SCHEDULING DATA TRANSMISSIONS BETWEEN A MOBILE TERMINAL AND A BASE STATION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK USING COMPONENT CARRIERS

Abstract

A method of scheduling wireless data transmissions between a mobile terminal (701) and a base station using multiple component carrier signals is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: receiving in the mobile terminal information from the base station indicating available component carriers; detecting in the mobile terminal at least one dynamic parameter indicative of the mobile terminal's current ability to handle component carriers having non-contiguous bandwidths; determining in the mobile terminal in dependence of the at least one dynamic parameter which of the available component carriers to utilize; and transmitting from the mobile terminal to the base station information indicating the component carriers determined to utilize. By doing this the mobile terminal may choose to limit the number of component carriers used in situations where it is disadvantageous, such as situations where the power consumption of supporting multiple component carriers is high or situations where complex hardware is needed.

Claims

1-13 (canceled)

14. A method performed at a mobile terminal, comprising: receiving information associated with a first number of component carriers; determining a change in at least one dynamic parameter relating to an operating state of the mobile terminal; determining, based on the change in the at least one dynamic parameter relating to the operating state of the mobile terminal, a second number of component carriers associated with carrier aggregation; and transmitting, to a base station, information indicating the second number of component carriers, wherein the second number of component carriers is less than the first number of component carriers, and wherein the information indicating the second number of component carriers is transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first number of component carriers is a maximum number of downlink component carriers the mobile terminal is capable of supporting.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first number of component carriers is a maximum number of uplink component carriers the mobile terminal is capable of supporting.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the second number of component carriers is less than the maximum number of downlink component carriers.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the second number of component carriers is less than the maximum number of uplink component carriers.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one dynamic parameter comprises one or more of a transmit power of the mobile terminal, a processing load of the mobile terminal, a charge level of a battery, energy of interference signals, or data transfer requirements of an application on the mobile terminal.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the change in the at least one dynamic parameter is a processing load of the mobile terminal passing a predefined threshold.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the operating state is associated with a current ability of the mobile terminal to handle component carriers.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein each component carrier is associated with a respective carrier frequency and a respective carrier bandwidth.

23. A mobile terminal, comprising: a battery; and a processor configured to: receive information associated with a first number of component carriers; determine a change in at least one dynamic parameter relating to an operating state of the mobile terminal; determine, based on the change in the at least one dynamic parameter relating to the operating state of the mobile terminal, a second number of component carriers associated with carrier aggregation; and transmit, to a base station, information indicating the second number of component carriers, wherein the second number of component carriers is less than the first number of component carriers, and wherein the information indicating the second number of component carriers is transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

24. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the first number of component carriers is a maximum number of downlink component carriers the mobile terminal is capable of supporting.

25. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the first number of component carriers is a maximum number of uplink component carriers the mobile terminal is capable of supporting.

26. The mobile terminal of claim 24, wherein the second number of component carriers is less than the maximum number of downlink component carriers.

27. The mobile terminal of claim 25, wherein the second number of component carriers is less than the maximum number of uplink component carriers.

28. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the at least one dynamic parameter comprises one or more of a transmit power of the mobile terminal, a processing load of the mobile terminal, a charge level of the battery, energy of interference signals, or data transfer requirements of an application on the mobile terminal.

29. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the change in the at least one dynamic parameter is a processing load of the mobile terminal passing a predefined threshold.

30. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the operating state is associated with a current ability of the mobile terminal to handle component carriers.

31. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein each component carrier is associated with a respective carrier frequency and a respective carrier bandwidth.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Embodiments of the invention will now be described more fully below with reference to the drawings, in which

[0023] FIG. 1 is a frequency plot showing multiple component carriers;

[0024] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a method of scheduling data transmissions between a mobile terminal and a base station;

[0025] FIG. 3a is a frequency plot showing the spectrum leakage when transmitting multiple component carriers with low power;

[0026] FIG. 3b is a frequency plot showing the spectrum leakage when transmitting multiple component carriers with high power;

[0027] FIG. 4 is a plot showing the battery voltage as a function of the state of charge;

[0028] FIG. 5a is a frequency plot showing the amplitude of a low energy interference signal positioned between two component carriers prior to filtration;

[0029] FIG. 5b is a frequency plot showing the amplitude of a low energy interference signal positioned between two component carriers after filtration;

[0030] FIG. 6a is a frequency plot showing the amplitude of a high energy interference signal positioned between two component carriers prior to filtration;

[0031] FIG. 6b is a frequency plot showing the amplitude of a high energy interference signal positioned between two component carriers after filtration; and

[0032] FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a mobile terminal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0033] In a spectrum aggregated or multi-band system as is discussed herein, several frequency bands, contiguous or non-contiguous, may be allocated for the communication with one mobile receiver. The modulation and access format within the band could be of any kind, e.g., orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDMA), code-division multiple access (CDMA) etc. In this application, we denote such a system “multiple component carrier system”. In this context, one band is referred to as one “component carrier”. It may also be noted that this type of system in some publications is called “multi-carrier”, however this term is also commonly used to denote OFDM.

