Carrier Association Method for LTE Component Carriers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current carrier aggregation techniques in LTE-Advanced systems face challenges in efficiently associating user equipment with component carriers, particularly due to high scheduling complexity and difficulties in serving users with optimal component carriers, especially when large frequency gaps exist between carriers.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced to associate user equipment with component carriers by calculating the carrier-to-interference ratio for each available carrier and determining the difference between this ratio and the lowest carrier frequency ratio, allowing for the optimal allocation of user equipment to component carriers with the highest carrier frequency that has not been associated, thereby enhancing throughput.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If carrier aggregation approach is used to allow user equipment to simultaneously transmit on multiple carriers, then throughput is improved, but scheduling complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the component carriers into different frequency groups (first frequency group and second frequency group) and applies different association rules to each group. User equipment in the first group associates with the first component carrier, while user equipment in the second group associates with the second component carrier. This segmentation reduces scheduling complexity by dividing the multi-carrier resource management into smaller, more manageable subsets.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the association parameter from random selection to carrier-to-interference ratio-based selection. By using the carrier-to-interference ratio as the decision parameter, the system optimizes resource allocation to improve throughput while maintaining manageable scheduling complexity through a clear, metric-driven association rule.
2Device complexity
If independent carrier approach is used where user equipment receives data on one carrier at a time, then device complexity is reduced, but throughput is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic carrier association where user equipment can be associated with different component carriers based on their characteristics and requirements. Instead of static one-carrier assignment, the system dynamically assigns user equipment to appropriate carriers (first or second frequency group) based on carrier-to-interference ratio and frequency group membership, enabling flexible resource utilization that improves throughput while keeping individual user equipment relatively simple.
3Ease of manufacture
If random association of user equipment to component carriers is used, then implementation is simple, but throughput performance is suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback-based association mechanism where the carrier-to-interference ratio is calculated and used to determine optimal carrier assignment. The system measures the carrier-to-interference ratio for each user equipment and feeds this information back into the association decision process, assigning user equipment to component carriers that provide the best signal quality. This feedback loop improves throughput performance while maintaining reasonable implementation complexity through a clear, metric-driven algorithm.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention concerns a method to associate at least one user equipment (UEi) to a plurality of component carriers (CCk), According to the invention, a carrier-to-interference ratios is calculated for each of component carriers (CCk) available for the user equipment (UEi), differences between the calculated carrier-to-interference ratios are calculated, with each difference being associated to a different one of the component carriers (CCk) intervening in said difference, the component carriers (CCk) being ordered in the decreasing order of their carrier frequency, the user equipment (UEi) is associated with the component carrier (CCk) having the lowest difference.