WO2021196149A1

WO2021196149A1 - Handling mac-ce update for non-activated cells

Info

Publication number: WO2021196149A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/083117
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fang Yuan; Yan Zhou; Ruiming Zheng; Linhai He; Tao Luo
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2020-04-03
Filing date: 2020-04-03
Publication date: 2021-10-07

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) may handle an update to a list of serving cells when one or more of the serving cells is not activated. The UE may receive a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) indicating first updated information for a first serving cell associated with a configured list of serving cells. The UE may determine whether each serving cell of the configured list of serving cells is activated. The UE may skip an update of at least one inactive serving cell in the configured list of serving cells in response to determining that the at least one inactive serving cell is not activated. The at least one inactive serving cell is different than the first serving cell.

Description

HANDLING MAC-CE UPDATE FOR NON-ACTIVATED CELLS

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to apparatus and methods of handling media access control (MAC) control element (CE) updates associated with non-activated cells.

Introduction

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR) . 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with Internet of Things (IoT) ) , and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , massive machine type communications (mMTC) , and ultra reliable low latency communications (URLLC) . Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. Further improvements in 5G NR technology, for example to reduce latency, remain useful. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable medium for determining whether to receive a scheduled reception after a cancellation indicator. The method may include receiving, at a user equipment (UE) , a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) indicating first updated information for a first serving cell associated with a configured list of serving cells. The method may include determining whether each serving cell of the configured list of serving cells is activated. The method may include skipping an update of at least one inactive serving cell in the configured list of serving cells in response to determining that the at least one inactive serving cell is not activated, wherein the at least one inactive serving cell is different than the first serving cell.

The present disclosure also provides an apparatus (e.g., a UE) including a memory storing computer-executable instructions and at least one processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to perform the above method, an apparatus including means for performing the above method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing the above method.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first 5G/NR frame.

FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G/NR subframe.

FIG. 2C is a diagram illustrating an example of a second 5G/NR frame.

FIG. 2D is a diagram illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G/NR subframe. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and user equipment (UE) in an access network.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating example communications and components a base station and a UE.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating an example data flow between different means/components in an example UE including a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) update component.

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating example updates according to a first rule.

FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating example updates according to a second rule.

FIG. 6C is a diagram illustrating example updates according to a third rule.

FIG. 6D is a diagram illustrating example updates according to a fourth rule.

FIG. 6E is a diagram illustrating example updates according to a fifth rule.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example method of updating serving cells based on a MAC-CE.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

A wireless network may configure multiple serving cells for communications between a user equipment (UE) and one or more base stations using carrier aggregation. Each serving cell may be associated with a component carrier (CC) . The frequency domain bandwidth of a serving cell or CC may be referred to as a bandwidth part (BWP) , and each serving cell or CC may have one or more BWPs. Various properties for serving cells may change over time and may be updated by the network.

A media access control (MAC) control element (CE) may provide an efficient mechanism for updating the properties of one or more serving cells. A MAC-CE may be appended to another transmission at the MAC layer and may not be separately scheduled. The MAC-CE may be processed at the MAC layer. Accordingly, an update via a MAC-CE may be faster than higher layer signaling such as a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message. A MAC-CE, however, may have a limited size compared to higher layer signaling. In a carrier aggregation scenario, one approach to improve efficiency of a MAC-CE is for a MAC-CE to update parameters for multiple serving cells. For example, a CC list or a list of serving cells may be configured by higher layers (e.g., RRC) . If a CC indicated in the MAC-CE is configured as part of a CC list, the MAC-CE may be applied to all of the CCs in the CC-list.

For example, a MAC-CE may indicate activation of a spatial relation info for a semi-persistent or aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) resource for a set of CCs at least for a same band. The applicable list of CCs may be configured by RRC signaling. The spatial relation info may be applied for the semi-persistent or aperiodic SRS resources with the same SRS resource ID or resource set ID for all of the bandwidth parts in the indicated CCs. In some aspects, the MAC-CE may also indicate the deactivation of a semi-persistent or aperiodic SRS resource or resource set for a set of CCs or BWPs.

As another example, when a set of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state IDs for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) are activated by a MAC-CE for a set of CCs or BWPs at least for the same band, the same set of TCI-state IDs may be applied for all BWPs in the indicated CCs. In some aspects, the MAC-CE may also indicate the deactivation of a set of TCI state IDs for a PDSCH for a set of CCs or BWPs.

