. The terminal moves into the coverage range of the new base station.
[00190] The updating of the secondary component carrier can be implemented by using the
reconfiguring flow. This reconfiguring flow is similar to the reconfiguring flow for the
primary component carrier described in conjunction with Figure 18. The difference is that
since the secondary component carrier is not unique, the essence of the updating of the
25 secondary component carrier is to add the new secondary component carrier, as described
above, and therefore, the reconfiguring flow for the updating of the secondary component
carrier does not need to include the deactivating process.
[00191] Specifically, in the reconfiguring flow, the base station transmits "radio resource
control (RRC)" reconfiguration information to the terminal. The "radio resource control"
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
PCT/CN2011/072406
Spec for Entering IN
reconfiguration information includes only radio resource configuration information of the new
secondary component carrier. Then the terminal configures the new secondary component
carrier by using the radio resource configuration information of the new secondary component
carrier. Because it is unnecessary to reconfigure the MAC, PDCP and RLC layers or update
5 the security key, the additional system overhead caused by the updating of the secondary
component carrier is reduced, and the problem of the degraded quality of service for the user
caused by the updating of the secondary component carrier is avoided. In this situation, it is
unnecessary to include all the related configuration information of the new secondary
component carrier in the RRC information body (for example, not including the mobility
10 control information), and it is necessary to include only the radio resource configuration
information of the secondary component carrier, which is referred as increment signaling.
[00192] Likewise, similar to the tenth embodiment, in practice, there also exists the scene in
which the new secondary component carrier has not been initially configured, or has been
initially configured but not activated.
15 [00193] In such a scene, it is also necessary to activate the carrier to be used as the new
secondary component carrier which has not been initially configured yet, or which has been
initially configured but not activated yet (Figures 27 and 28). For the secondary component
carrier, when the reconfiguration in the present application is completed, the initial
configuration thereof is completed (i.e., the adding of this carrier). The activation process is
20 also relatively flexible in terms of time order. As shown in Figure 28, during the activation
process, the activating command can be sent by the base station after the configuration based
on the RRC reconfiguration information is completed. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 27,
during the activation process, the activating command can also be sent by the base station
before the RRC reconfiguration information is sent.
25 [00194] Likewise, the activating command can be combined or sent simultaneously with
other commands. For example, the activating command can be sent together with the "radio
resource control" reconfiguration information.
Twelfth embodiment
30 [00195] The method for updating the component carrier described in the eighth to tenth
-31e
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Unitalen ref.: OP 1211.06-0139
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embodiments can be performed by the base station and the terminal in cooperation in the
communication system.
[00196] Therefore, in this embodiment, there is proposed a terminal, a base station and a
communication system that are respectively able to implement the above embodiments.
[00197] In the description of the terminal, the base station and the communication system in
this embodiment and the following embodiments, unless necessary, the detailed description of
the various embodiments that have been described above will not be repeated any more, and
reference can be made to the description of the various embodiments described above.
[00198] As shown in Figure 29, a base station 2420 communicates with a terminal 2520 in a
10 carrier aggregating communication network, and performs the updating of the primary
component carrier. Specifically, the terminal includes: a status acquiring unit 2402 for
acquiring the status information of the terminal, the base station and/or the primary
component carrier; a status determining unit 24-04 for determining whether the status
information meets the predetermined condition; and a primary component carrier updating
15 unit 2406 for replacing the old primary component carrier with the new primary component
carrier in the case that the status information meets the predetermined condition.
[00199] Specifically, the status acquiring unit 2402 is used for acquiring the information
based on which the status determining unit 2404 can determine whether the updating
condition of the primary component carrier is satisfied. What information is to be obtained is
20 dependent on the updating condition, and the updating condition in turn can be optionally set
according to the specific application.
[00200] For example, the predetermined condition includes at least one of the following:
[00201 ] 1. The terminal moves out of the coverage range of the old primary component
carrier;
25 [00202] 2. The signal quality of the old primary component carrier is degraded;
[00203] 3. The physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink of the old primary component carrier is not enough;
[00204] 4. The original base station requires to update the primary component carrier
considering problems such as the balance of the overall load of the network and the
30 interference between the users; and
38
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[00205] 5. The terminal moves into the coverage range of the new base station.
