System and method for throttling carrier aggregation activation

1. A method, comprising:

at a user equipment (UE) configured with a carrier aggregation functionality:

determining that the carrier aggregation functionality of the UE is enabled by an evolved NodeB (eNB) of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to which the UE has an LTE connection;

determining whether the UE has established a simultaneous connection to a second network separate from the LTE network;

when the UE has established the simultaneous connection, determining whether the second network is being used for at least a predetermined amount of data exchanges;

when the second network is being used for at least the predetermined amount of data exchanges, generating a throttling indication to indicate to the eNB that a secondary serving cell (SCell) providing a secondary component carrier (SCC) in the carrier aggregation functionality is to be disabled;

transmitting the throttling indication to the eNB;

receiving, via the LTE connection with the eNB, an indication that the carrier aggregation functionality has been disabled; and

terminating monitoring the SCC based on the indication that the carrier aggregation functionality has been disabled, wherein the simultaneous connection is maintained.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, prior to the generating of the throttling indication, whether there is a pending data transmission to be transmitted by the UE via the LTE network; and

transmitting, prior to the generating of the throttling indication, the pending data transmission via the LTE network using the carrier aggregation functionality.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second network is one of a WiFi network and a wireless local area network (WLAN).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the throttling indication is a channel state indication.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection to the LTE network is based on a radio resource control (RRC) connection between the UE and the eNB.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the eNB is a primary cell (PCell) providing a primary component carrier (PCC).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SCC is one of a plurality of SCCs being monitored by the UE.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting, after terminating the monitoring of the SCC, a pathloss compensated estimate corresponding to the eNB.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the UE determines that the carrier aggregation functionality of the UE is enabled, the UE is in an idle state.

10. A user equipment (UE) device configured with a carrier aggregation functionality, comprising:

a memory storing a set of instructions;

a processor configured to execute the instructions, wherein the executing of the instructions causes the processor to:

determine whether the carrier aggregation functionality of the UE device is enabled;

when the carrier aggregation functionality is enabled, determine whether the UE device has established a first connection to a first network providing the carrier aggregation functionality and a simultaneous second connection to a second, separate network;

when the UE device has established the simultaneous second connection, determine whether the second network is being used for at least a predetermined amount of data exchanges;

when the second network is being used for at least the predetermined amount of data exchanges, determine that the carrier aggregation functionality of the UE device should be disabled; and

generate a throttling indication to indicate to a network component that the carrier aggregation functionality of the UE device should be disabled;

receive an indication from the first network that the carrier aggregation functionality has been disabled;

terminating monitoring a secondary component carrier (SCC) based on the indication from the first network that carrier aggregation has been disabled, wherein the simultaneous connection is maintained;

a transceiver configured to transmit the throttling indication to the network component; and

receive the indication from the first network that the carrier aggregation functionality has been disabled.

11. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the executing of the instructions further causes the processor to:

determine, prior to the generating of the throttling indication, whether there is a pending data transmission to be transmitted by the UE via the first network, wherein the first network is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network; and

transmit, prior to the generating of the throttling indication, the pending data transmission via the LIE network using the carrier aggregation functionality.

12. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the second network is one of a WiFi network and a wireless local area network (WLAN).

13. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the throttling indication is a channel state indication.

14. The UE of claim 10 , wherein, when the UE determines that the carrier aggregation functionality of the UE is enabled, the UE is in an idle state.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including a set of instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause a processor to:

determine that a carrier aggregation functionality of a user equipment (UE) device is enabled by an evolved NodeB (eNB) of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to which the UE has an LTE connection;

determine whether the UE device has established a simultaneous connection to a second network separate from the LTE network;

when the UE device has established the simultaneous connection, determine whether the second network is being used for at least a predetermined amount of data exchanges;

when the second network is being used for at least the predetermined amount of data exchanges, generate a throttling indication to indicate to the eNB that a secondary serving cell (SCell) providing a secondary component carrier (SCC) to the UE is to be disabled;

receive, via the LTE connection with the eNB, an indication that carrier aggregation functionality has been disabled; and

terminating monitoring of the SCC based on the indication that the carrier aggregation functionality has been disabled, wherein the simultaneous connection is maintained.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the executing of the instructions further causes the processor to:

determine, prior to the generating of the throttling indication, whether there is a pending data transmission to be transmitted by the UE via the LTE network; and

transmit, prior to the generating of the throttling indication, the pending data transmission via the LTE network using the carrier aggregation functionality.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the second network is one of a WiFi network and a wireless local area network (WLAN).

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the SCC is one of a plurality of SCCs being monitored by the UE.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the executing of the instructions further causes the processor to:

transmit, after terminating the monitoring of the SCC, a pathloss compensated estimate corresponding to the eNB.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the throttling indication is a channel state indication.