As another example, when a TCI-state ID is activated for a control resource set (CORESET) by a MAC-CE for a set of CCs or BWPs at least for the same band, the TCI-state ID may be applied for the CORESET (s) with the same CORESET ID for all of the BWPs in the indicated CCs. In some aspects, the MAC-CE may also indicate the deactivation of a TCI-state ID for a CORESET by a MAC-CE for a set of CCs or BWPs.

One issue with applying a MAC-CE to multiple serving cells, CCs, or BWPs is that a serving cell may be configured for a UE, but may not be activated (or has been deactivated) . When a MAC-CE is received that indicates an update for serving cell that is associated with a list of serving cells, there may be ambiguity as to whether and how the MAC-CE is to be applied to serving cells that are not activated.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides update rules to be applied when a MAC-CE is received and indicates a serving cell that is associated with a configured list of serving cells. In particular, the UE may determine an activation status of each serving cell on the configured list of serving cells. The UE may skip an update for one or more inactive serving cells in response to determining that the one or more inactive serving cells are not activated. The UE may follow an update rule for determining whether to update cells on the configured list of serving cells. For example, according to a first rule, the UE may skip the MAC-CE update for non-activated serving cells on the list and apply the MAC-CE update only for activated serving cells on the list. According to a second rule, the UE may apply the MAC-CE update for activated serving cells on the list and suspend the application of the MAC-CE for a non-activated serving cell on the list until the serving cell is activated. According to a third rule, the UE may skip the MAC-CE update for all of the serving cells on the list when any of the serving cells are not activated. According to a fourth rule, the UE may expect to receive a MAC-CE update only when all serving cells on the list are activated. According to a fifth rule, the UE may expect to receive a MAC-CE update after a serving cell is activated.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements” ) . These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs) , central processing units (CPUs) , application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs) , reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on a chip (SoC) , baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise a random-access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the aforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network 100. The wireless communications system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN) ) includes base stations 102, UEs 104, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G Core (5GC) ) . The base stations 102 may include macrocells (high power cellular base station) and/or small cells (low power cellular base station) . The macrocells include base stations. The small cells include femtocells, picocells, and microcells.

In an aspect, one or more of the UEs 104 may include a MAC-CE update component 140 for determining whether to apply an update received in a MAC-CE to one or more serving cells on a configured list of serving cells. The MAC-CE update component 140 may optionally include a configuration component 142 that receives a configuration of a configured list of serving cells. The MAC-CE update component 140 may include a MAC receiver 144 that receives a MAC-CE indicating first updated information for a first serving cell that is associated with the configured list of serving cells. The MAC-CE update component 140 may include a cell status component 146 that determines whether each serving cell of the configured list of serving cells is activated. The MAC-CE update component 140 may include a cell update component 148 that skips an update of at least one inactive serving cell in the configured list of serving cells in response to determining that the at least one active serving cell is not activated. The cell update component 148 may also update one or more active serving cells in the configured list of serving cells based on the first updated information responsive to determining that the one or more active serving cells are activated.

In an aspect, one or more of the base stations 102 may include a carrier aggregation component 198 that configures a list of multiple serving cells and sends a MAC-CE including updated information for the multiple serving cells. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the carrier aggregation component 198 may include a RRC component 442 that transmits a configuration of the list of multiple serving cells, an activation component 444 that transmits an activation of one or more serving cells, and an update component 446 that transmits the MAC-CE indicating updated information for one of the serving cells associated with the list of serving cells.

The base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) ) may interface with the EPC 160 through first backhaul links 132 (e.g., S1 interface) , which may be wired or wireless. The base stations 102 configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) ) may interface with core network 190 through second backhaul links 184, which may be wired or wireless. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity) , inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) , subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM) , paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or core network 190) with each other over third backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2 interface) . The third backhaul links 134 may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, the small cell 102'may have a coverage area 110'that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs) , which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG) . The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base stations 102 /UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL) . The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell) .

Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) , a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) , a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) . D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communications systems, such as for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE 802.11) standard, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STAs 152 /AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell 102'may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell 102'may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102', employing NR in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/or increase capacity of the access network.

