WO2015170001A1

WO2015170001A1 - Enabling interrupt free carrier aggregation

Info

Publication number: WO2015170001A1
Application number: PCT/FI2015/050256
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lars Dalsgaard; Tero Henttonen; Woonhee Hwang
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2014-05-09
Filing date: 2015-04-15
Publication date: 2015-11-12

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided carrier interrupts. In one aspect there is provided a method. The method may include receiving, by a user equipment, at least one of a broadcast or a signaling, wherein the at least one of the broadcast or the signaling includes information indicative of an allowance of interrupts on a first cell; sending, by the user equipment based on the received allowance at the first cell, an indication to cause interrupts on the first cell; and receiving a configuration from a base station serving the first cell, wherein the configuration takes into account that the user equipment causes the interrupts on the first cell. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described.

Description

ENABLING INTERRUPT FREE CARRIER AGGREGATION

Field

5

The subject matter described herein relates to wireless communications. Background i o Carrier aggregation allows increased bandwidth and, as such, increased data rates to a user equipment by aggregating carriers. For example, a user equipment may be allocated a primary carrier serving a primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary carriers serving corresponding secondary cells (SCells). These carriers may be continuous within the same frequency band, non-contiguous within a given frequency

15 band, or non-contiguous among frequency bands. The carrier aggregation-capable user equipment may also receive Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services.

Summary

20 Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided carrier interrupts.

In some example embodiments, there is provided a method. The method may include receiving, by a user equipment, at least one of a broadcast or a signaling, wherein the at 25 least one of the broadcast or the signaling includes information indicative of an allowance of interrupts on a first cell; sending, by the user equipment based on the received allowance at the first cell, an indication to cause interrupts on the first cell; and receiving a configuration from a base station serving the first cell, wherein the configuration takes into account that the user equipment creates the interrupts on the first cell.

30

In some variations, one or more of the features disclosed herein including the following features can optionally be included in any feasible combination. The first cell may include a primary cell. The first cell may be at least one of a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell. The first cell may include a primary cell associated with carrier aggregation. The 35 interrupts may represent interrupts in the first cell in order to perform one or more operations on a second cell. The interrupts may be caused to enable operations associated with at least one of inter-band carrier aggregation, intra-band carrier aggregation, dual connectivity, or multimedia broadcast multicast service. The signaling may include dedicated signaling. The broadcast may include a system information block. The sent indication may comprise capabilities information for the user equipment.

In some example embodiments, there is provided a method. The method may include sending information indicative of an allowance of interrupts on a first cell, wherein the information is sent via at least one of a broadcast or a signaling; receiving, in response to the allowance, an indication to cause by a user equipment interrupts on the first cell; and sending another indication representative of allowing the user equipment to activate the interrupts on the first cell.

The above-noted aspects and features may be implemented in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. The details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

Description of Drawings

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a system configured for carrier aggregation or dual connectivity, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 2 depicts an example process for carrier aggregation or dual connectivity, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 3 depicts an example of a user equipment, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments; and

FIG. 4 depicts an example of a base station, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.

Like labels are used to refer to same or similar items in the drawings. Detailed Description Carrier aggregation allows the network to configure a user equipment so that it can aggregate two or more carriers, which may serve to provide increased capacity/data throughput. Carrier aggregation may impose additional burdens on the user equipment in order to function. For example, the user equipment behavior for carrier aggregation support may be configured with respect to secondary cells (SCells), such as SCell detection, SCell measurements, SCell configuration/de-configuration, and 5 activation/deactivation of SCells.

Although some of the example embodiments refer to carrier aggregation, the embodiments disclosed herein may also be applicable to other operations including dual connectivity, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services reception, and/or the like. i o Moreover, the examples referring to the carrier aggregation PCell may also be extended to apply to dual connectivity SCells and primary SCells as well.

At a user equipment there may be interrupts on a given PCell due to SCell operations. However, these interrupts may be seen in the PCell in the case of intra-band contiguous

15 carrier aggregation. Regarding disruptions to the PCell in the intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation case, the user equipment may need to re-tune its RF front-end to enable (or disable) the full carrier aggregation bandwidth. This re-tuning may cause any active reception in the PCell to be interrupted due the physical re-tuning of the center frequency to another intra-band frequency. Although disruptive to the PCell, this interrupt

20 in the PCell may be allowed under certain, controlled conditions. For example, the measurement cycle for a deactivated SCell may be equal to or larger than 640ms and the PCell interrupt may be limited to no more than 5ms.