[00206] Then, for the conditions 1 and 5, the judgment must be made based on the position
of the terminal and the coverage range of the primary component carrier of the corresponding
base station. For the condition 2, it is necessary to acquire the signal quality information from
the terminal. For the condition 3, it is necessary to acquire the related information from the
base station. The condition 4 is completely a command from the base station.
[00207] Therefore, depending on what the predetermined condition specifically is, the status
acquiring unit 2402 may only need to acquire the related information form the base station
itself but not to interact with the terminal 2520, and may also need to interact with the
10 terminal 2520 to acquire the related information. The specific manner for acquiring the
information has been described in the description given with respect to the selecting of the
component carrier, which will not be repeated any more here.
[00208] The primary component carrier updating unit 2406 interacts with the terminal 2520,
so as to perform the updating of the primary component carrier. As described above, all the
15 updating of the primary component carriers can be performed by the handover flow. Therefore,
in an embodiment, as shown in Figure 30, the primary component carrier updating unit 2406
can include: a reconfiguration information transmitting unit 24062 for transmitting the "radio
resource control" reconfiguration information to the terminal, the "radio resource control"
reconfiguration information including the mobility control information which includes the
20 information used by the terminal to reconfigure the MAC, PDCP and RLC layers and update
the security key, and the radio resource configuration information used by the terminal to
configure the new primary component carrier; and a random access unit 24064 for initiating
the non-competitive random access or responding to the random access request from the
terminal.
25 [00209] As described above, the handover flow includes the deactivating of the old primary
component carrier. However, the deactivating command can be sent by the base station, or the
implicit deactivating can also be performed by the terminal itself. In the former manner, the
primary component carrier updating unit 2406 can further include a deactivating command
transmitting unit 24066, for deactivating the old primary component carrier, as shown in
30 Figure 30. However, in the latter manner, the primary component carrier updating unit 2406
may not include the deactivating command transmitting unit 24066.
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[00210] Correspondingly, this embodiment further provides a corresponding terminal 2520
as shown in Figure 30, and the terminal 2520 includes: a reconfiguration information
receiving unit 2502 for receiving the "radio resource control" reconfiguration information
from the base station; a mobility control configuring unit 2504 for reconfiguring the MAC,
5 PDCP and RLC layers and updating the security key according to the "radio resource control"
reconfiguration information; a radio resource configuring unit 2506 for configuring the new
primary component carrier according to the radio resource configuration information
contained in the "radio resource control" reconfiguration information; a random access unit
2510 for initiating the competitive random access or responding to the non-competitive
10 random access initiated by the base station; and a deactivating unit 2508 for deactivating the
old primary component carrier in accordance with the presetting or according to the
deactivating command sent by the base station.
[00211] The above base station 2420 and terminal 2520 are adapted for performing the
handover flow. Naturally, when the reconfiguring flow described above is completed, the
15 "radio resource control" reconfiguration information which the reconfiguration information
transmitting unit 24062 is configured to transmit to the terminal includes only the radio
resource configuration information of the new primary component carrier, for configuring the
new primary component carrier by the terminal 2520. Correspondingly, no function of the
mobility control configuring unit 2504 is needed in the terminal 2520.
20 [00212] As described above, the reconfiguring flow generally has no random access process,
and thus the above base station 2420 and terminal 2520 adapted for performing the
reconfiguring flow both can have no random access unit. However, as described above, the
base station 2420 and the terminal 2520 can also respectively contain the corresponding
random access unit, so as to randomly access the new primary component carrierbefore the
25 old primary component carrier is deactivated in the case that the new and old primary
component carriers do not satisfy the following conditions. Such conditions are that the new
and old primary component carriers are within the same frequency band, have the same time
advance and both keep synchronous with the base station.
[00213] As described above, for the updating of the primary component carrier, the preferred
30 manner is to properly select the handover flow or the reconfiguring flow depending on the
application scene, and thus it is better for the base station and the terminal to each have the
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ability of processing the handover flow and the reconfiguring flow. For the terminal 2520, it
can be seen from the above description that all the illustrated components of the terminal
2520 shown in Figure 30 will be used in the handover flow, and only part of the components
will be used in the reconfiguring flow. Therefore, it is believed that the terminal being able to
5 perform the handover flow can also perform the reconfiguring flow.