A base station 102, whether a small cell 102'or a large cell (e.g., macro base station) , may include and/or be referred to as an eNB, gNodeB (gNB) , or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as gNB 180 may operate in a traditional sub 6 GHz spectrum, in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, and/or near mmW frequencies in communication with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in mmW or near mmW frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as an mmW base station. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in the band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW /near mmW radio frequency band (e.g., 3 GHz –300 GHz) has extremely high path loss and a short range. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. The base station 180 and the UE 104 may each include a plurality of antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and/or antenna arrays to facilitate the beamforming.

The base station 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182'. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 180 in one or more receive directions 182” . The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the base station 180 in one or more transmit directions. The base station 180 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions. The base station 180 /UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the base station 180 /UE 104. The transmit and receive directions for the base station 180 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receive directions for the UE 104 may or may not be the same.

The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to the IP Services 176. The IP Services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a packet switched (PS) Streaming Service, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN) , and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the base stations 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

The core network 190 may include a Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may be in communication with a Unified Data Management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the core network 190. Generally, the AMF 192 provides QoS flow and session management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to the IP Services 197. The IP Services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a packet switched (PS) Streaming Service, and/or other IP services.

The base station may include and/or be referred to as a gNB, Node B, eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS) , an extended service set (ESS) , a transmit reception point (TRP) , or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an access point to the EPC 160 or core network 190 for a UE 104. Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player) , a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meter, gas pump, toaster, vehicles, heart monitor, etc. ) . The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

Although the following description may be focused on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, GSM, and other wireless technologies.

FIG. 2A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G/NR frame structure. FIG. 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G/NR subframe. FIG. 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G/NR frame structure. FIG. 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G/NR subframe. The 5G/NR frame structure may be frequency domain duplexed (FDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth) , subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL, or may be time domain duplexed (TDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth) , subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for both DL and UL. In the examples provided by FIGs. 2A, 2C, the 5G/NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 being configured with slot format 28 (with mostly DL) , where D is DL, U is UL, and X is flexible for use between DL/UL, and subframe 3 being configured with slot format 34 (with mostly UL) . While

subframes

3, 4 are shown with slot formats 34, 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0, 1 are all DL, UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. UEs are configured with the slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI) , or semi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI) . Note that the description infra applies also to a 5G/NR frame structure that is TDD.

Other wireless communication technologies may have a different frame structure and/or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms) . Each subframe may include one or more time slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot configuration. For slot configuration 0, each slot may include 14 symbols, and for slot configuration 1, each slot may include 7 symbols. The symbols on DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also referred to as single carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power limited scenarios; limited to a single stream transmission) . The number of slots within a subframe is based on the slot configuration and the numerology. For slot configuration 0, different numerologies μ 0 to 5 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots, respectively, per subframe. For slot configuration 1, different numerologies 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 slots, respectively, per subframe. Accordingly, for slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols/slot and 2 ^μ slots/subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2 ^μ*15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 5. As such, the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerology μ=5 has a subcarrier spacing of 480 kHz. The symbol length/duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGs. 2A-2D provide an example of slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs.

A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs) ) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) . The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as R _x for one particular configuration, where 100x is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS) , beam refinement RS (BRRS) , and phase tracking RS (PT-RS) .

FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) , each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs) , each REG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) . Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , which carries a master information block (MIB) , may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) /PBCH block. The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN) . The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs) , and paging messages.

As illustrated in FIG. 2C, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RS for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . The PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. The UE may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS) . The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) , such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI) , a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , a rank indicator (RI) , and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR) , a power headroom report (PHR) , and/or UCI.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 may be provided to a controller/processor 375. The controller/processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller/processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) , RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release) , inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression /decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) , and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs) , error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs) , re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs) , demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) , quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) , M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK) , M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) ) . The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) . The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the controller/processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

The controller/processor 359 can be associated with, and coupled to, a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code when executed by a processor (e.g., controller/processor 359, RX processor 356, TX processor 368, and/or the like) instruct the processor to perform aspects described with reference to method 700 of FIG. 7. In the UL, the controller/processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an acknowledge (ACK) and/or negative acknowledge (NACK) protocol to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission by the base station 310, the controller/processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression /decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) ; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used by the TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna 352 via separate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

The controller/processor 375 can be associated with, and coupled to, a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. IP packets from the controller/processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. The controller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the MAC-CE update component 140 of FIG. 1.