The PCell interrupts may also be found in inter-band carrier aggregation. In the inter- 25 band carrier aggregation case, ongoing PCell activity may be interrupted due to SCell operations for measurements, activation, deactivation, configurations, and de- configurations. However, these types of inter-band interrupts may only be caused by certain types of user equipment implementations, such as a user equipment single chip implementation for carrier aggregation (for example, a single front-end that must tune to 30 another band). Although disruptive to the PCell, this interrupt in the PCell may be allowed under certain, controlled conditions. For example, the measurement cycle for a deactivated SCell may be equal to or larger than 640ms and the PCell interrupt may be limited to no more than 1 ms.

35 The PCell interrupts may also be found in MBMS reception. In the case of a carrier aggregation-capable UE, it may receive MBMS in the configurable SCell frequency or in other frequency, ongoing PCell activity may be interrupted due to reception of MBMS service in non-PCell frequency. These types of inter-band interrupts may only be caused by certain types of user equipment implementations, such as a user equipment single chip implementation for carrier aggregation and MBMS reception (for example, a single front-end that must tune to another band).

To address the PCell interrupts in the case of carrier aggregation and/or the like, existing signaling between the user equipment and network may be re-used to enable the base station to distinguish between the different types of user equipment (for example, the single chip user equipment solution that requires a PCell interrupt for inter and/or inter- band carrier aggregation and/or dual connectivity and those user equipment that do not need to interrupt the PCell in carrier aggregation and/or dual connectivity). Based on signaling, the network may then be able to identify which user equipment may cause an interrupt in case of inter-band carrier aggregation, which user equipment do not cause inter-band interrupts, and/or the like. Given the identity or type of user equipment, the network (for example, a base station) may take appropriate action, such as determine whether to allow the interrupts to the PCell and/or configure the interrupts (for example, provide for a certain deactivated SCell measurement cycle, take into account the possibility of dropped packets during an interrupt, keep an SCell continuously activated, and/or the like).

The PCell interrupts in the case of carrier aggregation and/or the like may also be addressed by implementing new signaling that enables the user equipment to indicate explicitly to the network whether the user equipment causes PCell interrupts with intra- and/or inter-band carrier aggregation and/or dual connectivity. The network may also be able to identify which user equipment cause interrupts in case of intra- and/or inter-band carrier aggregation and which user equipment do not cause interrupts. Based on being able to distinguish user equipment type, a base station may take appropriate action, such determine whether to allow the PCell interrupts and/or configure the user equipment for a suitable deactivated SCell measurement cycle, take the potential packet drop rate into account, keep SCell activated, assign a new small gap, and/or the like.

The PCell interrupts in case of MBMS reception may also be addressed by implementing new signaling that enables the user equipment to indicate explicitly to the network whether the user equipment causes PCell interrupts with MBMS reception. The network may also be able to identify which user equipment cause interrupts in case of MBMS reception and which user equipment do not cause interrupts. Based on being able to distinguish user equipment type, a base station may take appropriate action, such determine whether to allow the PCell interrupts, hand over the user equipment to the MBMS frequency and/or the like.

In either case where existing or new/additional signaling is used, there is a potential network/base station impact. Specifically, a base station not supporting this carrier aggregation PCell interrupt signaling may behave unpredictably when the base station does not understand the noted signaling provided by the user equipment. In the case of radio resource control (RRC) signaling between a base station and a user equipment, this signaling is specification/release dependent, so compatibility problems may occur. For example, if existing release signaling were to be changed, then some, already-existing user equipment may behave differently than those that have been implemented with the signaling change for PCell carrier aggregation interrupts. Moreover, an already-existing network may not understand the indication from a user equipment while those, that have been implemented with the signaling change for PCell carrier aggregation interrupts, may understand.

