Multiple timing advance and carrier aggregation
View Patent ↗At least one of transmissions and receptions over allocated radio resources within a first timing advance group are synchronized using a first timer; and similar for allocated radio resources within a second timing advance group that are synchronized using a second timer. In response to determining that the first timer remains synchronized while the second timer is not synchronized with a radio network which has allocated the respective radio resources, a first procedure is followed for the case in which there is a primary component carrier within the second timing advance group and a different second procedure for the case in which there is no primary component carrier within the second timing advance group. In an exemplary embodiment, a message is sent to the radio network indicating that the second timer has expired. Various distinctions between the two procedures, and how the message is sent, are detailed for different embodiments.
1. A method comprising:
synchronizing at a user equipment at least one of transmissions and receptions over allocated radio resources within a first timing advance group using a first timer;
synchronizing at the user equipment at least one of transmissions and receptions over allocated radio resources within a second timing advance group using a second timer; and
in response to determining that the first timer is not expired while the second timer has expired with a radio network which has allocated the respective radio resources, following by the user equipment a first procedure for a case in which there is a primary component carrier within the second timing advance group and following a different second procedure for a case in which there is no primary component carrier within the second timing advance group, wherein the first procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers and wherein the second procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers for all uplink carriers associated with the expired second timer;
wherein the first timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the first timing advance group and the second timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the second timing advance group.
2. The method according to claim 1 , in which:
the second procedure further comprises:
clearing any uplink grants associated with any uplink carrier in the second timing advance group; and
acting upon all downlink grants associated with any downlink carrier in the second timing advance group.
3. The method according to claim 1 , in which the second procedure does not comprise notifying radio resource control to release a physical uplink control channel and sounding reference signal bits.
4. The method according to claim 1 , in which:
the first procedure further comprises clearing any configured downlink grants and uplink grants.
5. The method according to claim 1 , in which:
the first procedure comprises notifying radio resource control to release a physical uplink control channel and sounding reference signal bits.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
sending a message to the radio network indicating that the second timer has expired.
7. The method according to claim 6 , in which the message indicating that the second timer has expired comprises a measurement report which is triggered to be sent by the expiration of the second timer.
8. The method according to claim 6 , in which the message indicating that the second timer has expired comprises a control element indicating that the second timer has expired.
9. The method according to claim 6 , in which the message indicating that the second timer has expired is sent on a granted uplink radio resource within a carrier of the first timing advance group.
10. A memory storing a program of computer readable instructions that when executed by a processor result in actions comprising:
synchronizing at a user equipment at least one of transmissions and receptions over allocated radio resources within a first timing advance group using a first timer;
synchronizing at the user equipment at least one of transmissions and receptions over allocated radio resources within a second timing advance group using a second timer; and
in response to determining that the first timer is not expired while the second timer has expired with a radio network which has allocated the respective radio resources, following by the user equipment a first procedure for a case in which there is a primary component carrier within the second timing advance group and following a different second procedure for a case in which there is no primary component carrier within the second timing advance group, wherein the first procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers and wherein the second procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers for all uplink carriers associated with the expired second timer;
wherein the first timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the first timing advance group and the second timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the second timing advance group.
11. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one memory including computer program code;
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
synchronize at the user equipment at least one of transmissions and receptions over allocated radio resources within a first timing advance group using a first timer;
synchronize at the user equipment at least one of transmissions and receptions over allocated radio resources within a second timing advance group using a second timer; and
in response to determining that the first timer is not expired while the second timer has expired with a radio network which has allocated the respective radio resources, follow by the user equipment a first procedure for a case in which there is a primary component carrier within the second timing advance group and follow a different second procedure for a case in which there is no primary component carrier within the second timing advance group, wherein the first procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers and wherein the second procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers for all uplink carriers associated with the expired second timer;
wherein the first timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the first timing advance group and the second timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the second timing advance group.
12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , in which:
the second procedure further comprises:
clearing any uplink grants associated with any uplink carrier in the second timing advance group; and
acting upon all downlink grants associated with any downlink carrier in the second timing advance group.
13. The apparatus according to claim 11 , in which the second procedure does not comprise notifying radio resource control to release a physical uplink control channel and sounding reference signal bits.
14. The apparatus according to claim 11 , in which:
the first procedure further comprises clearing any configured downlink grants and uplink grants.
15. The apparatus according to claim 11 , in which:
the first procedure comprises notifying radio resource control to release a physical uplink control channel and sounding reference signal bits.
16. The apparatus according to claim 11 , in which the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured with the at least one processor to further cause the-apparatus, in response to the determining, to send a message to the radio network indicating that the second timer has expired.
17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , in which the message indicating that the second timer has expired comprises a measurement report which is triggered to be sent by the expiration of the second timer.
18. The apparatus according to claim 16 , in which the message indicating that the second timer has expired comprises a control element indicating that the second timer has expired.
19. The apparatus according to claim 16 , in which the message indicating that the second timer has expired is sent on a granted uplink radio resource within a carrier of the first timing advance group.
20. The apparatus according to claim 19 , in which the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured with the at least one processor to further cause the-apparatus to re-synchronize the second timer after the second timer expires using a timing correction obtained on a carrier of the first timing advance group.
21. The apparatus according to claim 16 , in which the message indicating that the second timer has expired is sent on an uplink radio resource that is granted in response to sending a request for the uplink radio resource using a configured scheduling request,
for the case which, at the time the second timer expires, there is no granted uplink radio resource within a carrier of the first timing advance group but there is a scheduling request configured.
22. The apparatus according to claim 16 , in which the message indicating that the second timer has expired is sent on an uplink radio resource that is granted in response to sending a random access request,
for the case in which, at the time the second timer expires, there is no granted uplink radio resource within a carrier of the first timing advance group and there is no scheduling request configured.
23. A method comprising:
allocating at a base station one or more radio resources within a first timing advance group using a first timer and allocating one or more radio resource within a second timing advance group using a second timer; and
receiving at the base station a random access transmission on a random access channel in response to determining by the user equipment that (a) the second timer has expired and (b) a primary component carrier exists within the second timing advance group;
wherein the first timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the first timing advance group and the second timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the second timing advance group, and a first procedure for a case in which the primary component carrier exists within the second timing advance group and a different second procedure for a case in which there is no primary component carrier within the second timing advance group are followed by the user equipment in response to determining that the first timer is not expired while the second timer has expired with a radio network which has allocated the respective radio resource, wherein the first procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers and wherein the second procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers for all uplink carriers associated with the expired second timer.
24. The method of claim 23 wherein the random access transmission is received on another random access channel from a timing advance group different from a timing advance group for which the second timer has expired.
25. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one memory including computer program code;
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
allocate at the base station one or more radio resources within a first timing advance group using a first timer and allocating one or more radio resource within a second timing advance group using a second timer; and
receive at the base station a random access transmission on a random access channel in response to determining by the user equipment that (a) the second timer has expired and (b) a primary component carrier exists within the second timing advance group;
wherein the first timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the first timing advance group and the second timer is a timing alignment timer associated with the second timing advance group, and a first procedure for a case in which the primary component carrier exists within the second timing advance group and a different second procedure for a case in which there is no primary component carrier within the second timing advance group are followed by the user equipment in response to determining that the first timer is not expired while the second timer has expired with a radio network which has allocated the respective radio resource, wherein the first procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers and wherein the second procedure comprises flushing all hybrid automatic repeat request buffers for all uplink carriers associated with the expired second timer.
26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the random access transmission is received on another random access channel from a timing advance group different from a timing advance group for which the second timer has expired.