[00214] However, the RRC reconfiguration information is transmitted by the base station,
thus whether to use the handover flow or the reconfiguring flow is to be determined by the
base station. Therefore, as shown in Figure 3 1, in the base station 2420 that supports both the
handover flow and the reconfiguring flow, the status determining unit 2404 can be further
10 configured to judge whether the new and old primary component carriers belong to the same
base station based on the information obtained by the status acquiring unit 2402. Of course,
such judgment can also be made by any component in the base station 2420, and the result is
notified to the primary component carrier updating unit 2406. Generally, for example, the
base station itself knows the current primary component carrier of the' terminal. However,
15 during the selecting of the primary component carrier, the new primary component carrier is
determined by the base station, or determined by the terminal and notified to the base station
(for example, transmitting the request for updating the primary component carrier to the base
station), and thus the base station can judge whether the new and old primary component
carriers belong the same base station based on the above information. Because the terminal
20 must request the base station which the terminal currently belongs to (i.e., the base station the
old primary component carrier belongs to) for updating the primary component carrier, the
above judgment of the base station is to judge whether the new primary component carrier is a
carrier of the base station itself.
[00215] Correspondingly, the reconfiguration information transmitting unit 24062 can be
25 configured to transmit different configuration information in different cases. That is, in the
case that the new and old primary component carriers belong to the same base station, the
"radio resource control" reconfiguration information transmitted to the terminal includes only
the radio resource configuration information of the new primary component carrier, for
configuring the new primary component carrier by the terminal; in the case that the new and
30 old primary component carriers belong to different base stations, the "radio resource control"
reconfiguration information includes the mobility control information which includes the
information for reconfiguring the MAC, PDCP and R1,C layers and updating the security key
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by the terminal, and the radio resource configuration information for configuring the 'new
primary component carrier by the terminal.
[00216] Further, in the case that the new and old primary component carriers belong to
different base stations and the handover flow is used, as described above, the random access
5 unit 2510 of the terminal 2520 will interact with the random access unit 24064' of the new
base station 2420, but not interact with the random access unit 24064 of the old base station
2420, as shown in Figure 31. In this case, the random access unit 24064' of the new base
station 2420' and the random access unit 24064 of the old base station 2420 can be the same
component, but belong to different base station entities; but they can also be different
10 components, and even the old base station 2420 is not necessarily the same as the new base
station 2420'. However, in the ideal conditions, the old base station 2420 and the new base
station 2420' should have the same structure, and only part of the components of the new base
station 2420' is illustrated in Figure 31 for conciseness. The deactivating unit mentioned
hereinafter is similar to this.
15 [00217 If the terminal does not deactivate the old primary component carrier in the implicit
manner, then the base station needs to use the deactivating command transmitting unit.
Similar to the random access unit, in the case that the new and old primary component
carriers belong to different base stations and the handover flow is used, the deactivating
command should be transmitted by the new base station 2420', that is, the deactivating
20 command transmitting unit 24066' of the new base station 2420' interacts with the
deactivating unit 2508 of the terminal 2520, as shown in Figure 31.
[00218] Further, in the case that the new and old primary component carriers belong to
different base stations and the handover flow is used, since different base stations are involved,
and association between different base stations is also involved. Therefore, the base station
25 can further include a switch requesting unit 3102 for transmitting a handover request to the
base station the new primary component carrier belongs to in the case that the new and old
primary component carriers belong to different base stations, acquiring the related
information from the base station the new primary component carrier belongs to, so as to
prepare by the reconfiguration information transmitting unit the RRC reconfiguration
30 information to be transmitted to the terminal. The details have been described in the method
embodiments, which will not be repeated any more here.
. 42
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[00219] Further, the primary component carrier updating unit can further include an
activating command transmitting unit (not shown in the Figures), for transmitting the
activating command before or while the reconfiguration information transmitting unit
transmits the "radio resource control" reconfiguration information or after the terminal
5 performs the configuration by using the "radio resource control" reconfiguration information,
so as to activate the new primary component carrier, in the case that the new primary
component carrier has not been initially configured or activated. Further, the base station can
further include an initial configuring unit (not shown in the Figures), for transmitting to the
terminal a command for initially configuring (adding) the primary component carrier, in the
10 case that the new primary component carrier has not be configured initially.
