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US-12621116-B2 - Carrier aggregation SCell new state transition design

US12621116B2US 12621116 B2US12621116 B2US 12621116B2US-12621116-B2

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to a method of operating a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication with a network. In some aspects, the UE obtains a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) from a network. The MAC CE may be configured to indicate any one of a plurality of state transition actions for a secondary cell. The UE transitions to a secondary cell dormant state when a state transition action indicated by the MAC CE includes a transition to the secondary cell dormant state. The UE operates in the secondary cell dormant state.

Inventors

  • Prasad KADIRI
  • Umesh Phuyal

Assignees

  • QUALCOMM INCORPORATED

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20240403

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to: obtain a first medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and a second MAC CE from a network in a same subframe, the first MAC CE and the second MAC CE being configured to indicate one of a plurality of state transition actions for a secondary cell, the first MAC CE being configured to control a transition to a secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE being configured to control activation and deactivation of the secondary cell; transition to the secondary cell dormant state from either a secondary cell activated state or a secondary cell deactivated state, in response to that the first MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and that the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell activated state or the secondary cell deactivated state; and operate in the secondary cell dormant state.
  2. 2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transition to a secondary cell activated state from the secondary cell dormant state when the first MAC CE excludes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell activated state; transition to a secondary cell deactivated state from the secondary cell dormant state when the first MAC CE excludes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell deactivated state; and operate in the secondary cell activated state based on the transition to the secondary cell activated state or operating in the secondary cell deactivated state based on the transition to the secondary cell deactivated state.
  3. 3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transition to the secondary cell activated state from the secondary cell deactivated state, in response to that the first MAC CE excludes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell activated state; transition to the secondary cell deactivated state from the secondary cell activated state, in response to that the first MAC CE excludes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell deactivated state; and operate in the secondary cell activated state based on the transition to the secondary cell activated state or operating in the secondary cell deactivated state based on the transition to the secondary cell deactivated state.
  4. 4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: obtain a first logical channel identifier (LCID) value indicating that the first MAC CE is a dormant state activation/deactivation MAC CE based on a one octet format or obtaining a second LCID value indicating that the first MAC CE is the dormant state activation/deactivation MAC CE based on a four octet format; and identify the first MAC CE corresponding to the secondary cell based on the one octet format or the four octet format.
  5. 5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, the RRC connection reconfiguration message including an indication to add the secondary cell into the secondary cell activated state or into the secondary cell dormant state; and transition directly to the secondary cell activated state or the secondary cell dormant state based on the indication.
  6. 6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, the RRC connection reconfiguration message including an indication to release the secondary cell; and release the secondary cell from the secondary cell dormant state.
  7. 7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: configure a secondary cell deactivation timer; and transition to the secondary cell deactivated state from the secondary cell dormant state upon expiration of the secondary cell deactivation timer.
  8. 8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: configure a secondary cell inactivity timer for the secondary cell, wherein the secondary cell inactivity timer controls a transition to the secondary cell dormant state from a secondary cell activated state; and transition to the secondary cell dormant state from the secondary cell activated state upon expiration of the secondary cell inactivity timer.
  9. 9 . A method of wireless communication for a scheduled entity, comprising: obtaining a first medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and a second MAC CE from a network in a same subframe, the first MAC CE and the second MAC CE being configured to indicate one of a plurality of state transition actions for a secondary cell, the first MAC CE being configured to control a transition to a secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE is configured to control activation and deactivation of the secondary cell; transitioning to the secondary cell dormant state from either a secondary cell activated state or a secondary cell deactivated state, in response to that the first MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and that the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell activated state or the secondary cell deactivated state; and operating in the secondary cell dormant state.
  10. 10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the operating in the secondary cell dormant state comprises refraining from at least one of: monitoring at least one downlink control channel of the secondary cell; or transferring data between the scheduled entity and the network.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising: transitioning to the secondary cell activated state from the secondary cell dormant state, in response to that the first MAC CE excludes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell activated state; transitioning to the secondary cell deactivated state from the secondary cell dormant state, in response to that the first MAC CE excludes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell deactivated state; and operating in the secondary cell activated state based on the transition to the secondary cell activated state or operating in the secondary cell deactivated state based on the transition to the secondary cell deactivated state.
  12. 12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising: transitioning to the secondary cell activated state from the secondary cell deactivated state, in response to that the first MAC CE excludes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell activated state; transitioning to the secondary cell deactivated state from the secondary cell activated state, in response to that the first MAC CE excludes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell deactivated state; and operating in the secondary cell activated state based on the transition to the secondary cell activated state or operating in the secondary cell deactivated state based on the transition to the secondary cell deactivated state.
  13. 13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising: obtaining a first logical channel identifier (LCID) value indicating that the first MAC CE is a dormant state activation/deactivation MAC CE based on a one octet format or obtaining a second LCID value indicating that the MAC CE is the dormant state activation/deactivation MAC CE based on a four octet format; and identifying the first MAC CE corresponding to the secondary cell based on the one octet format or the four octet format.
