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EP-4167517-B1 - SCELL MANAGEMENT FOR CA

EP4167517B1EP 4167517 B1EP4167517 B1EP 4167517B1EP-4167517-B1

Inventors

  • PARKVALL, STEFAN
  • BALDEMAIR, ROBERT
  • DAHLMAN, ERIK
  • WERNER, KARL
  • BJÖRKEGREN, Håkan

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20200110

Claims (20)

  1. A method implemented at a wireless device (22), WD, configured to operate on one or more secondary cells, Scells, the method comprising: receiving (S138) an activation/deactivation command via Medium Access Control, MAC, layer signaling; and performing (S140) a set of actions for at least one SCell of the one or more of Scells upon receiving the activation/deactivation command via MAC layer signaling, the set of actions performed upon receiving the activation/deactivation command via MAC layer including starting or stopping sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission on the at least one Scell, starting or stopping channel state information, CSI, reporting for the at least one Scell and starting or stopping PDCCH monitoring for the at least one Scell; receiving (S146) a command, via a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, signaling; characterized by performing (S148) a set of actions for the at least one Scell upon receiving the command via PDCCH signaling, the set of actions including stopping PDCCH monitoring for the at least one Scell and stopping sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission on the at least one SCell.
  2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of actions performed upon receiving the command via PDCCH signaling further includes stopping PUCCH transmission on the at least one Scell.
  3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of actions performed upon receiving the activation/deactivation command via MAC layer signaling are different from the set of actions performed upon receiving the command via PDCCH signaling.
  4. The method of any preceding Claim, wherein the set of actions performed in response to receiving the command via the PDCCH signaling excludes deactivating the at least one SCell.
  5. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the method comprises receiving the command via PDCCH signaling in downlink control information, DCI, on a primary cell, PCell.
  6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the command via PDCCH signaling further comprises: receiving N bits in downlink control information, DCI, of the PDCCH on the Pcell, each bit of the N bits corresponding to a respective Scell of the one or more Scells, wherein N is a number of the one or more Scells, wherein each bit of the N bits indicates an on state or an off state for the respective Scell of the one or more Scells .
  7. The method according to any preceding claim, wherein the one or more Scells comprise a plurality of Scells.
  8. The method of Claim 1, wherein: performing the set of actions upon receiving the activation/deactivation command via MAC layer signaling further comprises performing those actions after a first delay, D1, from when that command is received; and performing the set of actions upon receiving the command via PDCCH signaling further comprises performing those actions after a second delay, D2, from when the that command is received, the second delay being smaller than the first delay.
  9. A method implemented in a network node (16) configured to configure a wireless device (22), WD, to operate on one or more secondary cells, Scells, the method comprising: sending (S134) an activation/deactivation command via Medium Access Control, MAC, layer signaling indicating a set of actions for at least one SCell of the one or more Scells, the set of actions indicated by the activation/deactivation command via MAC layer signaling including starting or stopping sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission on the at least one Scell, starting or stopping channel state information, CSI, reporting for the at least one Scell and starting or stopping PDCCH monitoring for the at least one Scell; and sending (S150) a command, via a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, signaling indicating a set of actions to be performed by the WD (22) on at least one Scell of the one or more Scells, characterized by the set of actions indicated by the command via PDCCH signalling including stopping PDCCH monitoring for the at least one Scell and stopping sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission on the at least one SCell.
  10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the set of actions performed upon receiving the command via PDCCH signaling further includes stopping PUCCH transmission on the at least one Scell.
  11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the set of actions performed upon receiving the activation/deactivation command via MAC layer signaling are different from the set of actions performed upon receiving the command via PDCCH signaling.
  12. The method of any of Claims 9 to 11, wherein the set of actions to be performed in response to receiving the command via the PDCCH signaling excludes deactivating the at least one SCell.
  13. The method of any of claims 9 to 12, wherein the method comprises sending the command via PDCCH signaling in downlink control information, DCI, on a primary cell, PCell.
  14. The method of Claim 13, wherein sending the command via PDCCH signaling further comprises: sending N bits in downlink control information, DCI, of the PDCCH on the Pcell, each bit of the N bits corresponding to a respective Scell of the one or more Scells, wherein N is a number of the one or more Scells, wherein each bit of the N bits indicates an on state or an off state for the respective Scell of the one or more Scells.
  15. The method of any preceding claim wherein the one or more Scells comprise a plurality of Scells.
  16. The method of any of Claims 9 to 15, wherein: the set of actions indicated by the activation/deactivation command sent via MAC layer signaling is to be performed by the WD (22) after a first delay, D1, from when that command is received by the WD (22); and the set of actions indicated by the command sent via PDCCH signaling is to be performed by the WD (22) after a second delay, D2, from when the that command is received by the WD (22), the second delay being smaller than the first delay.
  17. The method of any of Claims 9 to 16, further comprising: receiving signaling on the at least one Scell based at least in part on at least one of the activation/deactivation command received via MAC layer signaling and the command received via PDCCH signaling.