[00220] Correspondingly, the terminal can further include a primary component carrier
activating unit (not shown in the Figures) for receiving the activating command transmitted
by the base station and activating the new primary component carrier. The terminal can
further include an initial configuring unit (not shown in the Figures) for adding the primary
15 component carrier in response to the command from the base station.
[00221] Naturally, as shown in Figures 29, 30 and 3 1, the above description further discloses
a communication system consisting of the various embodiments of the above terminal and the
various embodiments of the above base station.
20 Thirteenth embodiment
[00222] The method described in the eleventh embodiment is performed by the base station
and the terminal in cooperation in the communication system.
[00223] Therefore, in this embodiment, there is proposed a terminal, a base station and a
communication system that are respectively able to implement the above embodiments.
25 [00224] In the description of the terminal, the base station and the communication system in
this embodiment and the following embodiments, unless necessary, the detailed description of
the various embodiments that have been described above will not be repeated any more, and
reference can be made to the description of the various embodiments described above.
[00225] As shown in Figure 32, a base station 3000 communicates with a terminal 3020 in a
30 carrier aggregating communication network, and performs the updating of the secondary
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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component carrier. Specifically, the terminal includes: a status acquiring unit 3002 for
acquiring the status information of the terminal, the base station and/or the secondary
component carrier; a status determining unit 3004 for determining whether the status
information meets the predetermined condition; and a secondary component carrier updating
unit 3006 for adding the new secondary component carrier or replacing the old secondary
component carrier with the new secondary component carrier in the case that the status
information meets the predetermined condition.
[00226] Specifically, the status acquiring unit 3002 is used for acquiring the information
based on which the status determining unit 3004 can determine whether the updating
10 condition of the secondary component carrier is satisfied. What information is to be obtained
is dependent on the updating condition, and the updating condition in turn can be optionally
set according to the specific application.
[0022 7] For example, the predetermined condition includes at least one of the following:
[00228] 1. More secondary component carriers are needed due to the requirement of service;
15 [00229] 2. The terminal moves out of the coverage range of the old secondary component
carrier;
[00230] 3. The signal quality of the old secondary component carrier is degraded;
[00231] 4. The physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink of the old secondary component carrier is not enough;
20 [00232] 5. The original base station requires to update the secondary component carrier
considering the problems such as the balance of the overall load of the network and the
interference between the users; and
[00233] 6. The terminal moves into the coverage range of the new base station
[00234] Then, for the conditions 2 and 6, the judgment must be made based on the position
25 of the terminal and the coverage range of the primary component carrier of the corresponding
base station. For the condition 3, it is necessary to acquire the signal quality information from
the terminal. For the condition 4, it is necessary to acquire the related information from the
base station. The conditions I and 5 are completely a corm-nand from the base station.
[00235] Therefore, depending on what the predetermined condition specifically is, the status
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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acquiring unit 3002 may only need to acquire the related information form the base station
itself but not to interact with the terminal 3020, but it may also need to interact with the
terminal 3020 to acquire the related information. The specific manner for acquiring the
information has been described in the description given with respect to the selecting of the
5 component carrier, which will not be repeated any more here.
[00236] The secondary component carrier updating unit 3006 interacts with the terminal
3002, so as to perform the updating of the secondary component carrier. In an embodiment, as
shown in Figure 33, the secondary component carrier updating unit 3006 can include: a
reconfiguration information transmitting unit 30062 for transmitting the "radio resource
10 control" reconfiguration information to the terminal, the "radio resource control"
reconfiguration information including only the radio resource configuration information of the
new secondary component carrier, for configuring the new secondary component carrier by
the terminal.
[00237] Correspondingly, this embodiment further provides a corresponding terminal 3020
15 as shown in Figure 33, and the terminal 3020 includes: a reconfiguration information
receiving unit 3022 for receiving the "radio resource control" reconfiguration information
from the base station; and a radio resource configuring unit 3024 for configuring the new
secondary component carrier according to the radio resource configuration information
contained in the "radio resource control" reconfiguration information.