In some example embodiments, a user equipment may signal to the network that the user equipment requires interrupts in the PCell (for example, due to inter-band carrier aggregation, MBMS, and/or the like). The network/base station configured to understand this signaling from the user equipment may explicitly respond to the user equipment by indicating that the user equipment can use the interrupts in the PCell due to for example inter-band carrier aggregation or may react by configuring UE with a certain measurement cycle. However, if the network/base station does not respond with an indication that the user equipment is allowed to use the PCell interrupts for carrier aggregation inter-band, the user equipment may fallback to a behavior in which there is no re-tuning and/or interrupts are allowed (and thus no interrupts to the PCell due to the inter-band or intra- band carrier aggregation).

In some example embodiments, the network/base station may indicate via for example a broadcast or common (which may not be specific to one user equipment) or dedicated signaling that the PCell interrupt due to carrier aggregation operation, MBMS reception and/or any other functionality requiring re-tuning is allowed. This may be performed via for example, a system information broadcast (SIB), although other ways may be used to indicate this allowance. The user equipment (which is able to implement the solution) may thus know whether it can utilize the PCell interrupts based on for example the receive SIB information and provides indication(s) in the user equipment capabilities information that it requires PCell interruption for inter-frequency carrier aggregation, MBMS reception, and/or any other function requiring re-tuning. For example, the network may ask the user equipment to provide UE capability, and the user equipment may take into account the information received from the SIB when providing the actual capability. Also the indication that the interruption is allowed can be indicated in capability inquiry itself instead of SIB. In the inquiry case, the capability provision may be a direct response to the allowance of interruption As such, the network can understand the capabilities of the user equipment with respect to carrier aggregation and PCell interrupts, and the network may thus identify the configured behavior it expects from the user equipment.

Before providing additional examples related MBSFN measurements, the following provides a description of an example of a system, in accordance with some example embodiments.

FIG. 1 depicts a system 100 including a core network 190 which may be coupled via one or more backhaul links/networks to a plurality of base stations, such as base stations 1 10A-C serving cells 1 12A-C, and corresponding user equipment 1 14A-C. A user equipment, such as user equipment 1 14A, may be configured to support carrier aggregation (or dual connectivity operations). For example, user equipment 1 14A may couple to a PCell 1 12A at base station 1 1A and one or more SCells, such as SCell 1 12C served by base station 1 10C. Moreover, the dual connectivity may be inter-band or intra- band. In the case of inter-band for example, the user equipment may be required to re- tune its front-end to another band or activate (for example, a second receiver chain) in order to perform SCell operations, such as measure for example SCell 1 12C or 1 12B. This re-tuning or change in state of the second receiver chain as noted above may cause a PCell interrupt in some user equipment. FIG. 1 also shows at 199 signaling between the user equipment and network, and this signaling may notify the user equipment regarding whether the network allows PCell interrupts, notify the network whether the user equipment is of a type that interrupts the PCell, and/or provide configuration information for the PCell interrupt based operations to the user equipment.

In some example embodiments, user equipment, such as 1 14A-C, may be implemented as a mobile device and/or a stationary device. The user equipment may be referred to as, for example, a wireless device, a mobile station, a mobile unit, a subscriber station, a wireless terminal, a tablet, a smart phone, and/or the like. In some example embodiments, user equipment 1 14A may be implemented as multi-mode user devices configured to operate using a plurality of radio access technologies, although a single- mode device may be used as well. For example, user equipment may be configured to 5 operate using a plurality of radio access technologies including one or more of the following: Long Term Evolution (LTE), wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, such as 802.1 1 WiFi and/or the like, Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy (BT-LE), near field communications (NFC), and any other radio access technologies. The user equipment may be located within the coverage area of a cell or multiple cells. The user equipment i o may also be configured to support inter-band and/or intra-band carrier aggregation.

The base stations, such as base stations 1 10A-C may, in some example embodiments, be configured as an evolved Node B (eNB) type base station, although other types of base stations and wireless access points may be used as well. In the case of eNB type

15 base station, the base station may be configured in accordance with standards, including the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards, such as 3GPP TS 36.201 , Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Long Term Evolution (LTE) physical layer; General description, 3GPP TS 36.21 1 , Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical channels and modulation, 3GPP TS 36.212, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio

20 Access (E-UTRA); Multiplexing and channel coding, 3GPP TS 36.213, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures, 3GPP TS 36.214, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer - Measurements, and any subsequent additions or revisions to these and other 3GPP series of standards (collectively referred to as LTE standards). The base stations may also be configured to

25 serve cells using a WLAN technology, such as WiFi (for example, the IEEE 802.1 1 series of standards), as well as any other radio access technology capable of serving a cell. The base stations may have wired and/or wireless backhaul links to other networks and/or network nodes including core network 190. Although some of the examples described herein refer to E-UTRAN, other types of networks, such as UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial

30 Radio Access Network), GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access network), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), and/or any other type of radio network. Moreover, the base stations may also be configured to support inter-band and/or intra-band carrier aggregation.

