Communication between network nodes via multiple cells
A base station transmits, the a secondary cell (SCell), a control indicator indicating resources for communicating an information unit between the UE and the base station. The base station then communicates the first information unit according to the first control indicator in a primary cell (PCell).
1 . A method in a base station for communicating with a user equipment (UE) via a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell), the method comprising:
transmitting, by the base station to the UE and in the SCell, a control indicator indicating resources for communicating a protocol data unit (PDU) from the UE and to the base station on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) in the PCell; and
receiving by the base station and in the PCell, the PDU according to the control indicator.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting
includes using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the SCell.
3 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
determining, by the base station, that the communicating of the PDU failed; and
in response to the determining, transmitting, to the UE in the PCell, a new control indicator for communicating the PDU again in the PCell.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the communicating of the PDU conforms to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating, by the base station and in the SCell, a second PDU, according to the control indicator.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting to the UE, prior to transmitting the control indicator, cross-carrier scheduling configuration and/or multi-cell configuration, in the PCell.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the base station operates as a secondary node (SN) to support dual connectivity at the UE;
the method further comprising:
transmitting to the UE, prior to transmitting the control indicator, cross-carrier scheduling configuration and/or multi-cell configuration, directly via a radio interface or via a master node (MN).
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the control indicator and the PDU should be transmitted in different cells based in response to determining that the PDU includes data.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control indicator indicates that the UE is to switch from a first bandwidth part (BWP) to a second BWP of the PCell for communicating the PDU.
10 . A method in a user equipment (UE) for communicating with a base station via a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell), the method comprising:
receiving, by the UE from the base station in the SCell, a control indicator indicating resources for transmitting a protocol data unit (PDU) from the UE and to the base station on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) in the PCell;
communicating, by the UE and in the PCell, the PDU according to the control indicator.
11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving, by the UE and in the PCell, a new control indicator indicating resources for communicating the PDU; and
in response to determining, by the UE, that the communicating of the PDU according to the control indicator failed, communicating the PDU again in the PCell according to the new control indicator.
12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
communicating, by the UE and in the SCell, a second PDU, according to the control indicator.
13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving from the base station, prior to receiving the control indicator, cross-carrier scheduling configuration and/or multi-cell configuration, in the PCell.
14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the control indicator indicates that the UE is to switch from a first bandwidth part (BWP) to a second BWP of the PCell for communicating the PDU.
15 . A base station comprising:
a first component configured to support a radio interface for communicating with a user equipment (UE) via a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); and
a second component configured to:
transmit to the UE and in the SCell, a control indicator indicating resources for communicating a protocol data unit (PDU) between the UE and the base station on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel in the PCell (PUSCH); and
receive, in the PCell, the PDU according to the control indicator.
16 . The base station of claim 15 , further configured to:
schedule, on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the SCell, the communicating of the PDU on the PUSCH.
17 . The base station of claim 15 , further configured to:
determine that the communicating of the PDU failed; and
in response to the determining, transmit, to the UE in the PCell, a new control indicator for communicating the PDU again in the PCell.
18 . The base station of claim 15 , wherein the communicating of the PDU conforms to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol.
19 . The base station of claim 15 , further configured to:
communicate, in the SCell, a second PDU, according to the control indicator.
20 . The base station of claim 15 , further configured to:
transmit to the UE, prior to transmitting the control indicator, cross-carrier scheduling configuration and/or multi-cell configuration, in the PCell.