20 [00238] Further, the secondary component carrier updating unit 3006 can further include a
activating command transmitting unit 30066, for transmitting the activating command after
the new secondary component carrier is added or the old secondary component carrier is
replaced with the new secondary component carrier, so as to activate the new secondary
component carrier; alternatively, for transmitting the activating command before or while the
25 reconfiguration information transmitting unit transmits the "radio resource control"
reconfiguration information, so as to activate the new secondary component carrier, in the
case that the new secondary component carrier has not been initially configured or activated.
[00239] Correspondingly, the terminal can further include a secondary component carrier
activating unit 3028 for receiving the activating command transmitted by the base station and
30 activating the new secondary component carrier.
[00240] Naturally, as shown in Figures 32 and 33, the above description further discloses a
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communication system consisting of the various embodiments of the above terminal and the
various embodiments of the above base station.
[00241] Some of the embodiments of the present application have been described in detail in
the above. As can be understood by those skilled in the art, all or any step or component of the
5 method and the apparatus of the present invention can be implemented by hardware, firmware,
software or the combination thereof in any computing device (including the communication
device) including processor, storage medium or the like or the network (including the
communication network) of the computing device, which can be implemented by those
skilled in the art by using their basic programming skill with the knowledge of the content of
10 the present invention, and thus will not be explained in detail here.
[00242] Further, it is obvious that when possible external operations are involved in the
above description, it is evidently necessary to use any display device and nay inputting device
connected to any computing device and the corresponding interface and controlling program.
To sum, the related hardware, software in the computer, computer system or computer
15 network and the hardware, firmware, software or the combination thereof for implementing
the above method of the present invention consist the device and the component thereof in the
present invention.
[00243] Therefore, based on the above understanding, the object of the present invention can
also be achieved by executing one program or a group of programs on any information
20 processing device. The information processing device can be the well-known universal device.
Thus, the object of the present invention can also be achieved by only providing the program
product containing the program code for implementing the method or device. That is, such
program product also constitutes the present invention, and the storage medium storing such
program product also constitutes the present invention. Obviously, the storage medium can be
25 any type of storage medium that is already known to those skilled in the art or that will be
developed in future, including but not limited to floppy disk, optical disk, magnetic optical
disk, memory card, memory stick or the like.
[00244] In the device and method of the present invention, it is obvious that various
components or various steps can be divided, combined and/or divided. and then recombined.
30 Those division and/or recombination should be considered as the equivalent solution of the
present invention.
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[002451 It is to be further noted that the steps for performing the above series of processing
can be performed chronologically according to the sequence of the description, but are
unnecessarily performed in series in time order. Some steps can be performed in parallel or
individually.
5 [00246] Further, although the above description is given one embodiment by one
embodiment, it is to be understood that the various embodiments are not isolated. Obviously,
those skilled in the art can understand that the various technical features contained in various
embodiments can be combined optionally among various embodiments, as long as they do not
conflict with each other. Evidently, all the technical features mentioned in the same
10 embodiment can also be optionally combined, as long as they do not conflict with each other.
[00247] Finally, the terms "include", "comprise", "contain" or any other variation is intended
to cover the non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device that includes
a series of elements include not only those elements but also other elements not explicitly
listed, or further include inherent elements of such process, method,. article or device. In
15 addition, in the case of no more limitations, an element defined by the sentence "comprise a"
does not exclude the presence of other same elements in the process, method, article or device
that includes an clement.
[00248] Although the embodiments and the advantages thereof have been described in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the embodiments
20 described above are only for the purpose of illustration, but not to limit the present invention.
Various modifications and variations can be made by those skilled in the art without departing
from the substance and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present
invention is only defined by the appended claims and their equivalents, and various variations,
substitutions and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the
25 present invention defined by the appended claims.
