Secondary Component Carrier Scheduling in LTE Carrier Aggregation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current LTE carrier aggregation systems face inefficiencies in power consumption due to the inability to dynamically schedule secondary component carriers, leading to unnecessary activation and deactivation of receive circuitry, which does not closely follow traffic patterns and fails to provide efficient power savings.
Innovation Solution
Introduction of a new LTE message, such as a MAC control element or PDCCH informational element, to inform user equipment about future scheduling of secondary component carriers, allowing the UE to anticipate and shut down receive circuitry when no data is expected, thereby optimizing power usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If secondary component carrier receive circuitry is continuously activated to ensure immediate data reception, then data reception reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The network side sends a future scheduling indication message to the UE in advance, telling it when secondary component carriers will be scheduled. This allows the UE to proactively activate its receive circuitry only before the scheduled data arrival, rather than keeping it continuously on, thus maintaining reliable reception while reducing power consumption during idle periods
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic control of the secondary component carrier receive circuitry based on received scheduling indications. The UE dynamically switches the circuitry between active and inactive states according to the future scheduling timeline provided by the network, optimizing the balance between reception reliability and power consumption
2Use of energy by moving object
If secondary component carrier receive circuitry is dynamically deactivated to save power, then power consumption is reduced, but data reception delay increases
Solution Approach 1:
The future scheduling indication message provides the UE with advance knowledge of when secondary component carriers will be scheduled. This preliminary information allows the UE to time its circuitry activation precisely, ensuring it is ready before data arrival without unnecessary early activation, thus minimizing delay while maximizing power savings
Solution Approach 2:
The network side provides feedback to the UE about future scheduling decisions through the informational element or MAC control element. This feedback mechanism ensures the UE has accurate timing information to synchronize its receive circuitry activation with actual data transmission, preventing both premature activation (wasting power) and late activation (causing delay)
3Adaptability or versatility
If cross-carrier scheduling is used to schedule secondary component carriers, then scheduling flexibility is improved, but control signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential future scheduling information from the full cross-carrier scheduling mechanism and conveys it through a dedicated informational element or MAC control element. This selective extraction provides the necessary scheduling flexibility while minimizing the control signaling overhead by transmitting only the critical timing and carrier identification data rather than complete scheduling details
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A wireless communication system is presented for future scheduling of secondary component carrier(s) (SCC) during carrier aggregation in LTE wireless communications. A primary component carrier in a first subframe can be used to indicate at what future subframe SCC data may exist for the mobile device (e.g., US, etc.). The UE can then leave off all SCC receive circuitry until the future subframe, when it can turn on all needed SCC receive circuitry to receive the SCC data. After receiving the SCC data, the UE can again power off the SCC receive circuitry.