At least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the carrier aggregation component 198 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram 500 illustrating example communications and components of a base station 102 and a UE 104. The base station 102 includes the carrier aggregation component 198 and the UE 104 includes the MAC-CE update component 140.

The base station 102 and/or the carrier aggregation component 198 may include a receiver component 410, which may include, for example, a radio frequency (RF) receiver for receiving the signals described herein. The base station 102 and/or the carrier aggregation component 198 may include a transmitter component 412, which may include, for example, an RF transmitter for transmitting the signals described herein. In an aspect, the receiver component 410 and the transmitter component 412 may co-located in a transceiver.

As discussed briefly above with respect to FIG. 1, the carrier aggregation component 198 may include the RRC component 442, the activation component 444, and the update component 446.

The RRC component 442 may transmit a configuration 430 defining a list 420 of serving cells 422. For example, the configuration 430 may be an RRC configuration message including an information element for the list 420. The information element may be a structure defined according to an RRC protocol for a serving cell list, a CC list, or a BWP list. Each of the serving cells 422 may be identified by a cell ID. In an aspect, the serving cells 422 on the list 420 may have a common characteristic. For example, the serving cells 422 on the list 420 may be provided by the same base station. Accordingly, similar transmission properties (e.g., spatial relation info or TCI state) may be applicable to all of the serving cells 422 on the list 420.

The activation component 444 may transmit an activation 434. For example, the activation 434 may be a MAC-CE that activates or deactivates a serving cell. The activation 434 may include a cell ID of a serving cell 422.

The update component 446 may transmit a MAC-CE update 432 that indicates updated information for one or more properties of a serving cell or a component carrier or BWP associated with the serving cell. The MAC-CE update 432 may indicate updated information for a serving cell 422 that is associated with the list 420. The MAC-CE update 432 may include a cell ID of the serving cell 422. The MAC-CE update 432 may not explicitly distinguish an update to be applied to a list 420 of serving cells 422 from a MAC-CE update 432 that is to be applied to a single serving cell 422. Instead, the UE 104 including the MAC-CE update component 140 may determine whether to apply the MAC-CE update 432 to each of the serving cells 422 on the list 420 when the MAC-CE update 432 indicates a cell ID of one of the serving cells 422 on the list 420. In some scenarios, the update component 446 may transmit a second MAC-CE update 436, for example, in response to activating a serving cell 422.

As discussed above, the UE 104 or the MAC-CE update component 140 may include the configuration component 142, the MAC receiver 144, the cell status component 146, and the cell update component 148. The UE 104 or the MAC-CE update component 140 may include a receiver component 450, which may include, for example, a RF receiver for receiving the signals described herein. The UE 104 or the MAC-CE update component 140 may include a transmitter component 452, which may include, for example, an RF transmitter for transmitting the signals described herein. In an aspect, the receiver component 450 and the transmitter component 452 may co-located in a transceiver.

The configuration component 142 may receive the configuration 430. The configuration component 142 may extract an information element defining the list 420.

The MAC receiver 144 may receive the MAC-CE update 432. The MAC receiver 144 may operate at the MAC layer. For example, the MAC receiver 144 may implement a MAC entity. The MAC receiver 144 may extract updated information 460 from the MAC-CE update 432. The updated information 460 may include, for example, a spatial relation info, a set of TCI state IDs, a TCI state ID for a CORESET, or another parameter for a serving cell, component carrier, or BWP. The MAC receiver 144 may extract a cell ID 462 from the MAC-CE update. The cell ID 462 may indicate a single serving cell 422. The cell ID 462 may indicate another serving cell different from the single serving cell 422 on which the MAC-CE is received. In an aspect, the MAC receiver 144 may receive the activation 434 and extract a cell ID of a serving cell to be activated or deactivated.

The cell status component 146 may determine a cell status 464 for each serving cell 422 on the list 420 in response to the MAC receiver 144 receiving the MAC-CE update 432 identifying one serving cell 422 on the list 420. The cell status 464 may be either active or inactive. An active status may indicate that the serving cell 422 (e.g., active serving cell 470) is currently activated for the UE 104. An inactive status may indicate that the serving cell 422 (e.g., inactive serving cell 472) is currently not activated for the UE 104. The cell status component 146 may track the cell status for each configured serving cell. In an aspect, the cell status component 146 may process the activation 434 to update the cell status 464 of an identified serving cell.

