WO2020227922A1

WO2020227922A1 - Activation of secondary cell

Info

Publication number: WO2020227922A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/086819
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tao Yang; Karol Schober
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2019-05-14
Filing date: 2019-05-14
Publication date: 2020-11-19
Anticipated expiration: 2021-11-14
Also published as: CN113826412A; CN113826412B

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to apparatuses, methods and computer readable storage media for activation of a Secondary Cell (Scell). The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the device at least to receive a control information message from a second device; determine whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate the scheduling data, determine at least one target cell to be activated based on the control information message. In this way, cross-cell activation of Scell from BWP of spare/no PDCCH monitoring together with/without scheduled data could be achieved by means of the Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) in Downlink Control Information (DCI).

Description

ACTIVATION OF SECONDARY CELL

FIELD

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

BACKGROUND

A Bandwidth Part (BWP) is a contiguous set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) on a given carrier. A Secondary Cell (Scell) can be configured with multiple BWPs. One BWP is configured with frequent Physical Downlink Control Chanel (PDCCH) monitoring occasions and the other BWP with is configured sparse/no PDCCH monitoring.

For NR, it is possible using Release-15 signaling to support activated with sparse/no PDCCH monitoring on the Scell and with Channel State Information (CSI) measurement/reporting.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for the activation of a Secondary Cell (Scell) .

In a first aspect, there is a first device. The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to receive a control information message from a second device; determine whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate the scheduling data, determine at least one target cell to be activated based on the control information message.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprising receiving a control information message from a second device; determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate the scheduling data, determining at least one target cell to be activated based on the control information message.

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

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to carry out the method according to the second aspect.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure are presented in the sense of examples and their advantages are explained in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where

FIG. 1 shows 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 the activation of a secondary cell according to example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example method 300 for the activation of a secondary cell according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

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

Fig. 5 shows 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 represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

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

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes 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 affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “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. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. 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” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations 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 (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

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

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation 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 covers, 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 server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) , New Radio (NR) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial 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.

Although functionalities described herein can be performed, in various example embodiments, in a fixed and/or a wireless network node may, in other example embodiments, functionalities may be implemented in a user equipment apparatus (such as a cell phone or tablet computer or laptop computer or desktop computer or mobile IOT device or fixed IOT device) . This user equipment apparatus can, for example, be furnished with corresponding capabilities as described in connection with the fixed and/or the wireless network node (s) , as appropriate. The user equipment apparatus may be the user equipment and/or or a control device, such as a chipset or processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed therein. Examples of such functionalities include the bootstrapping server function and/or the home subscriber server, which may be implemented in the user equipment apparatus by providing the user equipment apparatus with software configured to cause the user equipment apparatus to perform from the point of view of these functions/nodes.

Fig. 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can 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 illustrated as a terminal device, and the second device 120 is illustrated as a network device serving the terminal device. Thus, the serving area of the second device 120 is called as a cell 102. It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices is only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more terminal devices may be located in the cell 102 and served by the second device 120.

Communications in the communication network 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) and the fifth generation (5G) and on the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising 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 Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

In the communication network 100, the first device 110 and the second device 120 can communicate data and control information to each other. In the case that the first device 110 is the terminal device and the second device 120 is the network device, a link from the second device 120 to the first device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL) , while a link from the first device 110 to the second device 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL) .

The concept of the Primary Cell (Pcell) and a Secondary Cell (Scell) has already introduced for supporting the Carrier Aggregation (CA) . The Pcell may operate on the primary frequency, with which the first device may perform the initial connection establishment procedure or initiate the connection re-establishment procedure. The Scell may operate on the secondary frequency and may be configured once an RRC connection is established used to provide additional radio resources. That is to say, the first device 110 shown in FIG. 1 may be served by one or more serving cells including a Pcell and at least one Scell.

As mentioned above, a Bandwidth Part (BWP) is a contiguous set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) on a given carrier. A Scell can be configured with multiple BWPs. At least BWP is configured with frequent Physical Downlink Control Chanel (PDCCH) monitoring occasions and the other BWP with is configured sparse PDCCH monitoring.

For NR, it is possible using Rel-15 signaling to support activated with sparse/no PDCCH monitoring on the Scell and with Channel State Information (CSI) measurement/reporting. However, Rel-15 signaling does not provide a mechanism for fast adaptation from sparse/no PDCCH monitoring to more frequent PDCCH monitoring on the Scell.

For Rel-16, it is proposed that additional implicit/explicit L1 signaling mechanisms can enable fast adaptation from sparse/no PDCCH monitoring to more frequent PDCCH monitoring on the activated Scell.

A Potential additional L1 signaling mechanisms may include the followings as below:

Using DCI on cell x to control PDCCH monitoring on Scell (s) ;

Using DCI on cell x to control CSI measurements on Scell (s) ;

Using DCI on cell x to switch between different configured BWPs on Scell (s) ;

Using implicit association between triggering of active BWP switching on cell x and triggering of BWP switching on Scell (s) .

In above bullets, cell x is a cell that is different from the Scell (s) . For example, Cell x can be a Pcell or a scheduling cell for the Scell (s) .