[0034] FIG. 1 depicts an example of aggregation of component carriers to achieve greater bandwidth. It may be noted that the left-most component carrier is well spaced-apart in frequency to the other component carriers. It will experience, and cause, only a small amount of Inter carrier interference due to the wide carrier spacing. However, the two right most component carriers are not as well spaced apart in frequency.

[0035] FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile terminal first, in step 100, detects a multi component carrier cell comprising a base station for communicating with the mobile terminal. This may be achieved by using a cell search procedure. The mobile terminal then, in step 110, receives information related to the component carrier possibilities of the multi component carrier cell. This information may include information related to the bandwidth and carrier frequencies, of the component carriers. The number of possible component carriers may be any number, including the special case when only a single component carrier is available. The mobile terminal then, in step 120, determines a subset of the available component carriers to use for transmitting and receiving data from and to the multi component carrier cell, and informs the multi component carrier cell about this subset. The choice may be based on the physical resources of the mobile terminal. The subset does not have to be a proper subset, meaning that the chosen subset may include all the possible component carriers received from the multi-carrier cell. Next the mobile terminal connects to the multi carrier cell, in step 130, and starts to monitor for component carrier events in step 140. Such and event may be related to any dynamic parameter, such as the battery level of the mobile terminal, the transmit power of the mobile terminal, the processing load of the mobile terminal, energy of interference signals, or data transfer requirements of application on the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal then, in step 150, chooses a new subset of the available component carriers, after detection of an event and informs the multi component carrier cell about the new subset.

[0036] In one embodiment the multi component carrier cell is given the opportunity to reject the requested subset of component carriers and may instead suggest a different subset.

[0037] The communication between the mobile terminal and the multi-carrier cell for the purpose of configuring the multi-carriers may be achieved by using a well defined signaling protocol, for instance the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol, the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol or via layer 1 signaling.

[0038] FIG. 3a shows frequency leakage when transmitting with low power from a mobile terminal to a base station. The transmit power level is typically chosen based on a predetermined quality level requirement. Closed power loops are commonly used to adjust the transmit power. The loops function by monitoring, in the base station, the quality level of the transmission. If the quality level drops below a predetermined threshold, a control signal is sent from the base station to the mobile terminal, which in return increases the transmit power. Reversely, If the quality rises above a predetermined threshold, the base station signals to the mobile terminal which then decreases the transmit power. Two disperse component carriers 301, 302 are shown.

[0039] Nonlinearities in the transmitter and RF power amplifier result in intermodulation distortion, this leads to frequency leakage. This is especially a problem when using component carriers with a narrow bandwidth, since they have a high power density in the frequency domain, resulting in significant intermodulation distortion effects. To enable other users to use the bandwidth positioned outside the bandwidth of the used component carriers, strict frequency leakage requirements apply on mobile terminals. 303 shows the frequency leakage of the two component carriers 301, 302 and 304 shows the leakage requirement of the mobile network. The frequency leakage 303 of the two component carriers 301, 302 is below the leakage requirement 304 when the transmit power of the carriers is low.

[0040] FIG. 3b shows frequency leakage when transmitting with high power from a mobile terminal to a base station. Two disperse component carriers 305,306 are shown. They are positioned at the same frequencies as the two component carriers 301,302 in FIG. 3a, however due to the increased transmit power their amplitude is higher. The spectrum leakage of the two carriers 307 is now above the spectrum leakage requirement of the mobile network. Using a more linear transmitter and RF power amplifier, is a possible way to mitigate this, however highly linear components generally consumes more power and increases the complexity and cost of the mobile terminal.

[0041] Using an embodiment of the present invention, the number of component carriers may be controlled based on the transmit power of the individual carriers. One way of doing this is to decrease the number of component carriers used, when the transmit power is increased. Alternatively, use of component carriers with a narrow bandwidth may be limited, when transmitting with high power. This will enable multi-carrier support on mobile terminals without the need of costly hardware and with reasonable power consumption.

[0042] FIG. 4 shows a plot of the voltage, for a typical battery used in mobile terminals, as a function of the state of charge. The state of charge is varied from 0% to 100%. Three distinct phases are shown, an initialization phase 401, where the battery voltage drops a small amount, a plateau phase 402 where the battery voltage is almost unchanged, and a terminal phase 403, where the battery voltage falls to zero. The function of the mobile terminal is unaffected by the voltage changes in the initialization phase 401 and the plateau phase 402. However in the terminal phase the battery fails to support functionalities of the mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal is in the end forced to turn off. More linear transmitter blocks and in particular a more linear power amplifier are needed in a mobile terminal supporting multiple component carries, these however have a high power consumption. A mobile terminal supporting multiple component carriers will therefore cease to function relative early in the terminal phase.