The cell update component 148 may determine whether to update the serving cells 422 on the list 420 based on the cell status 464 of one or more of the serving cells according to update rules 466. In particular, in response to determining that the cell status 464 for at least one serving cell 422 is inactive, the cell update component 148 may determine to skip an update to one or more of the serving cells 422. Detailed examples of application of update rules 466 are provided in FIGs. 6A-6E.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual data flow diagram 500 illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example UE 502, which may be an example of the UE 104 including the MAC-CE update component 140.

The receiver component 450 may receive various signals including the configuration 430, the MAC-CE update 432, the activation 434, and the second MAC-CE update 436. The receiver component 450 may provide the configuration 430 to the configuration component 142. The receiver component 450 may provide the MAC-CE update 432, the activation 434, and/or the second MAC-CE update 436 to the MAC receiver 144.

The configuration component 142 may receive the configuration 430 from the receiver component 450. The configuration component 142 may decode the configuration 430 and extract information elements from the configuration 430. One or more of the information elements may define the list 420 including serving cells 422. For example, the list 420 may include a set of serving cell IDs. The configuration component 142 may provide the list 420 to the cell status component 146.

The MAC receiver 144 may receive MAC-CEs from the receiver component 450. For example, the MAC-CEs may include the MAC-CE update 432, the activation 434, and/or the second MAC-CE update 436. The MAC receiver 144 may process the received MAC-CE to determine a type of MAC-CE, a cell ID indicated by the MAC-CE, and parameters indicated by the MAC-CE. For example, for a MAC-CE update 432 or second MAC-CE update 436, the MAC receiver 144 may determine the cell ID 462 and the updated information 460. For instance, the MAC-CE may include a first octet with a field for the cell ID 462 and one or more octets defining the updated information 460. For the activation 434, the MAC receiver 144 may determine the cell ID and whether the cell is being activated or deactivated. The MAC receiver 144 may provide the cell ID 462 to the cell status component 146. The MAC receiver 144 may provide the updated information 460 to the cell update component 148.

The cell status component 146 may receive the list 420 from the configuration component 142 and receive the cell ID 462 from the MAC receiver 144. The cell status component 146 may compare the cell ID 462 to the list 420 to determine whether the cell ID 462 corresponds to one of the serving cells 422 on the list 420. If the cell ID 462 corresponds to one of the serving cells 422 on the list 420, the cell status component 146 may determine that the MAC-CE update 432 applies to the list 420 of serving cells 422. If the cell ID 462 does not correspond to one of the serving cells 422 on the list 420, the cell status component 146 may determine that the MAC-CE update 432 is applicable to a single serving cell. When the MAC-CE update 432 is applicable to the list 420, the cell status component 146 may determine a cell status 464 for each serving cell 422 on the list 420, for example, according to a tracked cell status. The cell status component 146 may provide the cell status 464 to the cell update component 148.

The cell update component 148 may determine whether to update each of the serving cells 422. In particular, the cell update component 148 may determine whether to skip an update for a cell 422 on the list 420 in response to the cell status 464 indicating that at least one of the cells 422 is inactive. The cell update component 148 may apply one of update rules 466 when the cell status 464 indicates that at least one of the cells 422 is inactive. If the cell update component 148 determines to update one or more active serving cells, the cell update component 148 may provide downlink (DL) parameters to the receiver component 450 and uplink (UL) parameters to the transmitter component 452 for the active serving cells.

FIGs. 6A-6E illustrate different rules that may be applied by cell update component 148 for determining whether to update one or more serving cells, or skip a received update. In an example scenario where a MAC-CE update may be received, a UE 104 may be configured with three (3) secondary serving cells and corresponding component carriers. The component carriers may be identified as CC0, CC1, and CC2. The UE 104 may be configured with a CC list including CC0, CC1, and CC2. The CC list may correspond to the list 420 with the serving cells 422 identified by corresponding component carrier. The CC list may be configured by RRC signaling.

