CN113826412A

CN113826412A - Activation of secondary cells

Info

Publication number: CN113826412A
Application number: CN201980096381.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨涛; K·肖伯
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2019-05-14
Filing date: 2019-05-14
Publication date: 2021-12-21
Anticipated expiration: 2039-05-14
Also published as: CN113826412B; WO2020227922A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to apparatuses, methods, and computer-storage media for activation of a secondary cell (Scell). A first device comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receiving a control information message from a second device; determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; and in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate scheduling data, determining at least one target cell to activate based on the control information message. In this way, by means of Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) in Downlink Control Information (DCI), Scell cross-cell activation of BWP monitored from sparse/no PDCCH can be achieved with/without scheduling information.

Description

Activation of secondary cells

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, to methods, devices and computer readable media for activation of a secondary cell (Scell).

Background

A bandwidth part (BWP) is a set of consecutive Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) on a given carrier. A secondary cell (Scell) may be configured with multiple BWPs. One BWP is configured with frequent Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasions and the other BWPs are configured with sparse/no PDCCH monitoring.

For NR, release 15 signaling may be used to leverage sparse/no PDCCH monitoring and support of activation with Channel State Information (CSI) measurements/reporting at Scell.

Disclosure of Invention

In summary, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a scheme for activation of Scell.

In a first aspect, a first apparatus is provided. The first device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receiving a control information message from a second device; determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; and in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate scheduling data, determining at least one target cell to activate based on the control information message.

In a second aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a control information message from a second device; determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; and in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate scheduling data, determining at least one target cell to activate based on the control information message.

In a third aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for receiving a control information message from a second device; means for determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; and means for determining at least one target cell to activate based on the control information message in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate scheduling data.

In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, having stored thereon a computer program, which, when executed by at least one processor of an apparatus, causes the apparatus to perform the method according to the second aspect.

Other features and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will also become apparent from the following description of the specific embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the embodiments of the disclosure.

Drawings

Embodiments of the present disclosure are presented by way of example and their advantages are explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a process 200 for activating a secondary cell according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 300 for activating a secondary cell, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 400 suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements.

Detailed Description

The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described merely to illustrate and assist those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, and do not imply any limitation on the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in a variety of ways other than those described below.

In the following specification and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," comprising, "" includes, "" including, "" has, "" having, "" present, "" contains "and/or" presently contains, when used herein, the specified features, elements, and/or components, etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (e.g., implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry), and

(b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, for example (as applicable):

(i) analog and/or digital hardware circuitry and software/firmware, and

(ii) any portion of a hardware processor having software (including a digital signal processor), software, and memory that work together to cause a device (e.g., a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions), and

(c) a hardware circuit and/or a processor, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but may not be present when operation is not required.

The definition of the circuit applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses implementations of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also encompasses: for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as a fifth generation (5G) system, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), and so forth. Further, communication between terminal devices and network devices in a communication network may be according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other now known or later developed protocol. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communications, there will of course also be future types of communication techniques and systems that may embody the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the above-described systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network through which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. A network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or an Access Point (AP), such as a node B (NodeB or NB), evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), NR Next Generation NodeB (gNB), Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Radio Header (RH), Remote Radio Header (RRH), relay, low power node (e.g., femto, pico, etc.), depending on the terminology and technology applied.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, User Equipment (UE), Subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, Mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminals, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminals such as digital cameras, gaming terminals, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminals, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop-mounted devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless client devices (CPEs), internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in industrial and/or automated processing chain environments), Consumer electronics devices, device commercial operations, and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

While the functionality described herein may be performed in fixed and/or wireless network nodes in various example embodiments, in other example embodiments, the functionality may be implemented in a user equipment device (e.g., a cell phone or tablet computer or laptop or desktop computer or mobile internet of things device or fixed internet networking device). This user equipment device may for example be provided with corresponding capabilities as described in connection with the fixed and/or radio network nodes, as the case may be. The user equipment device may be a user equipment and/or a control device, such as a chipset or processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed in the user equipment. Examples of such functions include a bootstrapping server function and/or a home subscriber server, which may be implemented in a user equipment device by providing the user equipment device with software configured to cause the user equipment device to execute from the perspective of these functions/nodes.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The network 100 includes a first device 110 and a second device 120 that can communicate with each other. In this example, the first device 110 is shown as a terminal device and the second device 120 is shown as a network device serving the terminal device. Thus, the service area of the second device 120 is referred to as a cell 102. It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices is for illustration purposes only and is not meant to be limiting in any way. Network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it is understood that one or more terminal devices may be located in the cell 102 and served by the second device 120.

Communications in communication network 100 may be implemented in accordance with any suitable communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation cellular communication protocols (3G), fourth generation (4G), and fifth generation (5G), etc., wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11, etc., and/or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. Further, the communication may use any suitable wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), and/or any other technology now known or later developed in the future.