[0043] However by using an embodiment of the present invention the number of component carriers may be controlled based on the state of charge of the battery in the mobile terminal. This may be done by decreasing the number of component carriers used, when the state of charge of the battery is low, thereby achieving both multi carrier support and a long battery life time, without the need of a complex and expensive architecture in the mobile terminal.

[0044] According to an embodiment of the invention the number of component carriers used may be controlled by a power management system functioning as a dynamic parameter. The power management system may function by estimating the power consumption of supporting multiple component carriers and determine the number of carriers to use in relation to the estimated power consumption. This may be done by limiting the number of component carriers used when the power consumption for supporting multiple component carriers is high. The state of charge of the battery in the mobile terminal may also be used as an input to the power management system. By using a power management system a longer battery life time is achieved.

[0045] Thereby multiple component carriers may be only be supported in situations where the power consumption for supporting them are relative low.

[0046] FIG. 5a shows a frequency plot of a low energy interference signal 502 positioned between two component carriers 501,502 prior to filtration in a mobile terminal. 504 is a threshold showing the ability of the filters in the mobile terminal to block out interference signals. The threshold is determined by the quality of the filters in the mobile terminal. The interference signal 502 has an amplitude that is lower than the threshold 504. FIG. 5b shows a frequency plot of the same situation as depicted in FIG. 5a, after filtration in the mobile terminal. The power of the interference signal has been minimized to an insignificant level, and a good quality of service is achieved for the two component carriers 501,502.

[0047] FIG. 6a shows a frequency plot of a high energy interference signal 602 positioned between two component carriers 601,602 prior to filtration in a mobile terminal. 604 is a threshold showing the ability of the filters in the mobile terminal to block out interference signals. The amplitude of the interference is in this situation higher than the threshold 604. FIG. 6b shows a frequency plot of the same situation as depicted in FIG. 6a after filtration in the mobile terminal. The power of the interference signal has been lowered, but it remains relative high compared to the amplitude of the two component carriers 601,602 resulting in a poor quality of service of the carriers. This can be corrected by using high performance filters with a higher threshold; however this will again will both increase the total power consumption and increase the overall cost of the device.

[0048] Using an embodiment of the present invention, the number of used component carriers may be controlled based on the power of interference signals. This may be achieved by limiting the use of multi carrier components when high energy interference signals are present, thereby achieving good multi carrier support in the most common case, when no high energy interference signals are present, without the need of costly hardware to cope high energy interference signals.

[0049] Mobile terminals have transformed from being a simple communication tools into being a fully operational transportable computer system, providing a range of different applications such as audio and movie applications, maps, dictionaries and games. This evolution has increased the need for processing power in mobile terminals. Multi carrier component support further increases the overall processing load of the mobile terminal. Complicated application will therefore be processed slower when multi carrier components is used, resulting in a decreased user experience. By using an embodiment of the present invention, the number of component carriers used, may be controlled in relation to the processing load of the mobile terminal. This can be achieved by using fewer component carriers when processing complicated application, thereby securing a faster processing of complex application and an increased user experience.

[0050] FIG. 7 shows a functional block diagram of a mobile terminal 701 configured to schedule data transmissions between the mobile terminal and a base station in a wireless communications network using the principles of the present invention. The mobile terminal comprises an antenna 702 for communicating with the base station using RF signals. The RF signals from the antenna is received in the RF block 703 and transmitted to the DET block 704, where the mobile terminal 701 receives information from the base station indicating available component carriers. The mobile terminal then in block 706 detects at least one dynamic parameter indicative of the mobile terminal's current ability to handle component carriers, where the component carriers may form a contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth. The at least one dynamic parameter detected in 706 together with the available component carriers detected in 704 are send to a control block 705 where the mobile terminal 701 determines a subset of the available component carriers to use for transmitting and receiving data from and to the base station, and informs the base station about this subset. The subset does not have to be a proper subset, meaning that the chosen subset may include all the possible component carriers received from the multi-carrier cell.

[0051] According to an embodiment of the present invention the number of component carriers used may be determined in relation to a combination of different dynamic parameters. The combination may be any combination of the following parameters; the battery level of the mobile terminal, the transmit power of the mobile terminal, the processing load of the mobile terminal, energy of interference signals, or data transfer requirements of application on the mobile terminal. E.g. a mobile terminal functioning accordingly to the present invention may control the number of component carries used in respect to both the battery level is and the transmit power.

[0052] Although various embodiments of the present invention have been described and shown, the invention is not restricted thereto, but may also be embodied in other ways within the scope of the subject-matter defined in the following claims.