  14. 14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the first MAC CE includes a one-bit value corresponding to the secondary cell.
  15. 15 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, the RRC connection reconfiguration message including an indication to add the secondary cell into the secondary cell activated state or into the secondary cell dormant state; and transitioning directly to the secondary cell activated state or the secondary cell dormant state based on the indication.
  16. 16 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, the RRC connection reconfiguration message including an indication to release the secondary cell; and releasing the secondary cell from the secondary cell dormant state.
  17. 17 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising: configuring a secondary cell deactivation timer; and transitioning to the secondary cell deactivated state from the secondary cell dormant state upon expiration of the secondary cell deactivation timer.
  18. 18 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising: configuring a secondary cell inactivity timer for the secondary cell, wherein the secondary cell inactivity timer controls a transition to the secondary cell dormant state from the secondary cell activated state; and transitioning to the secondary cell dormant state from the secondary cell activated state upon expiration of the secondary cell inactivity timer.
  19. 19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising: prioritizing the secondary cell inactivity timer over at least one other timer configured for the secondary cell.
  20. 20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the computer-executable code comprising code for causing a wireless communication device to: obtain a first medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and a second MAC CE from a network in a same subframe, the first MAC CE and the second MAC CE being configured to indicate one of a plurality of state transition actions for a secondary cell, the first MAC CE being configured to control a transition to a secondary cell dormant state and the second MAC CE is configured to control activation and deactivation of the secondary cell; transition to the secondary cell dormant state from either a secondary cell activated state or a secondary cell deactivated state, in response to that the first MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell dormant state and that the second MAC CE includes an indication to transition to the secondary cell activated state or the secondary cell deactivated state; and operate in the secondary cell dormant state.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM This application is a divisional application of the earlier-filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/224,311 filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 18, 2018, which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/607,889 filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 19, 2017 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/619,692 filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Jan. 19, 2018, the entire contents of these earlier-filed applications are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth below in their entireties and for all applicable purposes. TECHNICAL FIELD The technology discussed below relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to a carrier aggregation (CA) secondary cell (SCell) new state transition design. INTRODUCTION In wireless communication networks equipped with carrier aggregation (CA) features, the operating states of secondary cells (SCells)) may be controlled to improve user equipment (UE) performance (e.g., to reduce power consumption in UEs). In one example, a set of SCells may be configured to operate in an activated state during times when one or more UEs need to communicate with the set of SCells. In another example, to reduce power consumption in the UEs, the set of SCells may be configured to operate in a deactivated state during times when the one or more UEs no longer need to communicate with the set of SCells. As new operating states for the SCells and UEs are introduced to further improve performance, improved mechanisms for controlling the transitions between the new operating states and legacy operating states are needed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a wireless communication system. FIG. 2 is a conceptual illustration of an example of a radio access network. FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an organization of wireless resources in an air interface utilizing orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing (OFDM). FIG. 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a scheduling entity according to some aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 5 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a scheduled entity according to some aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 6 is an example state transition diagram for a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell) in accordance with some aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 7 illustrates an example format of a legacy SCell activation/deactivation medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) of one octet. FIG. 8 illustrates an example format of a legacy SCell activation/deactivation MAC CE of four octets. FIG. 9 illustrates a table including a list of example logical channel identifier (LCID) values. FIG. 10 illustrates a table indicating new MAC CE values and legacy MAC CE values for controlling the state transitions of an SCell in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 11 illustrates a table indicating new MAC CE values and legacy MAC CE values for controlling the state transitions of an SCell in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 12 is an example state transition diagram for a PCell and an SCell in accordance with some aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 13 illustrates a table indicating new MAC CE values and legacy MAC CE values for controlling the state transitions of an SCell in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 14 is an example state transition diagram for a PCell and an SCell in accordance with some aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 15 illustrates a table indicating new MAC CE values and legacy MAC CE values for controlling the state transitions of an SCell in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 16 illustrates an example format of a new SCell activation/deactivation MAC CE of two octets. FIG. 17 illustrates an example format of a new SCell activation/deactivation MAC CE of eight octets. FIG. 18 illustrates a table including a list of example logical channel identifier (LCID) values. FIG. 19 illustrates a table indicating exemplary new MAC CE values and their corresponding state transition actions in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 20 illustrates a table indicating exemplary new MAC CE values and legacy MAC CE values for controlling the state transitions of an SCell in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 21 illustrates a table indicating exemplary new MAC CE values and legacy MAC CE values for controlling the state transitions of an SCell in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 22 illustrates a table indicating exemplary new MAC CE values and legacy MAC CE values for controlling the state transitions of an SCell in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 23 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process according to some aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 24 is