In the communication network 100, the first device 110 and the second device 120 may transmit data and control information to each other. In case the first device 110 is a terminal device and the second device 120 is a network device, the link from the second device 120 to the first device 110 is called a Downlink (DL) and the link from the first device 120 to the first device 110 is called an Uplink (UL).

To support Carrier Aggregation (CA), the concepts of primary cell (Pcell) and secondary cell (Scell) have been introduced. The Pcell may operate on a primary frequency with which the first device may perform an initial connection establishment procedure or initiate a connection re-establishment procedure. The Scell may operate on a secondary frequency and may be configured once an RRC connection is established for providing additional radio resources. That is, the first device 110 shown in fig. 1 may be served by one or more serving cells including the Pcell and at least one Scell.

As mentioned above, a bandwidth part (BWP) is a set of consecutive Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) on a given carrier. One Scell may be configured with multiple BWPs. At least BWPs are configured with frequent Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasions while other BWPs are configured with sparse PDCCH monitoring.

For NR, it is possible to use release 15 signaling to exploit sparse/no PDCCH monitoring on Scell and support of activation with Channel State Information (CSI) measurements/reports. However, release 15 signaling does not provide a fast adaptation mechanism from sparse/no PDCCH monitoring to more frequent PDCCH monitoring on the Scell.

For release 16, an additional implicit/explicit L1 signaling mechanism is proposed that can achieve fast adaptation from sparse/no PDCCH monitoring to activating more frequent PDCCH monitoring on Scell.

Potential additional L1 signaling mechanisms may include the following:

using DCI on cell x to control PDCCH monitoring on one or more scells;

using DCI on cell x to control CSI measurements on Scell;

switching between different configured BWPs on one or more scells using DCI on cell x;

an implicit association between triggering an active BWP handover on cell x and triggering a BWP handover on one or more scells is used.

In the above bullets, cell x is a cell different from one or more cells. For example, cell x may be a scheduling cell of a Pcell or one or more scells.

Since the specifications in RAN1, RAN2, and RAN4 work less. The "use of implicit/explicit signaling on cell x to trigger BWP handover on Scell" takes into account the additional L1 signaling mechanism described above.

Accordingly, the present disclosure proposes a solution for activation of one or more scells monitored from sparse/no PDCCH by means of single monitored Downlink Control Information (DCI) on the Pcell or scheduling cell for one or more scells.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a process 200 for activating a secondary cell (Scell) according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, which will be described with reference to fig. 1. In this example, process 200 may involve first device 110 as shown in fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 2, the first device 110 receives a control information message from a Pcell or other scheduling cell. For simplicity, Pcell or other scheduling cell may be denoted hereinafter as cell x. For example, the control information message may be referred to as Downlink Channel Information (DCI). For example, cell x may be a serving cell of the first device 110 and relate to a cell associated with the second device 120, as shown in fig. 1.

Once the first device 110 receives the control information message, the first device 110 determines 220 whether the control information message indicates scheduling data.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may obtain a Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) from the DCI. If the first device 110 can determine: the value of the CIF may indicate a predetermined cell of the first device 110, the control information message may be considered a message for scheduling data. Otherwise, the control information message may be considered as a message for activating the at least one target cell.

In some example embodiments, the predetermined cell used herein may refer to cell x or Scell to which the first device 110 has established a connection. The at least one target cell may refer to one or more scells to be activated.

If the first device 110 determines that the control information message does not indicate scheduling data based on the CIF, the first device 110 determines that one or more scells are to be activated.

The first device 110 may obtain the resource allocation field from the control information message and determine one or more scells to be activated based on the resource allocation field. For example, the resource allocation field used herein may be referred to as an FD-RA field. The FD-RA field may be used to indicate the Scell to be activated, e.g., by a bitmap, as this field may typically be larger than 10 bits. Accordingly, the bitmap supported by the FD-RA field may reflect at least 10 cells. It should be understood that other suitable fields in the control information message may also be used to indicate the Scell to be activated. That is, the first device 110 may also acquire fields other than the resource allocation field from the control information message and determine one or more scells to be activated.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may obtain a bandwidth part identification (BWP ID) from the control information message. The BWP ID may indicate the BWP of the first active BWP of the determined Scell. Thus, the first device 110 may determine a BWP for subsequent transmissions from the determined Scell to the first device 110.

For example, as described above, the Scell may be configured with two BWPs. One BWP is configured with frequent PDCCH monitoring occasions and the other BWPs are configured with sparse/no PDCCH monitoring. For the first active BWP, it may refer to BWP with frequent PDCCH monitoring occasions or BWP with sparse/no PDCCHPDCCH monitoring occasions.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the portion of the information from a control information message associated with the second device 120 based on the BWP of the second device 120. For example, BWP may be preconfigured by the second device. The device 120 and the first device 110 receive a control information message regarding this preconfigured BWP.