FIG. 6A is a diagram 600 illustrating example updates according to a first rule. The UE 104 may receive activations, e.g., activation 434, for Scell0 corresponding to CC0 and for Scell1 corresponding to CC1. The activation 434 may be two Scell-activation MAC-CE respectively for CC0 and CC1. The UE 104 may then receive a first MAC-CE0 indicating updated information for Scell0. Because the Scell0 is associated with the CC list, the cell status component 146 may determine the activation status of each cell on the list. The cell status component 146 may determine that Scell0 and Scell1 are active and Scell2 is inactive. According to the first rule, the cell update component 148 may apply the MAC-CE0 to active serving cells and skip the update for inactive serving cells. Accordingly, the cell update component 148 may apply the MAC-CE0 to Scell0 and Scell1 and may skip the update of Scell2.

FIG. 6B is a diagram 610 illustrating example updates according to a second rule. The UE 104 may receive activations, e.g., activation 434, for Scell0 corresponding to CC0 and for Scell1 corresponding to CC1. The UE 104 may then receive a first MAC-CE0 indicating updated information for Scell0. Because the Scell0 is associated with the CC list, the cell status component 146 may determine the activation status of each cell on the list. The cell status component 146 may determine that Scell0 and Scell1 are active and Scell2 is inactive. According to the second rule, the cell update component 148 may apply the MAC-CE0 to active serving cells and suspend the update for inactive serving cells. Accordingly, the cell update component 148 may apply the MAC-CE0 to Scell0 and Scell1. The UE 104 may later receive an activation 434 indicating Scell2. The cell update component 148 may apply the MAC-CE0 to Scell2 after Scell2 is activated.

FIG. 6C is a diagram 620 illustrating example updates according to a third rule. The UE 104 may receive activations, e.g., activation 434, for Scell0 corresponding to CC0 and for Scell1 corresponding to CC1. The UE 104 may then receive a first MAC-CE0 indicating updated information for Scell0. Because the Scell0 is associated with the CC list, the cell status component 146 may determine the activation status of each cell on the list. The cell status component 146 may determine that Scell0 and Scell1 are active and Scell2 is inactive. According to the third rule, the cell update component 148 may skip an update for all cells associated with the list when any cell on the list is inactive. Accordingly, the cell update component 148 may skip the update of Scell0, Scell1, and Scell2 based on the MAC-CE0.

FIG. 6D is a diagram 630 illustrating example updates according to a fourth rule. According to the fourth rule, the UE 104 may expect to receive a MAC-CE update for a cell on the list only when all of the cells on the list are activated. Accordingly, the UE 104 may receive activations, e.g., activation 434, for Scell0 corresponding to CC0, for Scell1 corresponding to CC1, and for Scell2 corresponding to CC2. The UE 104 may then receive a first MAC-CE0 indicating updated information for Scell0. Because all of the cells associated with the list are activated, the cell update component 148 may apply the MAC-CE0 to each of Scell0, Scell1, and Scell2. In contrast, if the UE 104 were to receive the MAC-CE0 when one of the cells on the list was not activated, the UE 104 may generate an error. For instance, if the activation for Scell2 were not received before the MAC-CE0, the cell update component 148 may generate an error according to the fourth rule.

