Methods and apparatus for adjusting a carrier aggregation operation in a wireless communication system

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory storing computer readable instructions;

at least one processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions, which configure the processor to,

receive data/attributes from a radio access network, RAN, related to a carrier aggregation operation performed by the RAN;

receive a policy input through a policy interface of the apparatus, the policy input indicating a policy objective for the carrier aggregation operation;

determine at least one policy adjustment of the policy of the RAN that causes the RAN to adjust the carrier aggregation operation based on the received data/attributes and the policy objective; and

send an indication of the at least one policy adjustment to the RAN, wherein the policy adjustment includes at least one of,

factors related to a likelihood of selection of different cells during the carrier aggregation,

relative priorities of different cells for selection during the carrier aggregation,

weights to apply for different components of load metric calculation,

offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different selection criteria during the carrier aggregation operation, or

offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different criteria used in activating selected cells during the carrier aggregation operation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data/attributes include at least one of (1) at least one metric or parameter used by the RAN in the carrier aggregation operation, or (2) a decision resulting from the carrier aggregation operation.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein

the metric or parameter used by the RAN in the carrier aggregation operation includes at least one of load metric values used to compare different secondary cells, priority or biasing or offset values for each secondary cell or for each frequency layer, radio channel measurements, physical resource block utilization, number of physical resource blocks available for non-guaranteed bit rate/guaranteed bit rate, physical downlink control channel utilization, quality of service weights of different bearers, a sum of weights of individual user equipment's bearers, number of connected user equipments on each cell, or indications about whether maximum limits of capacity-related attributes were reached that prevented a cell from being considered as an secondary cell.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data/attributes include information associate with one or more user equipments, UEs, served by the RAN.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein

the information associated with one or more UEs includes at least one of (1) fraction of UEs getting resources on a cell that is not their primary cell serving the UE's communication needs, (2) a measure of the UE's radio channel conditions, (3) fraction of a UE's throughput that was delivered over a secondary cell serving the UE's communication needs, or (4) buffer levels of UEs.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the factors related to relative priorities of different cells for selection during the carrier aggregation include at least one of priorities within a frequency layer, or priorities across frequency layers;

the offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different selection criteria during the carrier aggregation operation include an offset or biasing factor to be applied to a load metric of a cell; and

the offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different criteria used in activating selected cells during the carrier aggregation operation include an offset or biasing factor to be applied to a buffer level of user equipments or cells, or load level of the selected cells.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the policy adjustment indicates one of a replacement value or a change amount, the change amount being one of an additive change or a multiplicative change.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the carrier aggregation operation includes at least one of (1) addition or deletion of a secondary cell, (2) activation or deactivation of a secondary cell, or (3) allocation of resources to a user equipment in carrier aggregation on a primary cell or secondary cell.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory storing computer readable instructions;

at least one processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions, which configure the processor to,

receive, from a control apparatus, at least one policy adjustment of a policy of a carrier aggregation operation, the policy adjustment being determined by the control apparatus based on a policy objective for the carrier aggregation operation, the policy objective being based on a policy input received through a policy interface of the control apparatus;

update the policy of the apparatus based on the policy adjustment; and

perform the carrier aggregation operation based on the policy and the policy adjustment,

wherein the policy adjustment includes at least one of,

factors related to a likelihood of selection of different cells during the carrier aggregation,

relative priorities of different cells for selection during the carrier aggregation,

weights to apply for different components of load metric calculation,

offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different selection criteria during the carrier aggregation operation, or

offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different criteria used in activating selected cells during the carrier aggregation operation.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 ,

wherein the processor is further configured to send data/attributes related to the carrier aggregation operation to the control apparatus, and

wherein the policy adjustment received from the control apparatus is further based on the data/attributes.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to send the data/attributes based on at least one of an event or periodically.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the data/attributes include at least one of (1) at least one metric or parameter used by the apparatus in the carrier aggregation operation, or (2) a decision resulting from the carrier aggregation operation.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the metric or parameter used by the apparatus in the carrier aggregation operation includes at least one of,

load metric values used to compare different secondary cells,

priority or biasing or offset values for each secondary cell or for each frequency layer,

radio channel measurements,

physical resource block utilization,

number of physical resource blocks available for non-guaranteed bit rate/guaranteed bit rate,

physical downlink control channel utilization,

quality of service weights of different bearers,

a sum of weights of individual user equipment's bearers,

number of connected user equipments on each cell, or

indications about whether maximum limits of capacity-related attributes were reached that prevented a cell from being considered as a secondary cell.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the data/attributes include information associate with one or more user equipments, UEs, served by the apparatus.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the information associated with one or more UEs includes at least one of,

(1) fraction of UEs getting resources on a cell that is not their primary cell serving the UE's communication needs,

(2) a measure of the UE's radio channel conditions,

(3) fraction of a UE's throughput that was delivered over a secondary cell serving the UE's communication needs, or

(4) buffer levels of UEs.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein

the factors related to relative priorities of different cells for selection during the carrier aggregation include at least one of priorities within a frequency layer, or priorities across frequency layers;

the offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different selection criteria during the carrier aggregation operation include an offset or biasing factor to be applied to a load metric of a cell; and

the offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different criteria used in activating selected cells during the carrier aggregation operation include an offset or biasing factor to be applied to a buffer level of user equipments or cells, or load level of the selected cells.

17. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the policy adjustment indicates one of a replacement value or a change amount, the change amount being one of an additive change or a multiplicative change.

18. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the carrier aggregation operation includes at least one of,

(1) addition or deletion of a secondary cell,

(2) activation or deactivation of a secondary cell, or

(3) allocation of resources to a user equipment in carrier aggregation on a primary cell or secondary cell.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving, at an apparatus, data/attributes from a radio access network, RAN, related to a carrier aggregation operation performed by the RAN;

receiving a policy input through a policy interface of the apparatus, the policy input indicating a policy objective for the carrier aggregation operation;

determining at least one policy adjustment of the policy of the RAN that causes the RAN to adjust the carrier aggregation operation based on the received data/attributes and the policy objective; and

sending the at least one policy adjustment to the RAN,

wherein the at least one policy adjustment includes at least one of,

factors related to a likelihood of selection of different cells during the carrier aggregation,

relative priorities of different cells for selection during the carrier aggregation,

weights to apply for different components of load metric calculation,

offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different selection criteria during the carrier aggregation operation, or

offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different criteria used in activating selected cells during the carrier aggregation operation.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a radio access network apparatus and from a control apparatus, at least one policy adjustment of a policy of a carrier aggregation operation, the policy adjustment being determined by the control apparatus based on a policy objective for the carrier aggregation operation, the policy objective being based on a policy input received through a policy interface of the control apparatus;

updating the policy of the radio access network apparatus based on the policy adjustment; and

performing a carrier aggregation operation based on the policy and the policy adjustment,

wherein the policy adjustment includes at least one of,

factors related to a likelihood of selection of different cells during the carrier aggregation,

relative priorities of different cells for selection during the carrier aggregation,

weights to apply for different components of load metric calculation,

offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different selection criteria during the carrier aggregation operation, or

offsets or biasing factors to be applied to different criteria used in activating selected cells during the carrier aggregation operation.