Systems and methods for intelligent frequency selection in carrier aggregation enabled networks

1. A method, comprising:

at a user equipment (“UE”):

scanning a plurality of carrier components for a primary cell;

determining a first bandwidth of the primary cell;

scanning for a secondary cell;

determining a second bandwidth of the secondary cell;

determining a maximum aggregated bandwidth by combining the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth; and

when the maximum aggregated bandwidth exceeds a bandwidth capability of the UE, performing a cell selection procedure to select one of the primary cell or the secondary cell based on a higher of the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the UE is configured to operate in a carrier aggregation mode and wherein, in the carrier aggregation mode the UE receives signals on a first operating band of the primary cell and a second operating band of the secondary cell.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the UE disables the carrier aggregation mode when the maximum aggregated bandwidth exceeds the bandwidth capability of the UE.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the carrier aggregation mode is a Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) carrier aggregation.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a first operating band of the primary cell, wherein the scanning for the secondary cell is performed after the first operating band of the primary cell is identified as one of a plurality of predetermined operating bands.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of predetermined operating bands are operating bands that, when aggregated with further operating bands, have an aggregated bandwidth that potentially exceeds the bandwidth capability of the UE.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining a second operating band of the secondary cell, wherein the determining the maximum aggregated bandwidth is performed after a combination of the first operating band and the second operating band is identified as one of a plurality of predetermined operating band combinations.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of predetermined operating band combinations are operating band combinations that have an aggregated bandwidth that potentially exceeds the bandwidth capability of the UE.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the first bandwidth includes:

decoding a management information block (“MIB”) for the primary cell.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

when the maximum aggregated bandwidth does not exceed the bandwidth capability of the UE, performing a cell selection algorithm, wherein parameters for the cell selection algorithm is different from the cell selection procedure.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining radio conditions of the primary cell and the secondary cell, wherein the performing a cell selection procedure is further based on the radio conditions.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a background scan after the cell selection procedure to identify a further cell having a higher bandwidth than the one of the primary cell or the secondary cell; and

performing a further cell selection procedure to select the further cell.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the secondary cell is one of an overlay cell or an underlay cell.

14. A method, comprising:

at a user equipment (“UE”):

attaching to a primary cell within a network;

sending an advertisement message indicating that the UE does not support operating band combinations of the primary cell;

determining a first bandwidth of the primary cell;

scanning for a secondary cell within the network that meets a predetermined criteria;

when the secondary cell meets the predetermined criteria:

determining a second bandwidth for the secondary cell, and

determining a maximum aggregated bandwidth by combining the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth; and

when the maximum aggregated bandwidth exceeds a bandwidth capability of the UE:

determining one of the primary cell or the secondary cell that has a higher of the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth, and

storing information indicating the one of the primary cell or the secondary cell that has a higher of the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving information from the primary cell, the information comprising neighbor measurements of frequencies of secondary cells.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

performing a cell selection procedure to select the secondary cell when the information indicates the secondary cell has the higher bandwidth.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

when the UE is intended to attach to the primary cell, attaching to the secondary cell when the information indicates the secondary cell has the higher bandwidth.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the network is a Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) network, the UE is a carrier aggregation enabled device and the primary and secondary cells are evolved Node B′s (“ENBs”) of the LTE network.

19. A integrated circuit comprising:

circuitry to scan a plurality of carrier components for a primary cell;

circuitry to determine a first bandwidth of the primary cell;

circuitry to scan for a secondary cell;

circuitry to determine a second bandwidth of the secondary cell;

circuitry to determine a maximum aggregated bandwidth by combining the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth; and

when the maximum aggregated bandwidth exceeds a bandwidth capability of a UE, circuitry to perform a cell selection procedure to select one of the primary cell or the secondary cell based on a higher of the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth.

20. The integrated circuit of claim 19 , wherein the integrated circuit is configured to operate in a carrier aggregation mode and wherein, in the carrier aggregation mode the integrated circuit receives signals on a first operating band of the primary cell and a second operating band of the secondary cell.