FIG. 6E is a diagram 640 illustrating example updates according to a fifth rule. The UE 104 may receive an activation, e.g., activation 434, for Scell0 corresponding to CC0. The UE 104 may then receive a MAC-CE0 indicating updated information for Scell0. The cell update component 148 may apply the MAC-CE0 to Scell0 and skip the update for Scell1 and Scell2. The UE 104 may later receive an activation for Scell1 corresponding to CC1. According to the fifth rule, the UE 104 may expect to receive a MAC-CE update for a previously skipped serving cell in response to the activation of Scell1. Accordingly, the UE 104 may receive the MAC-CE1 indicating updated information for Scell1. The MAC-CE1 may be the same as the MAC-CE0 except indicating a different serving cell. In some aspects, the UE 104 may receive MAC-CE1 indicating updated information for Scell0 or Scell2 on the list instead of Scell1. Because Scell1 is also associated with the list, the cell update component 148 may determine whether to apply the MAC-CE1 to the other cells in the list. Scell0 is active, but has already received the update of MAC-CE0, which is targeted to update the same information. The cell update component 148 may either apply the MAC-CE1 to Scell0, which may result in no change, or skip the update of Scell0 based on MAC-CE1. Scell2 is currently inactive, so the cell update component 148 may skip the update based on MAC-CE1 for Scell2. The UE 104 may later receive an activation for Scell2 corresponding to CC2. According to the fifth rule, the UE 104 may expect to receive a MAC-CE update for a previously skipped serving cell in response to the activation of Scell2. Accordingly, the UE 104 may receive the MAC-CE2 indicating updated information for Scell2. The MAC-CE2 may be the same as the MAC-CE0 and MAC-CE1 except indicating a different serving cell. In some aspects, the UE 104 may receive MAC-CE2 indicating updated information for Scell0 or Scell1 on the list instead of Scell2. Because Scell2 is also associated with the list, the cell update component 148 may determine whether to apply the MAC-CE2 to the other cells in the list. Scell0 and Scell1 are active, but have already received the update based on MAC-CE0 or MAC-CE1. The cell update component 148 may either apply the MAC-CE2 to Scell0 and Scell1, which may result in no change, or skip the update of Scell0 and Scell1 based on MAC-CE2.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example method 700 for determining whether to update one or more serving cells associated with a list of serving cells based on a MAC-CE and an activation status. The method 700 may be performed by a UE (such as the UE 104, which may include the memory 360 and which may be the entire UE 104 or a component of the UE 104 such as the MAC-CE update component 140, TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, or the controller/processor 359) . The method 700 may be performed by the MAC-CE update component 140 in communication with the carrier aggregation component 198 of the base station 102.

At block 710, the method 700 may optionally include receiving a configuration of a configured list of serving cells. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the configuration component 142 to receive a configuration 430 of a configured list 420 of serving cells 422. In an implementation, the configuration 430 is a RRC configuration message. The configuration component 142 may extract an information element defining the list 420 of serving cells 422 from the RRC configuration message. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the configuration component 142 may provide means for receiving a configuration of a configured list of serving cells.

At block 720, the method 700 may include receiving, at a UE, a MAC-CE indicating first updated information for a first serving cell associated with a configured list of serving cells. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the MAC receiver 144 to receive, at a UE 104, a MAC-CE 432 indicating first updated information 460 for a first serving cell (e.g., a serving cell with cell ID 462) associated with a configured list 420 of serving cells 422. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the MAC receiver 144 may provide means for receiving, at a UE, a MAC-CE indicating first updated information for a first serving cell associated with a configured list of serving cells.

At block 730, the method 700 may include determining whether each serving cell of the configured list of serving cells is activated. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell status component 146 to determine whether each serving cell 422 of the configured list 420 of serving cells 422 is activated. For example, the cell status component 146 may track a cell status 464 for each configured serving cell based on activations 434. The cell status component 146 may determine the tracked cell status for each cell on the list 420 when the MAC-CE update 432 is received. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell status component 146 may provide means for determining whether each serving cell of the configured list of serving cells is activated.

At block 740, the method 700 may include skipping an update of at least one inactive serving cell in the configured list of serving cells in response to determining that the at least one inactive serving cell is not activated. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell update component 148 to skip an update of at least one inactive serving cell 472 in the configured list 420 of serving cells 422 in response to determining that the at least one inactive serving cell 472 is not activated. The at least one inactive serving cell 472 may be different than the first serving cell (e.g., cell ID 462) . In an implementation, at sub-block 742, the block 740 may include suspending application of the MAC-CE to the at least one inactive serving cell until the at least one inactive serving cell is activated. For example, the cell update component 148 may follow the second rule of the update rules 466 and suspend application of the MAC-CE as illustrated in FIG. 6B. In another implementation, at sub-block 744, the block 740 may include skipping the update of all of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells in response to determining that any of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells are not activated. For example, the cell update component 148 may follow the third rule of the update rules 466 and skip the update of all serving cells as illustrated in FIG. 6C. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell update component 148 may provide means for skipping an update of at least one inactive serving cell in the configured list of serving cells in response to determining that the at least one inactive serving cell is not activated.