Based on the portion of information, the first device 110 may determine (e.g., PUCCH) resources for transmission to the second device 120 and send 230 an uplink acknowledgement (UL-ACK) message to acknowledge receipt of the control information message with respect to the determined PUCCH resources.

After sending the acknowledgement message to the second device 120, the first device 110 may switch 240 to the BWP determined for the Scell for receiving the data transmission from the Scell.

For example, the start of BWP handover is related to the time instant determined when DCI has been received or UL-ACK has been transmitted, e.g., the next slot boundary after the last symbol of DCI.

Referring back to act 220 of fig. 2, if the first device 110 determines 220 that the control information message indicates scheduling data based on the CIF, i.e., the value of the CIF points to a preconfigured cell of the first device 110. As described above, the "cell x" or "Scell" used herein may refer to the cell x or Scell to which the first device 110 has established a connection. Thus, the first device 110 may also determine whether the preconfigured cell is cell x or Scell according to the CIF.

The first device 110 may acquire a bandwidth part identification (BWP ID) from the control information message if the first device 110 determines that the preconfigured cell is a Scell. The identification may indicate BWP for receiving data transmission from this Scell. That is, the BWP ID may indicate the BWP to which the Scell should be switched.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine a portion of information from the control information message (associated with the determined BWP associated with the Scell) and receive a data transmission from the Scell based on the portion of control information. That is, the first device 110 may decode a physical downlink shared control channel (PDSCH) based on the DCI field interpreted according to the BWP of the Scell.

Similarly, the first device 110 may also determine the portion of the information from a control information message associated with the second device 120 based on the BWP of the second device 120. For example, the BWP may be preconfigured by the second device 120 and the first device 110 receives a control information message regarding this preconfigured BWP.

Based on the portion of information, the first device 110 may determine a PUCCH resource for transmission to the second device 120 and send 230 an uplink acknowledgement (UL-ACK) message to acknowledge receipt of the control information message on the determined PUCCH resource.

If the first device 110 determines that the preconfigured cell is cell x, the first device 110 may determine resources for transmitting data to the second device based on the preconfigured bandwidth part from the control information message and send an acknowledgement message to the second device 120 indicating receipt of the control information message regarding the resources.

The control information message may further comprise an indication to explicitly or implicitly trigger channel state measurements to be performed at the first device 110.

In this way, by means of control information messages, the scheme discussed herein may enable cross-cell activation of scells from sparse/non-PDCCH monitored BWPs with scheduling data and sparse/non-monitored cross-cell activated scells without scheduling data. At the same time, self-scheduling of data on cell x or another actively configured cell may be achieved.

Further details of an example embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to fig. 3.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example method 300 of secondary cell (Scell) activation in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 300 may be implemented at the first device 110 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 300 will be described with reference to fig. 1.

At 310, the first device 110 receives a control information message from the second device.

At 320, the first device 110 determines whether the control information message indicates scheduling data.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may obtain the carrier indication field from the control information message. The first device 110 may further determine whether the carrier indication field indicates a pre-configured cell of the first device. The first device 110 may further determine that the control information message does indicate activation of the at least one target cell if the carrier indicator field does not indicate a pre-configured cell.

At 330, if the first device 110 determines that the control information message does not indicate scheduling data, the first device 110 determines at least one target cell to activate based on the control information message.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may obtain a resource allocation field from the control information message, the resource allocation field indicating resources allocated for the at least one target cell, and determine the at least one target cell based on the resource allocation field.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may obtain a bandwidth part identification from the control information message and determine a first target bandwidth part for receiving data transmissions from the at least one target cell based on the bandwidth part identification.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may further determine a portion of the control information message associated with the second device based on the preconfigured bandwidth portion; determining resources for transmission to the second device based on the portion of the control information message; and transmitting an acknowledgement message on the resource to the second device acknowledging receipt of the control information message. .

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may further switch to a first target bandwidth portion for receiving data transmissions from the at least one target cell after sending the acknowledgement message.

In some example embodiments, if the control message indicates scheduling data, the first device 110 may determine a preconfigured cell of the first device associated with the scheduling data based on the carrier indication field. The first device 110 may obtain the bandwidth part identification from the control information message if the preconfigured cell is a secondary cell. The indication indicates a second target bandwidth portion for receiving data transmissions from the secondary cell.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine a portion of the control information message associated with the second target bandwidth portion of the secondary cell and receive a data transmission from the secondary cell based on the portion of the control information.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the portion of the control information message associated with the second device based on the preconfigured bandwidth portion; determining resources for transmission to the second device based on the portion of the control information message; and transmitting an acknowledgement message indicating receipt of the control information message to the second device on the resource.

