Carrier Aggregation Scheduling With Parallel RLC and MAC

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

The use of a single monolithic MAC scheduler and RLC entity in distributed RANs creates a processing bottleneck during carrier aggregation, limiting throughput and increasing CPU requirements, especially when aggregating multiple carriers.

Innovation Solution

Parallelize the RLC processing by dividing it into a single DL upper RLC entity and multiple lower RLC entities, each handling a specific carrier, and separate MAC schedulers for each carrier, allowing for parallelization and reducing computational bottlenecks.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If a single monolithic MAC scheduler and RLC entity are used, then device complexity is reduced, but processing time increases and throughput decreases due to processing bottlenecks

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovethroughputVSAvoidprocessing time

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the monolithic MAC scheduler into multiple independent MAC schedulers, each handling a specific cell in the carrier aggregation. Similarly, the single RLC entity is segmented into multiple RLC entities. This segmentation enables parallel processing of scheduling decisions for different cells, eliminating the sequential bottleneck and improving throughput while reducing processing time.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Productivity

If a single monolithic MAC scheduler is used, then device complexity is reduced, but CPU requirements increase due to processing bottlenecks

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovethroughputVSAvoidscheduler architecture

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the single MAC scheduler into multiple independent MAC schedulers, each responsible for a specific cell. This segmentation distributes the computational load across multiple processing units, reducing the CPU bottleneck while managing complexity through modular, cell-specific scheduler instances.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Measurement precision

If a single MAC scheduler waits for full scheduling decisions, then scheduling accuracy is improved, but processing time increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvescheduling decision accuracyVSAvoidscheduling processing time

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the scheduling process into multiple independent MAC schedulers that operate in parallel for different cells. Each scheduler makes scheduling decisions independently for its assigned cell without waiting for other cells, thereby maintaining scheduling accuracy while dramatically reducing the overall processing time through parallel execution.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS12610276B2Multi-cell scheduling with carrier aggregation

Publication Date: 2026.04.21 OUTDOOR WIRELESS NETWORKS LLC

AI summary

A base station includes at least one remote unit (RU) that exchanges radio frequency (RF) signals with a user equipment (UE) using an air interface. The base station also includes a controller communicatively coupled to the at least one RU. The controller forms first RLC protocol data units (PDUs) for a first cell and second RLC PDUs for a second cell based on Radio Link Control (RLC) service data units (SDUs). A first at least one processor in the controller performs first Medium Access Control (MAC) scheduling for the first cell based on a first buffer occupancy update to produce a first scheduling decision. A second at least one processor in the controller performs second MAC scheduling for the second cell based on a second buffer occupancy update to produce a second scheduling decision.