Method and apparatus for performing activation/deactivation of serving cell in wireless communication system supporting dual connectivity

1. A mobile device supporting a dual connectivity, the mobile device communicating with a master evolved NodeB (MeNB) and a secondary evolved NodeB (SeNB) for the dual connectivity, the mobile device comprising:

a receiver configured to:

receive, from the MeNB, information including activation/deactivation indicators of secondary serving cells (SCells) in a first SCell group configured for the mobile device; and

receive, from the SeNB, information including activation/deactivation indicators of SCells in a second SCell group configured for the mobile device; and

a processor operationally coupled to the receiver and configured to:

control activation/deactivation states of the SCells in the first SCell group according to the activation/deactivation indicators of the SCells in the first SCell group identified from the information received from the MeNB; and

control activation/deactivation states of the SCells in the second SCell group according to the activation/deactivation indicators of the SCells in the second SCell group identified from the information received from the SeNB,

wherein the mobile device performs communication based on the controlled activation/deactivation states of the SCells in the first SCell group and the controlled activation/deactivation states of the SCells in the second SCell group.

2. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

configure the dual connectivity in which the mobile device has Radio Resource Control (RRC) connections with the MeNB and the SeNB, respectively.

3. The mobile device of claim 1 ,

wherein the receiver is further configured to:

receive, from the MeNB, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal including information of an SCell configuration for the MeNB and information of an SCell configuration for the SeNB, and

wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify the information of the SCell configuration for the MeNB and the information of the SCell configuration for the SeNB.

4. The mobile device of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify whether an SCell is in the first SCell group associated with the MeNB or in the second SCell group associated with the SeNB, by using the RRC signal received from the MeNB.

5. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the receiver is further configured to:

receive, from the MeNB, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal including a deactivation timer value for the MeNB and a deactivation timer value for the SeNB to control activation/deactivation status of an SCell, and

wherein the deactivation timer value for the MeNB and the deactivation timer value for the SeNB have different integer values.

6. The mobile device of claim 1 ,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify that the information received from the MeNB comprises a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) having a fixed size of 8 bits, and the information received from the SeNB comprises a MAC CE having a fixed size of 8 bits, wherein each of the MAC CE received from the MeNB and the MAC CE received from the SeNB has one reserved bit and seven configurable bits, and wherein the seven configurable bits correspond to SCells having SCell indexes 1 to 7, respectively; and

identify that a bit of the MAC CE received from the MeNB having an SCell index i corresponds to an activation/deactivation indicator of an SCell in the MeNB, and that a bit of the MAC CE received from the SeNB having an SCell index j corresponds to an activation/deactivation indicator of an SCell in the SeNB, and

wherein i and j, which are integers among 1 to 7, have different integer values.

7. The mobile device of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify, by a first MAC scheduler, a bit corresponding to an SCell associated with the MeNB from the MAC CE received from the MeNB; and

identify, by a second MAC scheduler, a bit corresponding to an SCell associated with the SeNB from the MAC CE received from the SeNB.

8. A wireless communication system supporting a dual connectivity, the system comprising:

a master evolved NodeB (MeNB) configured to

connect Resource Control (RRC) connection with a User Equipment (UE), and

transmit a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) message including activation/deactivation indicator of serving cell (SCell) associated with the MeNB to the UE,

wherein the MAC CE message from MeNB including an indicator of index of the SCell in the SCell group of the MeNB is set to 1 or 0, wherein if the indicator of index of the SCell is set to 1, the UE activates the SCell in the SCell group of the MeNB, wherein if the indicator of index of the SCell in the SCell group of the MeNB is set to 0, the UE deactivates the SCell in the SCell group of the MeNB, and

a secondary evoled NodeB (SeNB) is configured to

connect Resource Control (RRC) connection with the UE, and

transmit MAC CE message including activation/deactivation indicator of SCell associated with the SeNB to the UE,

wherein the MAC CE message from SeNB including an indicator of index of the SCell in the SCell group of the SeNB is set to 1 or 0, wherein if the indicator of index of the SCell of the SeNB is set to 1, the UE activates the SCell in the SCell group of the SeNB, wherein if the indicator of index of the SCell in the SCell group of the SeNB is set to 0, the UE deactivates the SCell in the SCell group of the SeNB, and

wherein the UE performs communication based on the activated or deactivated SCell in the SCell group of the MeNB and the activated or deactivated SCell in the SCell group of the SeNB.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the MeNB is further configured to

transmit an activation/deactivation MAC CE message to identify indexes of SCells in the SCell group of the MeNB for activation/deactivation of the SCells in the SCell group of the MeNB, and ignoring indexes of the SCells not configured for MeNB.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the SeNB is further configured to

transmit an activation/deactivation MAC CE message to identify indexes of SCells in the SCell group of the SeNB for activation/deactivation of the SCells in the SCell group of the SeNB, and ignoring indexes of the SCells not configured for SeNB.

11. A method for controlling activation of a serving cell by a User Equipment (UE) supporting a dual connectivity, the UE communicating with a master evolved NodeB (MeNB) and a secondary evolved NodeB (SeNB) for the dual connectivity, the method comprising:

receiving, from the MeNB, first information including activation/deactivation indicators of secondary serving cells (SCells) in a first SCell group configured for the UE;

receiving, from the SeNB, second information including activation/deactivation indicators of SCells in a second SCell group configured for the UE;

controlling activation/deactivation states of the SCells in the first SCell group according to the activation/deactivation indicators of the SCells in the first SCell group identified from the first information received from the MeNB; and

controlling activation/deactivation states of the SCells in the second SCell group according to the activation/deactivation indicators of the SCells in the second SCell group identified from the information received from the SeNB,

wherein the UE performs communication based on the controlled activation/deactivation states of the SCells in the first SCell group and the controlled activation/deactivation states of the SCells in the second SCell group.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

configuring the dual connectivity in which the UE has Radio Resource Control (RRC) connections with the MeNB and the SeNB, respectively.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving, from the MeNB, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal including information of an SCell configuration for the MeNB and information of an SCell configuration for the SeNB.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

identifying whether an SCell is in the first SCell group associated with the MeNB or in the second SCell group associated with the SeNB, by using the RRC signal received from the MeNB.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving, from the MeNB, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal including a first deactivation timer value for the MeNB and a second deactivation timer value for the SeNB to control activation/deactivation status of an SCell,

wherein the first deactivation timer value and the second deactivation timer value have different integer values.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first information comprises a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) having a fixed size of 8 bits, and the second information comprises a MAC CE having a fixed size of 8 bits, wherein each of the MAC CE received from the MeNB and the MAC CE received from the SeNB has one reserved bit and seven configurable bits, wherein the seven configurable bits correspond to SCells having SCell indexes 1 to 7, respectively,

wherein a bit of the MAC CE received from the MeNB having an SCell index i corresponds to an activation/deactivation indicator of an SCell in the MeNB, and a bit of the MAC CE received from the SeNB having an SCell index j corresponds to an activation/deactivation indicator of an SCell in the SeNB, and

wherein i and j, which are integers among 1 to 7, have different integer values.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

identifying, by a first Medium Access Control (MAC) scheduler, a bit corresponding to an SCell associated with the MeNB from the MAC CE received from the MeNB; and

identifying, by a second Medium Access Control (MAC) scheduler, a bit corresponding to an SCell associated with the SeNB from the MAC CE received from the SeNB.