Due to less specification effort in RAN1, RAN2 and RAN4. “Use implicit/explicit signalling on cell x to trigger BWP switch on Scell” is taken in consideration for the additional L1 signaling mechanisms as mentioned above.

Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a solution for activation of one or more Scell (s) from corresponding BWP (s) of spare/no PDCCH monitoring by means of a single monitored Downlink Control Information (DCI) on a Pcell or a scheduling cell for the Scell (s) .

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a process 200 for the activation of a Secondary Cell (Scell) according to example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 1. In this example, the process 200 may involve the first device 110 as illustrated 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 the sake of simplicity, hereafter the Pcell or other scheduling cell may be represented as Cell x. For example, the control information message may be referred to as Downlink Chanel Information (DCI) . For example, the Cell x may be a serving cell of the first device 110 and involve a cell associated with the second device 120 as shown in FIG. 1.

Upon 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 the Carries Indicator Field (CIF) from the DCI. If the first device 110 may determine a value of the CIF may indicate a predetermine cell of the first device 110, the control information message may be considered as a message for scheduling data. Otherwise, the control information message may be considered as a message for activation of at least one target cell.

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

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

The first device 110 may obtain the resource assignment field from the control information message and determine the one or more Scells to be activated base on the resource assignment field. For example, the resource assignment field used herein may be referred to a FD-RA field. The FD-RA field may be used for indicating the Scell to be activated, for example, by bitmap, because this field may typically be greater than 10bits. Thus, a bitmap supporting by 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 Scells to be activated. That is, the first device 110 may also obtain a field other than the resource assignment field from the control information message and determine the one or more Scells to be activated.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may obtain a Bandwidth Part Identifier (BWP ID) from the control information message. The BWP ID may indicate a BWP for a first active BWP of the determined Scells. Thus, the first device 110 may determine the BWP for a subsequent transmission from the determined Scell to the first device 110.

For example, as mentioned above, the Scell can be configured with two BWPs. One BWP is configured with frequent PDCCH monitoring occasions and the other BWP with is configured with sparse/no PDCCH monitoring. For the first active BWP, it may be referred to a BWP with frequent PDCCH monitoring occasions or a BWP with sparse/no PDCCH monitoring occasions.

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

Based on the part of information, the first device 110 may determine the (for example, PUCCH) resources for transmission to the second device 120 and transmit 230 the Uplink acknowledge (UL-ACK) message to confirm the reception of the control information message on the determined PUCCH resources.

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

For example, the BWP switching starting relative to time instance determined based on time when the DCI has been received or UL-ACK has been sent where the time instance is e.g. a next slot boundary after the last symbol of the DCI.

Back referring to the action 220 of FIG. 2, if the first device 110 determines 220, based on the CIF, the control information message indicate scheduling data, that is to say, the value of CIF directs to a preconfigured cell of the first device 110. As mention above, the predetermined cell used herein may be referred to a Cell x or a Scell, to which the first device 110 has established a connection. Thus, the first device 110 may further determine the preconfigured cell is Cell x or a Scell based on the CIF.

If the first device 110 determines the preconfigured cell is a Scell, the first device 110 may obtain a Bandwidth Part Identifier (BWP ID) from the control information message. The identifier may indicate a BWP for receiving data transmission from this Scell. That is, the BWP ID may indicate a BWP which the Scell should be switched to.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine a part of information from the control information message associated with the determined BWP associated with the Scell and receive data transmission from the Scell based on a part of the control information. That is, the first device 110 may decode Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel (PDSCH) based on DCI fields interpreted according to BWP of Scell.

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

Based on the part of information, the first device 110 may determine the PUCCH resources for transmission to the second device 120 and transmit 230 the Uplink acknowledge (UL-ACK) message to confirm the reception of the control information message on the determined PUCCH resources.

If the first device 110 determines the preconfigured cell is a Cell x, the first device 110 may determine resources for data transmission to the second device based on a preconfigured bandwidth part from the control information message and transmit an acknowledge message indicating a reception of the control information message on the resources to the second device 120.

Furthermore, the control information message may also include an indication explicitly or implicitly for triggering a channel state measurement to be performed at the first device 110.

In this way, by means of the control information message, the solution discussed herein may achieve cross-cell activation of Scell from BWP of spare/no PDCCH monitoring together with scheduled data and cross-cell activation of multiple Scell from BWP of spare/no PDCCH monitoring without scheduled data. Meanwhile, the Self-scheduling of data on a Cell x or another active configured cell could be implemented.

More details of the example embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG 3.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example method 300 for activation of a Secondary Cell (Scell) according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 300 can be implemented at the first device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 310, the first device 110 receives a control information message from a 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 a carrier indicator field from the control information message. The first device 110 may further determine whether the carrier indicator field indicates a preconfigured cell of the first device. The first device 110 may further determine the control information message does indicate an activation of the at least one target cell if the carrier indicator field does not indicate the preconfigured cell.

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

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

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

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may further determine a part of the control information message associated with the second device based on a preconfigured bandwidth part; determine resources for transmission to the second device based on the part of the control information message; and transmit, to the second device, an acknowledge message confirming a reception of the control information message on the resources.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may further switch to a first target bandwidth part for receiving data transmission from the at least one target cell after transmitting the acknowledge message.