35 Although FIG. 1 depicts a certain quantity and configuration of devices, other quantities and configurations may be implemented as well. For example, other quantities and configurations of base stations/access points, cells, and user equipment may be implemented as well.

FIG. 2 depicts a process 200 for informing the network of the user equipment's need for PCell interrupts, in accordance with some example embodiments. The description of FIG. 2 also refers to FIG. 1. Although the description of process 200 refers to carrier aggregation, process 200 may be applied to dual connectivity and other implementations where interrupts may be present. At 202, user equipment 1 14A may signal the network, such as base station 1 1 OA, regarding whether the user equipment requires (or causes) PCell interrupts with for example inter-band and/or intra-band carrier aggregation (as well as with dual connectivity, MBMS, and/or other re-tuning operations, such as due to a change in another/second receiver chain activity, such as a change of state from off to on and/or the like). As noted, the signaling may use existing signaling, such as RRC signaling, or signaling explicitly implemented to indicate the type of user equipment. At 202, the user equipment 1 14A request for interrupts may represent a UE request for small gaps to enable interrupt free carrier aggregation/DC operations by indicating that the UE causes the described interrupts.

At 206, base station 1 10A may (if it supports PCell interrupts, yes at 204) signal the user equipment with a response, in accordance with some example embodiments. In some example embodiments, the base station 1 1 OA may not respond at 204 and/or may respond at 204 only when the UE indicates. The response may indicate that user equipment 1 14A is allowed to interrupt the PCell for inter-band carrier aggregation operations, as well as for any other functionality requiring re-tuning, such as dual connectivity, MBMS, and/or the like. Moreover, the response may provide a configuration for the interrupt or for avoiding the interrupt, although this configuration may be provided at other times and/or specified in a standard. The network-to-user equipment signaling at 206 may, in some example embodiments, be implicit, so that the absence (or a combination of presence and absence of one or more fields) indicates to the user equipment that it may or may not interrupt the PCell for inter-band carrier aggregation (and/or dual connectivity and/or the like). Alternatively or additionally, the signaling at 206 may, in some example embodiments, be explicit, so that the presence of one or more fields indicates that the user equipment is allowed to implement PCell interrupts (for example, for carrier aggregation, dual connectivity, MBMS, and/or any other functionality requiring re-tuning). Furthermore, the signaling at 206 may also be band (or band combination) dependent, so that the PCell interrupts for carrier aggregation is only allowed for certain bands but not for others (for example, when the base station configures the user equipment, the RRC configuration indicates to the user equipment whether the user equipment's PCell interrupt behavior is allowed with the currently configured band combination or for measuring a certain band.

At 212, user equipment 1 14A may activate or be allowed the PCell interrupts due to for example inter-band carrier aggregation, intra-band carrier aggregation, dual connectivity, MBMS, and/or the like, and the interrupts may be performed in accordance with the configuration provided by response 206. For example, PCell interrupts may allow the user equipment to support SCell operations for measurements, activation, deactivation, configurations, and de-configurations. Moreover, the configuration of the PCell interrupts may be limited based on a configuration specified in a standard or provided as noted at 206 (for example, a configuration to provide a suitable deactivated SCell measurement cycle, take into account potential packet drops, keep an SCell activated, assign a new small gap, and/or the like). Moreover, although process 200 describes interrupts on the PCell, process 200 may also be used for interrupts on the SCell (as well as any other type of cell). For example, the user equipment causes interrupts on the SCell (or carrier(s) serving that cell) to perform some type of operation.