Sony China Ref: CNPA 10029IN00
Unitalen ref.: 01312' 11--060139
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CLAIMS
What is claimed is:
1. A method for a communication network, comprising:
determining a coverage range of each available carrier that can be used by a terminal;
determining whether a distribution of the coverage ranges of different available carriers
accords with a predetermined distribution mode; and
determining a component carrier to be used at least according to a rule that is decided by
the predetermined distribution mode, in the case that the distribution of the coverage ranges of
different available carriers accords with the predetermined distribution mode,
10 wherein the communication network is a carrier aggregating connmunication network, and
the determined component carrier is one of multiple carriers to be used by the terminal.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
the predetermined distribution mode is that the coverage ranges of different available
15 carriers are substantially the same; and
the rule comprises taking each available carrier as a candidate component cw rier.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein
the predetermined distribution mode is that there exists at least one available carrier the
20 coverage range of which is substantially contained within the coverage range of at least one
other available carrier; and
the rule comprises determining a candidate component carrier at least according to the size
of the coverage range of each available carrier.
25 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein
the predetermined distribution mode is that there exist at least two available carriers the
coverage ranges of which are substantially not coincident with each other nor contained one
in the other but overlapped with each other; and
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211-06-0139
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the rule comprises determining a candidate component carrier at least according to a
position where the terminal is located and a moving direction and moving speed of the
terminal
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the determining a candidate component
carrier at least according to a position where the terminal is located and a moving direction
and moving speed of the terminal comprises:
if the terminal is at an edge of a certain available carrier and is leaving away from this
available carrier quickly, assigning a higher probability of becoming the candidate component
10 carrier to the available carrier corresponding to a leaving direction; and
if the terminal is at an edge of a certain available carrier and is moving towards the
interior of this available carrier, or if the terminal is at a position in an overlap region but far
away from an edge of the overlap region, determining the candidate component carrier at least
according to the. size of the coverage range of each available carrier.
15
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein if there exist multiple available carriers
corresponding to the leaving direction, the candidate component carrier is selected from the
multiple available carriers at least according to the size of the coverage range of each
available carrier.
20
7. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the rule further comprises considering at
least one of the following factors: signal quality, physical resource amount for uplink,
physical resource amount for downlink, interference magnitude and load conditions.
25 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein for determining the candidate component
carrier, the importance of the coverage range is higher than the importance of the signal
quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink, and the importance of the signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink
and physical resource amount for downlink is higher than the importance of the interference
.. 49 ..
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Unitalen ref.: OP 1211-06-013 9
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magnitude and the load conditions; alternatively, the candidate component carrier is
determined by any one factor or by multiple factors among the coverage range, the signal
quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink,
the interference magnitude and the load conditions.
9. The method according to claim 4, wherein the rule further comprises considering at
least one of the following factors: signal quality, physical resource amount for uplink and
physical resource amount for downlink, interference magnitude and load conditions.
10 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein for determining the candidate component
carrier, the importance of the position where the terminal is located and the moving direction
and moving speed of the terminal is higher than the importance of the signal quality, the
physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount fe• downlink, and the
importance of the signal quality , the physical resource amount for uplink and physical
15 resource amount for downlink is higher than the importance of the interference magnitude and
the load conditions; alternatively, the candidate component carrier is determined by any one
factor or by multiple factors among the position where the terminal is located and the moving
direction and moving speed of the terminal, the signal quality, the physical resource amount
for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, the interference magnitude and the
20 load conditions.
11. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the rule further comprises considering
at least one of the following factors: signal quality, physical resource amount for uplink and
physical resource amount for downlink, interference magnitude and load conditions.
25
12, The method according to claim It, wherein for determining the candidate component
carrier, the importance of the coverage range, and the position where the terminal is located
and the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal is higher than the importance of
the signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
30 downlink, and the importance of the signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink
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and the physical resource amount for downlink is higher than the importance of the
interference magnitude and the load conditions; alternatively, the candidate component carrier
is determined by any one factor or by multiple factors among the coverage range, the position
where the terminal is located and the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal, the
signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
downlink, the interference magnitude and the load conditions.
13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein when the distribution of
the coverage ranges of different available carriers comprises at least two predetermined
10 modes, the candidate component carriers are firstly determined in accordance with the rule
corresponding to one of the modes, and then a secondary candidate component carrier is
selected from the candidate component carriers in accordance with the rule corresponding to
another mode, until a unique candidate component carrier is derived.
