Terminal Device Scheduling Request Management in LTE Carrier Aggregation

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Solution Overview

Problem

The existing methods for a terminal device to transmit a scheduling request to a base station in a secondary cell, other than the primary cell, when a physical uplink control channel is transmitted, have not been sufficiently discussed, particularly in the context of LTE carrier aggregation.

Innovation Solution

A terminal device and communication method that enable effective communication with a base station using multiple cells (component carriers) by configuring and managing physical uplink control channel resources across primary and secondary cells, allowing for efficient scheduling request transmission and resource management.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If a terminal device transmits a scheduling request via PUCCH in a secondary cell (serving cell other than primary cell), then the communication efficiency and resource allocation flexibility are improved, but the system complexity and potential conflicts in resource management increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication efficiencyVSAvoidresource management complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the scheduling request transmission mechanism by introducing separate counter management for different serving cells. Each serving cell (primary and secondary) has its own counter initialized based on specific conditions, allowing independent tracking of scheduling request states across multiple cells without interfering with each other's resource allocation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring PUCCH resources for secondary cells before scheduling request transmission is needed. The base station device configures the terminal device with appropriate PUCCH resources for secondary cells in advance, enabling efficient scheduling request transmission when needed without requiring complex real-time resource allocation decisions

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Quantity of substance

If the terminal device uses multiple serving cells for communication, then the data transmission capacity and network coverage are improved, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring resource availability and transmission conditions increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata transmission capacityVSAvoidresource availability detection
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by making the counter initialization behavior cell-specific rather than system-wide. Each serving cell's counter is initialized independently based on local conditions (whether PUCCH resource is configured for that specific cell), allowing the terminal device to efficiently track scheduling request states for each cell according to its specific resource configuration without complex global measurements

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP3253151B1Terminal device and corresponding communication method
Publication Date: 2020.05.06 SHARP KK
  • EP3253151B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3253151B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3253151B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

In a first case, in which a condition is satisfied that includes at least conditions that at least one scheduling request is pending in a certain TTI, there is no UL-SCH resource available for transmission in the certain TTI, and a terminal device has a valid resource for a physical uplink control channel for the scheduling request configured for the certain TTI, when a value of a counter is equal to a prescribed value or larger than the prescribed value, the terminal device initiates a random access procedure on a primary cell, releases a PUCCH resource for a scheduling request in a serving cell other than the primary cell, and cancels all pending scheduling requests.