In some example embodiments, if the preconfigured cell is not a secondary cell, the first device 110 may determine resources for data transmission to the second device from the control information message based on the preconfigured bandwidth portion. The first device 110 may further send an acknowledgement message to the second device on the resource indicating receipt of the control information message.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may further receive an indication to trigger a channel state measurement to be performed at the first device.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may be a terminal device and the second device may be a network device.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 300 (e.g., implemented at the first device 110) may include means for performing the various steps of the method 300. The apparatus may be implemented in a circuit or a software module, for example.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for receiving a control information message from a second device; means for determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; and means for determining at least one target cell to activate based on the control information message in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate the scheduling data.

Fig. 4 is a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 400 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 400 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as the first device 110 shown in fig. 1. As shown, device 400 includes one or more processors 410, one or more memories 420 coupled with processors 410, and one or more transmitters and/or receivers (TX/RX)440 coupled to processors 410.

TX/RX 440 is used for bi-directional communication. TX/RX 440 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface required to communicate with other network elements.

The processor 410 may be of any type suitable for use in a local technology network, and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 400 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are subordinate in time to the clock of the synchronous host processor.

Memory 420 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, Read Only Memory (ROM)424, Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, a hard disk, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, Random Access Memory (RAM)422 and other volatile memory that does not persist for the duration of the power down.

The computer programs 430 include computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 410. The program 430 may be stored in the ROM 424. Processor 410 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 430 into RAM 422.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by the program 430 such that the device 400 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure discussed with reference to fig. 2-3. Embodiments of the present invention may also be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software.

In some implementations, the program 430 can be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which can be included in the device 400 (e.g., in the memory 420) or in other storage accessible to the device 400. The device 400 may load the program 430 from the computer-readable medium into the RAM 422 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, a hard disk, a CD, a DVD, etc. Fig. 5 shows an example of a computer readable medium 500 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has program 430 stored thereon.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, that execute in a device on a target real or virtual processor to implement the method 300 as described above with reference to fig. 2-3. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed facility, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of a carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a machine readable signal medium or a machine readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media would include: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while the above discussion contains several specific example embodiment details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:

receiving a control information message from a second device;

determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; and

in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate the scheduling data, determining at least one target cell to activate based on the control information message.

2. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine whether the control information message indicates the scheduling data by:

acquiring a carrier indication field from the control information message;

determining whether the carrier indication field indicates a pre-configured cell of the first device; and

determining that the control information message indicates activation of the at least one target cell in response to determining that the carrier indicator field does not indicate the preconfigured cell.

3. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine the at least one target cell by:

obtaining a resource allocation field from the control information message, the resource allocation field indicating resources allocated for the at least one target cell; and

determining the at least one target cell based on the resource allocation field.

4. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

acquiring a bandwidth part identifier from the control information message; and

determining a first target bandwidth portion for receiving data transmissions from the at least one target cell based on the bandwidth portion identification.

5. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determining a portion of the control information message associated with the second device based on a preconfigured bandwidth portion;

determining resources for transmission to the second device based on the portion of the control information message; and

transmitting an acknowledgement message on the resource to the second device acknowledging receipt of the control information message.

6. The first device of claim 5, wherein the first device is further caused to:

switching to a first target bandwidth portion after sending the acknowledgement message, the first target bandwidth portion for receiving data transmissions from the at least one target cell.

7. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

in response to determining that the control information indicates the scheduling data, determining a preconfigured cell of the first device associated with the scheduling data based on a carrier indication field; and

in response to determining that the preconfigured cell is a secondary cell, obtaining a bandwidth part identification from the control information message, the identification indicating a second target bandwidth part for receiving data transmissions from the secondary cell.

8. The first device of claim 7, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determining a portion of the control information message associated with the second target bandwidth portion of the secondary cell; and

receiving a data transmission from the secondary cell based on a portion of the control information.

9. The first device of claim 7, wherein the first device is further caused to:

transmitting an acknowledgement message to the second device indicating receipt of the control information message on the resource.

10. The first device of claim 7, wherein the first device is further caused to:

in response to determining that the preconfigured cell is not the secondary cell, determining resources for data transmission to the second device from the control information message based on a preconfigured bandwidth part; and

11. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to receive the control information message by:

receiving an indication to trigger a channel state measurement to be performed at the first device.

12. The first device of any of claims 1-11, wherein the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving a control information message from a second device;

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the control information message indicates the scheduling data comprises:

acquiring a carrier indication field from the control information message;

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the at least one target cell comprises:

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

acquiring a bandwidth part identifier from the control information message; and

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining resources for data transmission to the second device based on the portion of the control information message; and

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

23. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the control information message comprises:

24. The method of any of claims 13 to 23, wherein the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a control information message from a second device;

means for determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; and

means for determining at least one target cell to activate based on the control information message in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate the scheduling data.

26. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 13-24.