Rate Capping with Multiple Carrier Aggregation Schedulers
Requests for carrier aggregation scheduling for a user equipment are received from a first cell used for carrier aggregation and n second cells. The requests include a first scheduling decision of the first cell and n second scheduling decisions of the n second cells. It is checked whether or not the requests exceed limits of the user equipment, and the n second scheduling decisions are modified according to predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits. Limits of the user equipment are increased by a margin, the increased limits are split onto active cells of the first and n second cells according to a predefined rule, and the margin is controlled dependent on whether the increased and split limits are exceeded or not by the requests. If they are exceeded, the n second scheduling decisions may be modified.
1 . A method comprising:
receiving requests for carrier aggregation scheduling for a user equipment from a first cell used for carrier aggregation for the user equipment in a cellular communications network and n second cells of the cellular communications network, used for the carrier aggregation, n being an integer equal to or greater than one, the requests including a first scheduling decision of the first cell and n second scheduling decisions of the n second cells;
checking whether or not the requests exceed limits of the user equipment; and
modifying the n second scheduling decisions according to predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits of the user equipment.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein
the first and n second cells are determined based on a cell index, and/or the first and n second cells are determined based on allocation decisions, wherein the modifying comprises:
processing an n-th second scheduling decision if an (n-I)-th second scheduling decision has been processed, according to the predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits of the user equipment.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is implemented in an entity of a base station, which performs uplink/downlink processing for the user equipment, and in an entity of the base station which constructs a physical downlink control channel for the user equipment.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is implemented in a first entity of a base station, which performs uplink/downlink processing for the user equipment, or in a second entity of the base station which constructs a physical downlink control channel for the user equipment, wherein when the method is implemented in the first/second entity, the first/second entity informs the second/first entity about the modified n second scheduling decisions.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the limits are represented by an amount of data which can be transmitted/received by the user equipment, the modifying comprising:
reducing a modulation and coding scheme set in the n second scheduling decisions until the amount of transmitted/received data is below the limits.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the modifying further comprises:
reducing a number of allocated physical resource blocks in the n second scheduling decisions, until the amount of transmitted/received data is below the limits.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is implemented for each user equipment.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and n second scheduling decisions include time and frequency domain scheduling.
9 . A method comprising:
increasing limits of a user equipment by a margin;
splitting the increased limits onto active cells of a first and n second cells used for carrier aggregation for the user equipment in a cellular communications network according to a predefined rule, n being an integer equal to or greater than one; and
controlling the margin dependent on whether the increased and split limits are exceeded or not by requests for scheduling for the user equipment from the first cell and n second cells.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
checking whether the limits are exceeded by the requests; and
if they are exceeded,
modifying the n second scheduling decisions according to predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits of the user equipment according to the following:
receiving requests for carrier aggregation scheduling for a user equipment from a first cell used for carrier aggregation for the user equipment in a cellular communications network and n second cells of the cellular communications network, used for the carrier aggregation, n being an integer equal to or greater than one, the requests including a first scheduling decision of the first cell and n second scheduling decisions of the n second cells;
checking whether or not the requests exceed limits of the user equipment; and
modifying the n second scheduling decisions according to predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits of the user equipment.
11 . The method of claim 9 , comprising:
monitoring and controlling the margin such that a certain probability of limit excess is obtained.
12 . A computer program product including a program for a processing device, comprising software code portions for performing the steps of claim 1 when the program is run on the processing device.
13 . The computer program product according to claim 12 , wherein the computer program product comprises a computer-readable medium on which the software code portions are stored.
14 . The computer program product according to claim 12 , wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the processing device.
15 . An apparatus configured to:
receive requests for carrier aggregation scheduling for a user equipment from a first cell used for carrier aggregation for the user equipment in a cellular communications network and n second cells of the cellular communications network, used for the carrier aggregation, n being an integer equal to or greater than one, the requests including a first scheduling decision of the first cell and n second scheduling decisions of the n second cells;
check whether or not the requests exceed limits of the user equipment; and
modify the n second scheduling decisions according to predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits of the user equipment.
16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , configured to:
determine the first and n second cells based on a cell index, and/or
determine the first and n second cells based on allocation decisions,
wherein, for the modification of the n second scheduling decisions, the apparatus is configured to:
process an n-th second scheduling decision if an (n-I)-th second scheduling decision has been processed, according to the predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits of the user equipment.
17 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the apparatus comprises at least one of an entity of a base station, which performs uplink/downlink processing for the user equipment, and an entity of the base station which constructs a physical downlink control channel for the user equipment.
18 . The apparatus of claim 15 , configured to:
send the modified n second scheduling decisions to a first entity of a base station, which performs uplink/downlink processing for the user equipment, or a second entity of the base station which constructs a physical downlink control channel for the user equipment, or
receive the modified n second scheduling decisions from the first/second entity.
19 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the limits are represented by an amount of data which can be transmitted/received by the user equipment, wherein, for the modification of the n second scheduling decisions, the apparatus is configured to:
reduce a modulation and coding scheme set in the n second scheduling decisions until the amount of transmitted/received data is below the limits.
20 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein, for the modification of the n second scheduling decisions, the apparatus is further configured to:
reduce a number of allocated physical resource blocks in the n second scheduling decisions, until the amount of transmitted/received data is below the limits.
21 . An apparatus configured to:
increase limits of a user equipment by a margin;
split the increased limits onto active cells of a first and n second cells used for carrier aggregation for the user equipment in a cellular communications network according to a predefined rule, n being an integer equal to or greater than one; and
control the margin dependent on whether the increased and split limits are exceeded or not by requests for scheduling for the user equipment from the first cell and n second cells.
22 . The apparatus of claim 21 , configured to:
check whether the limits are exceeded by the requests; and
if they are exceeded,
modify the n second scheduling decisions according to predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits of the user equipment according to the operations of the apparatus further configured to:
receive requests for carrier aggregation scheduling for a user equipment from a first cell used for carrier aggregation for the user equipment in a cellular communications network and n second cells of the cellular communications network, used for the carrier aggregation, n being an integer equal to or greater than one, the requests including a first scheduling decision of the first cell and n second scheduling decisions of the n second cells;
check whether or not the requests exceed limits of the user equipment; and
modify the n second scheduling decisions according to predefined rules such that the requests do not exceed the limits of the user equipment.
23 . The apparatus of claim 21 , configured to:
monitor and control the margin such that a certain probability of limit excess is obtained.