15 14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:
acquiring an activation and configuration status of each available carrier,
wherein the activation and configuration status of each available carrier is also taken into
consideration for determining the candidate component carrier, and wherein, the available
carrier in the activated status leas a higher priority level than the available carrier that has been
20 configured but not activated, and the available carrier that has been configured but not
activated has a higher priority level than the available carrier that has not been configured.
15. A method for updating a primary component carrier in a carrier aggregating
communication network, comprising:
25 determining a new primary component carrier in accordance with the method according to
one of claims 1 to 14; and
switching from an old primary component carrier to the new primary component 6arri
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the old primary component carrier is an
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initial primary component carrier, i.e., the component carrier that is used by the terminal fore
initial access or the component carrier that is used by the terminal during the reestablishing
of a radio resource connection.
5 17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, further comprising:
acquiring frequency spectrum information of each available carrier,
wherein the relationship between the frequency of each available carrier and the old
primary component carrier is also taken into consideration for determining the candidate
component carrier; and among the available carriers with the same activation and
10 configuration status, the available carriers within the same frequency band as the old primary
component carrier have a higher priority level.
18. A method for adding a secondary component carrier in a carrier aggregating
communication network, comprising
15 determining a new secondary component carrier in accordance with the method according
to one of claims 1 to 14; and
adding the new secondary component carrier.
19. A device in a communication network, comprising:
20 a. terminal information acquiring unit for acquiring position information of a terminal
and/or carrier distribution information corresponding to the position of the terminal;
a carrier distribution mode determining unit for determining whether a distribution of
coverage ranges of different available carriers corresponding to the position of the terminal
accords with a predetermined distribution mode;
25 a component carrier determining unit for determining a component carrier to be used at
least according to a rule that is decided by the predetermined distribution mode, in the case
that the coverage ranges of different available carriers corresponding to the position of the
terminal accords with the predetermined distribution mode; and
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a notifying unit for notifying the component carrier determined to be used to a counterpart
device,
wherein the communication network is a carrier aggregating communication network, and
the determined component carrier is one of multiple carriers to be used by the terminal.
20. The device according to claim 19 , wherein
the predetermined distribution mode is that the coverage ranges of different available
carriers are substantially the same; and
the component carrier determining unit is configured to take each available carrier as a
10 candidate component carrier.
21. The device according to claim 19, wherein
the predetermined distribution mode is that there exists at least one available carrier the
coverage range of which is substantially contained within the coverage range of at least one
15 other available carrier; and
the component carrier determining unit is further configured to determine a candidate
component carrier at least according to the size of the coverage range of each available
carrier.
20 22. The device according to claim 19, wherein
the predetermined distribution mode is that there exist at least two available carriers the
coverage ranges of which are substantially not coincident with each other nor contained one
in the other but overlapped with each other;
wherein, the terminal information acquiring unit is further configured to acquire
25 information on a moving direction and moving speed of the terminal; and
the component carrier determining unit is further configured to determine a candidate
component carrier at least according to a position where the terminal is located and the
moving direction and moving speed of the terminal.
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23. The device according to claim 22, wherein the component carrier determining unit is
further configured to:
if the terminal is at an edge of a certain available carrier and is leaving away from this
available carrier quickly, assign a higher probability of becoming the candidate component
carrier to the available carrier corresponding to a leaving direction; and
if the terminal is at an edge of a certain available carrier and is moving towards the
interior of this available carrier, or if the terminal is at a position in an overlap region but far
away from an edge of the overlap region, determine the candidate component carrier at least
10 according to the size of the coverage range of each available carrier.
24,. The device according to claim 23, wherein the component carrier determining unit is
further configured to, if there exist multiple available carriers corresponding to the leaving
direction, determine the candidate component carrier among the multiple available carriers at
15 least according to the size of the coverage range of each available carrier.
25. The device according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the component carrier determining
unit is further configured to further determine the candidate component carrier at least
according to at least one of the following factors: signal quality, physical resource amount for
20 uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, interference magnitude and load
conditions.