At block 750, the method 700 may optionally include updating one or more active serving cells in the configured list of serving cells based on the first updated information responsive to determining that the one or more active serving cells are activated. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell update component 148 to update one or more active serving cells 470 in the configured list 420 of serving cells 422 based on the first updated information 460 responsive to determining that the one or more active serving cells 470 are activated. The method 700 may include the block 750 when the first rule, second rule, or fifth rule of the update rules 466 are active. The cell update component 148 may apply the most recent MAC-CE to the active serving cells 470 as illustrated in FIGs. 6A, 6B, and 6E. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell update component 148 may also provide means for updating one or more active serving cells in the configured list of serving cells based on the first updated information responsive to determining that the one or more active serving cells are activated.

At block 760, the method 700 may optionally include generating an error in response to determining that one or more of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells is not activated. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell update component 148 to generate an error in response to determining that one or more of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells is not activated. In particular, the cell update component 148 may generate the error when the fourth rule is active and the UE 104 expects to receive the MAC-CE update 432 when all of the serving cells 422 on the list 420 are activated. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell update component 148 may also provide means for generating an error in response to determining that one or more of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells is not activated.

At block 770, the method 700 may optionally include receiving an activation of the at least one inactive serving cell. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the MAC receiver 144 to receive an activation 434 of the at least one inactive serving cell 472. In an implementation, the activation 434 is a MAC-CE indicating a cell ID 462 to activate or deactivate. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the MAC receiver 144 may also provide means for receiving an activation of the at least one inactive serving cell.

At block 780, the method 700 may optionally include receiving a second MAC-CE indicating second updated information for a previously inactive cell that is on the configured list of serving cells. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the MAC receiver 144 to receive a second MAC-CE indicating second updated information for a previously inactive cell that is on the configured list of serving cells. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the MAC receiver 144 may also provide means for receiving a second MAC-CE indicating second updated information for a previously inactive cell that is on the configured list of serving cells.

At block 790, the method 700 may optionally include updating the previously inactive cell based on the second updated information. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell update component 148 to update the previously inactive cell based on the second updated information. In an aspect, the cell update component 148 may also update one or more other active serving cells on the list 420 based on the second updated information. The second updated information may be the same as the first updated information. In another aspect, the cell update component 148 may skip the update of one or more previously active cells based on the second updated information. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the MAC-CE update component 140 and/or the cell update component 148 may also provide means for updating the previously inactive cell based on the second updated information.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes /flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of example approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes /flowcharts may be rearranged. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more. ” The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration. ” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” include any combination of A, B, and/or C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically, combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combinations may contain one or more member or members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The words “module, ” “mechanism, ” “element, ” “device, ” and the like may not be a substitute for the word “means. ” As such, no claim element is to be construed as a means plus function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for. ”

Claims

A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving, at a user equipment (UE) , a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) indicating first updated information for a first serving cell associated with a configured list of serving cells;

determining whether each serving cell of the configured list of serving cells is activated; and

skipping an update of at least one inactive serving cell in the configured list of serving cells in response to determining that the at least one inactive serving cell is not activated, wherein the at least one inactive serving cell is different than the first serving cell.
The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a configuration of the configured list of serving cells.
The method of claim 1, further comprising updating one or more active serving cells in the configured list of serving cells based on the first updated information responsive to determining that the one or more active serving cells are activated.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating one or more active serving cells of the configured list of serving cells based on the first updated information responsive to determining that the one or more active serving cells are activated,

wherein skipping the update of the at least one inactive serving cell comprises suspending application of the MAC-CE to the at least one inactive serving cell until the at least one inactive serving cell is activated.
The method of claim 1, wherein skipping the update of the at least one inactive serving cell comprises skipping the update of all of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells in response to determining that any of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells are not activated.
The method of claim 1, wherein the UE expects the MAC-CE including the first updated information only when all of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells are activated.
The method of claim 6, further comprising generating an error in response to determining that one or more of the serving cells of the configured list of serving cells is not activated.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an activation of the at least one inactive serving cell;

receiving a second MAC-CE indicating second updated information for a previously inactive cell that is on the configured list of serving cells; and

updating the previously inactive cell based on the second updated information.
The method of claim 8, wherein the second updated information is the same as the first updated information, further comprising skipping an update based on the second updated information for one or more active cells on the configured list of serving cells.
The method of claim 8, wherein the second updated information is the same as the first updated information, further comprising updating one or more active cells on the configured list of serving cells based on the second updated information.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to perform the method of any of claims 1-10.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for performing the method of any of claims 1-10.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform the method of any of claims 1-10.