  18. A wireless device (22), WD, configured to operate on one or more secondary cells, Scells, the WD (22) configured to: receive an activation/deactivation command via Medium Access Control, MAC, layer signaling; and perform a set of actions for at least one SCell of the one or more Scells upon receiving the activation/deactivation command via MAC layer signaling, the set of actions to be performed upon receiving the command via MAC layer including starting or stopping sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission on the at least one Scell, starting or stopping channel state information, CSI, reporting for the at least one Scell and starting or stopping PDCCH monitoring for the at least one Scell; and receive a command, via a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, signaling; characterized in that the WD is configured to: perform a set of actions for the at least one Scell of the one or more Scells upon receiving the command via PDCCH signaling, the set of actions including stopping PDCCH monitoring for the at least one Scell and stopping sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission for the at least one Scell.
  19. The WD (22) of Claim 18, wherein the WD (22) is further configured to perform the method of any of claims 2 to 8.
  20. A network node (16) configured to configure a wireless device (22), WD, to operate on one or more secondary cells, Scells, the network node (16) configured to: send an activation/deactivation command via Medium Access Control, MAC, layer signaling indicating a set of actions for at least one SCell of the one or more Scells, the set of actions indicated by the activation/deactivation command via MAC layer signaling including starting or stopping sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission on the at least one Scell, starting or stopping channel state information, CSI, reporting for the at least one Scell and starting or stopping PDCCH monitoring for the at least one Scell; and send a command, via a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, signaling indicating a set of actions to be performed by the WD (22) on at least one Scell of the one or more Scells, the set of actions indicated by the command via PDCCH signaling including stopping PDCCH monitoring for the at least one Scell and stopping sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission on the at least one Scell.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and in particular, to secondary cell (Scell) management for carrier aggregation (CA). BACKGROUND Carrier Aggregation is generally used in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) (also referred to as 5G) and Long Term Evolution (LTE systems) to improve wireless device (WD) (e.g., user equipment or UE) transmit receive data rates. With carrier aggregation (CA), the WD typically operates initially on single serving cell called a primary cell (Pcell). The Pcell is operated on a component carrier in a frequency band. The WD is then configured by the network (e.g., network node) with one or more secondary serving cells (Scell(s)). Each Scell can correspond to a component carrier (CC) in the same frequency band (intra-band CA) or different frequency band (inter-band CA) from the frequency band of the CC corresponding to the Pcell. For the WD to transmit/receive data on the Scell(s) (e.g., by receiving downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) information on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or by transmitting uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) information on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)), the Scell(s) is activated by the network (e.g., network node). The Scell(s) can also be deactivated and later reactivated as needed via activation/deactivation signaling. FIG. 1 illustrates Scell activation/deactivation related procedures specified for New Radio (NR) Release 15 (Rel-15). As shown in FIG. 1, except for channel state information (CSI) reporting, the WD is allowed to start performing other 'activation related actions' (e.g., physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring for Scell, physical uplink control channel/sounding reference signal (PUCCH/SRS) transmission on the Scell) within a specified range of slots. i.e., after the minimum required activation delay (specified in third generation partnership project (3GPP) technical specification (TS) 38.213) and before the maximum allowed activation delay (specified in 3GPP TS 38.133). CSI reporting for the Scell starts (and stops) with a fixed slot offset after receiving the activation (deactivation) command. Below are examples of the minimum required activation delay and maximum allowed activation delay for some example conditions: Minimum required activation delay is k1+3ms+1 slots as, for example, specified in 3GPP such as 3GPP TS 38.213 sub clause 4.3. Assuming 30kHz numerology for Pcell, and k1=4, this would be 5.5ms.Maximum allowed activation delay depends on conditions described in, for example, 3GPP such as 3GPP TS 38.133 sub clause 8.3.2 and the value varies based on WD measurement configuration, operating frequency range and other aspects. ∘ Assuming T_HARQ in 3GPP TS 38.133 has similar meaning as k1 in, for example, 3GPP such as 3GPP TS 38.213, and assuming 'known Scell' with Scell measurement cycle is equal to or smaller than [160 milliseconds (ms)], and T_csi_reporting=4slots: ▪ For frequency 1 (FR1) and 30kHz subcarrier spacing (SCS), If synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) Block Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) periodicity 5 ms, the delay cannot be larger than (T_HARQ= 4slots) + (T_act_time = 5ms+5ms) + (T_csi_report = 4slots) = 14ms; andSMTC periodicity 20 ms, the delay cannot be larger than (T_HARQ= 4slots) + (T_act_time = 5ms+20ms) + (T_csi_report = 4slots) = 29ms.▪ For frequency 2 (FR2), assuming this is the first Scell being activated in that FR2 band, SMTC periodicity 5 ms, the delay is 4slots+5ms+TBD*5ms+4slots= 6ms+X*5ms;SMTC periodicity 20 ms, the delay is 4slots+5ms+TBD*20ms+4slots = 6ms+X*20ms; andX>1 is to be determined (TBD) in current Rel-15 specifications. For other conditions, e.g., Scell is not 'known' and longer SMTC periodicities, the maximum allowed activation delay may be much longer than the values in the above example. Another prior art document is R2-1712255 that discusses "Fast SCell activation for enhanced CA utilization". SUMMARY The invention is defined in the independent claims. Additional embodiments are depicted in the dependent claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A more complete understanding of the present embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: FIG. 1 illustrates an example of Scell activation/deactivation related procedures specified for Rel-15 NR;FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary network architecture illustrating a communication system connected via an intermediate network to a host computer according to the principles in the present disclosure;FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a network node with a wireless device over an at least partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary methods