26. The device according to claim 25, wherein the component carrier determining unit is
further configured so that for determining the candidate component carrier, the importance of
25 the coverage range is higher than the importance of the signal quality and the physical
resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, and the importance of
the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount
for downlink is higher than the importance of the interference magnitude and the load
conditions; alternatively, the candidate component carrier is determined by any one factor or
30 by multiple factors among the coverage range, the signal quality, the physical resource
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amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, the interference magnitude and
the load conditions.
27. The device according to claim 22, wherein the component carrier determining unit is
further configured to further determine the candidate component carrier at least according to
at least one of the following factors: signal quality, physical resource amount for uplink and
physical resource amount for downlink, interference magnitude and load conditions.
28. The device according to claim 27, wherein the component carrier determining unit is
10 further configured so that for determining the candidate component carrier, the importance of
the position where the terminal is located and the moving direction and moving speed of the
terminal is higher than the importance of the signal quality and the physical resource amount
for uplink and physical resource amount for downlinkc, and the importance of the signal
quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for
15 downlink is higher than the importance of the interference magnitude and the load conditions;
alternatively, the candidate component carrier is determined by any one factor or by multiple
factors among the position where the terminal is located and the moving direction and moving
speed of the terminal, the signal quality, the physical resource amount for uplink and physical
resource amount for downlink, the interference magnitude and the load conditions.
20
29. The device according to claim 23 or 24, wherein the component carrier determining
unit is further configured to further determine the candidate component carrier at least
according to at least one of the following factors: signal quality, physical resource amount for
uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, interference magnitude and load
25 conditions.
30. The device according to claim 29, wherein the component carrier determining unit is
Further configured so that for determining the candidate component carrier, the importance of
the coverage range, the position where the terminal is located and the moving direction and
30 moving speed of the terminal is higher than the importance of the signal quality and the
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Unitalen ref.: OP1211--060139
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physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, and the
importance of the signal quality and the physical resource amount for uplink and physical
resource amount for downlink is higher than the importance of the interference magnitude and
the load conditions; alternatively, the candidate component carrier is determined by any one
factor or by multiple factors among the coverage range, the position where the terminal is
located and the moving direction and moving speed of the terminal, the signal quality, the
physical resource amount for uplink and physical resource amount for downlink, the
interference magnitude and the load conditions.
10 31. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 24, wherein the component carrier
determining unit is further configured so that when the distribution of the coverage ranges of
different available carriers comprises at least two predetermined modes, a plurality of
candidate component carriers are firstly determined in accordance with the rule corresponding
to one of the modes, and then secondary candidate component carriers are selected from the
15 candidate component carriers in accordance with the rule corresponding to another mode,
until a unique candidate component carrier is derived.
32. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 24, further comprising:
a carrier status acquiring unit for acquiring an activation and configuration status of each
20 available carrier,
wherein the component carrier determining unit is further configured so that the activation
and configuration status of each available carrier is also taken into consideration for
determining the component carrier , wherein, the available carrier in the activated state has a
higher priority level than the available carrier that has been configured but not activated, and
25 the available carrier that has been configured but not activated has a higher priority level than
the available carrier that has not been configured.
33. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 2/4, wherein the component carrier is
a primary component carrier.
30
56
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Uli s3 cf.: OP1211-"06-0139
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34. The device according to claim 33, wherein the component carrier determining unfl is
further configured so that the relationship between the frequency of each available carrier and
an old primary component carrier is also taken into consideration for determining the
candidate component carrier; and wherein, among the available carriers with the same
5 activation and configuration status, the available carriers within the same frequency band as
the old primary component carrier have a higher priority level.
35. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 24, wherein the component carrier is
a secondary component carrier.
10
36. A base station in a carrier aggregating communication network, wherein
the base station is the device according to one of claims 19 to 35; and
the counterpart device is a terminal that communicates with the base station
15 37. A communication system, comprising:
the base station according to claim 36; and
a terminal that communicates with the base station.
38. Aterminal adapts d for a carrier aggregating communication network, wherein
20 the terminal is the device according to one of claims 19 to 35; and
the counterpart device is a base station that communicates with the terminal.
39. A. communication system, comprising:
the terminal according to claim 38; and
25 a base station that communicates with the terminal.`