Carrier Aggregation Control via Component Carrier Grouping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current LTE systems are limited to five component carriers, restricting bandwidth to 100 MHz, which is insufficient for larger spectrum allocations without significant redesign of the numerology or control signaling.
Innovation Solution
Introducing the concept of virtual component carriers or component carrier groups, where downlink control signaling refers to one or more component carriers within a group, allowing uplink ACK/NAKs to be transmitted collectively, and extending the carrier indicator field to support more serving cells, thereby increasing bandwidth without altering the LTE framework.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If LTE systems use five component carriers with 20 MHz bandwidth each, then the system maintains compatibility with existing LTE framework and control signaling, but the total bandwidth is limited to 100 MHz which is insufficient for larger spectrum allocations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the five component carriers into two groups: a first group of component carriers scheduled by a first downlink control signal, and a second group scheduled by a second downlink control signal. This segmentation allows the system to manage more component carriers without significantly increasing control signaling complexity, as each group can be handled independently with dedicated control signals.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a universal grouping mechanism that can be applied to existing LTE framework. The downlink control signals are designed to universally schedule multiple component carriers within each group, providing multi-functionality that works across different bandwidth configurations while maintaining compatibility with existing LTE structures.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the system supports more than five component carriers to achieve bandwidths greater than 100 MHz, then larger spectrum allocations are enabled, but significant redesign of numerology or control signaling would be required
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting component carriers into multiple groups scheduled by different downlink control signals, the system can support more than five component carriers without requiring complete redesign. Each group can be managed independently, allowing incremental expansion of bandwidth capacity while maintaining existing LTE framework integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of organization by grouping component carriers and assigning different downlink control signals to different groups. This dimensional approach allows the system to scale bandwidth capacity beyond the traditional five-carrier limit without fundamentally altering the existing control signaling structure, as the expansion occurs in the grouping dimension rather than requiring complete structural redesign.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a radio node (212), a wireless device (220) and methods performed by the radio node (212) and the wireless device (220) for communicating in a wireless communication system (200). The wireless device (220) is configured with cells on at least two component carriers, CCs, available to the wireless communication system (200) for communication with the wireless device (220). Each one of the at least two CCs is associated with at least one CC group out of a set of CC groups. The radio node (212) transmits control information to the wireless device (220) indicating a CC group. The transmitted control information applies to at least one CC, which at least one CC is at least one of those CCs, out of the at least two CCs, that are associated with the indicated CC group. The wireless device (220) receives the control information from the radio node (212) and applies the received control information to at least one CC, which at least one CC is at least one of those CCs, out of the at least two CCs, that are associated with the indicated CC group.