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

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

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine a part of the control information message associated with the second device based on a preconfigured bandwidth part; determine resources for transmission to the second device based on the part of the control information message; and transmit, to the second device, an acknowledge message indicating a reception of the control information message on the resources.

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

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

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

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 300 (for example, implemented at the first device 110) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 300. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

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

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

The TX/RX 440 is for bidirectional communications. The TX/RX 440 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements.

The processor 410 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 400 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 420 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 424, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 422 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 430 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 410. The program 430 may be stored in the ROM 430. The processor 410 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 430 into the RAM 420.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 430 so that the device 400 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIGs. 2 -3. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, the program 430 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 400 (such as in the memory 420) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 400. The device 400 may load the program 430 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 422 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. Fig. 5 shows an example of the computer readable medium 500 in form of CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has the program 430 stored thereon.

Generally, various embodiments of the present 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 embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method 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 includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the method 300 as described above with reference to FIGs. 2 -3. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote 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 or controller 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 flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a 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 the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but 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 the computer readable storage medium 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 certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present 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 may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present 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

A first device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program codes;

the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to:

receive a control information message from a second device;

determine whether the control information message indicates scheduling data; and

in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate the scheduling data, determine at least one target cell to be activated based on the control information message.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine whether the control information message indicates the scheduling data by:

obtaining a carrier indicator field from the control information message;

determining whether the carrier indicator field indicates a preconfigured cell of the first device; and

in response to determining that the carrier indicator field does not indicate the preconfigured cell, determining that the control information message does indicate an activation of the at least one target cell.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine the at least one target cell by:

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

determining the at least one target cell based on the resource assignment field.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

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

determine a first target bandwidth part for receiving data transmission from the at least one target cell based on the bandwidth part identifier.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determine a part of the control information message associated with the second device based on a preconfigured bandwidth part;

determine resources for transmission to the second device based on the part of the control information message; and

transmit, to the second device, an acknowledge message confirming a reception of the control information message on the resources.
The first device of Claim 5, wherein the first device is further caused to:

switch to a first target bandwidth part for receiving data transmission from the at least one target cell after transmitting the acknowledge message.
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, determine, based on carrier indicator field, a preconfigured cell of the first device associated with the scheduling data; and

in response to determining that the preconfigured cell is a secondary cell, obtain a bandwidth part identifier from the control information message, the identifier indicating a second target bandwidth part for receiving data transmission from the secondary cell.
The first device of Claim 7, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determine a part of the control information message associated with the second target bandwidth part of the secondary cell; and

receive data transmission from the secondary cell based on a part of the control information.
The first device of Claim 7, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determine a part of the control information message associated with the second device based on a preconfigured bandwidth part;

determine resources for transmission to the second device based on the part of the control information message; and

transmit, to the second device, an acknowledge message indicating a reception of the control information message on the resources.
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, determine, from the control information message, resources for data transmission to the second device based on a preconfigured bandwidth part; and

transmit, to the second device, an acknowledge message indicating a reception of the control information message on the resources.
The first device of Claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to receive the control information message by:

receiving an indication for triggering a channel state measurement to be performed at the first device.
The first device of any Claim 1 -11, wherein the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device.
A method comprising:

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 be activated based on the control information message.
The method of Claim 13, wherein determining whether the control information message indicates scheduling data comprises:

obtaining a carrier indicator field from the control information message;

determining whether the carrier indicator field indicates a preconfigured cell of the first device; and

in response to determining that the carrier indicator field does not indicate the preconfigured cell, determining that the control information message does indicate an activation of the at least one target cell.
The method of Claim 13, wherein determining the at least one target cell comprises:

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

determining the at least one target cell based on the resource assignment field.
The method of Claim 13, further comprising:

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

determining a first target bandwidth part for receiving data transmission from the at least one target cell based on the bandwidth part identifier.
The method of Claim 13, further comprising:

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

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

transmitting, to the second device, an acknowledge message confirming a reception of the control information message on the resources.
The method of Claim 17, further comprising:

switching to a first target bandwidth part for receiving data transmission from the at least one target cell after transmitting the acknowledge message.
The method of Claim 13, further comprising:

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

in response to determining that the preconfigured cell is a secondary cell, obtaining a bandwidth part identifier from the control information message, the identifier indicating a second target bandwidth part for receiving data transmission from the secondary cell.
The method of Claim 19, further comprising:

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

receiving data transmission from the secondary cell based on a part of the control information.
The method of Claim 19, further comprising:

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

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

transmitting, to the second device, an acknowledge message indicating a reception of the control information message on the resources.
The method of Claim 19, further comprising:

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

transmitting, to the second device, an acknowledge message indicating a reception of the control information message on the resources.
The method of Claim 13, wherein receiving the control information message comprises:

receiving an indication for triggering a channel state measurement to be performed at the first device.
The method of any Claim 13 -23, wherein the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device.
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 in response to determining that the control information message does not indicate the scheduling data, determining at least one target cell to be activated based on the control information message.
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.