However, if the base station 1 1 OA does not support PCell interrupts or the base station chooses to not configure the user equipment for PCell interrupts (no at 204), base station 1 1 OA may not respond at 208 or respond with a certain message that indicates to user equipment 1 14A that it cannot implement or cause PCell interrupts for inter-band carrier aggregation and/or the like, in which case PCell interrupts are inhibited at 212. Moreover, if the base station 1 10A does not indicate support for PCell interrupts due to inter-band carrier aggregation and/or the like, the user equipment is not allowed to indicate that it causes interrupts and the base station may choose to not configure the user equipment for PCell interrupts (no at 204), base station 1 1 OA may not respond at 208 or respond with a certain message that indicates to user equipment 1 14A that it cannot implement or cause PCell interrupts for inter-band carrier aggregation, in which case PCell interrupts are inhibited at 212 In some example embodiments, the network may, at 201 , broadcast (for example, via a SIB and/or the like) or use dedicated signaling (for example, RRC signaling) to notify one or more user equipment whether the network supports or allows PCell interrupts or allows indication of the user equipment causing interrupts. Moreover, this signaling may be band or bands specific. For example, if the base station 1 10A broadcasts that it does not support or allow PCell interrupts (in for example one or more bands), then user equipment 5 1 14A may be configured to not send this information in message 202 to base station 1 10A, in accordance with some example embodiments.

To illustrate further, a legacy network may not indicate anything related to PCell interruption allowance due to carrier aggregation, dual connectivity, MBMS, and/or the i o like to a user equipment because the legacy network does not support the signaling (or understand the user equipment indication at 202). When this is the case, a legacy user equipment may not be impacted, but a user equipment (which causes interrupts and supports indication PCell interrupts) will understand that the network not indicating PCell interrupt allowance means the user equipment is not allowed to indicate/request the

15 network to allow PCell interrupts. On the other hand, a network that does support PCell interrupt may indicate that user equipment is allowed to use this indication at 202. If the network indicates that user equipment is not allowed to indicate support for PCell interrupts to the network, the behavior is similar to the noted legacy network behavior. If the network indicates that user equipment is allowed to inform that user equipment will

20 causes PCell interrupts, a legacy user equipment will not understand this and send no indication at 202. But a configured user equipment will understand this and thus send indication 202 to the network. After receiving PCell interrupt capability at 202, the network at 204 may configure the user equipment accord ingly(for example, configuration to allow interruption, configuration not to allow interruption, configuration to hand over and/or the

25 like).

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus 10, which can be configured as user equipment in accordance with some example embodiments.

30 The apparatus 10 may include at least one antenna 12 in communication with a transmitter 14 and a receiver 16. Alternatively transmit and receive antennas may be separate.

The apparatus 10 may also include a processor 20 configured to provide signals to and 35 receive signals from the transmitter and receiver, respectively, and to control the functioning of the apparatus. Processor 20 may be configured to control the functioning of the transmitter and receiver by effecting control signaling via electrical leads to the transmitter and receiver. Likewise processor 20 may be configured to control other elements of apparatus 10 by effecting control signaling via electrical leads connecting processor 20 to the other elements, such as for example, a display or a memory. The processor 20 may, for example, be embodied in a variety of ways including circuitry, at least one processing core, one or more microprocessors with accompanying digital signal processor(s), one or more processor(s) without an accompanying digital signal processor, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or more computers, various other processing elements including integrated circuits (for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or the like), or some combination thereof. Accordingly, although illustrated in FIG. 3 as a single processor, in some example embodiments the processor 20 may comprise a plurality of processors or processing cores.

Signals sent and received by the processor 20 may include signaling information in accordance with an air interface standard of an applicable cellular system, and/or any number of different wireline or wireless networking techniques, comprising but not limited to Wi-Fi, wireless local access network (WLAN) techniques, such as for example, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1 1 , 802.16, and/or the like. In addition, these signals may include speech data, user generated data, user requested data, and/or the like.

The apparatus 10 may be capable of operating with one or more air interface standards, communication protocols, modulation types, access types, and/or the like. For example, the apparatus 10 and/or a cellular modem therein may be capable of operating in accordance with various first generation (1 G) communication protocols, second generation (2G or 2.5G) communication protocols, third-generation (3G) communication protocols, fourth-generation (4G) communication protocols, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) communication protocols (for example, session initiation protocol (SIP) and/or the like. For example, the apparatus 10 may be capable of operating in accordance with 2G wireless communication protocols IS-136, Time Division Multiple Access TDMA, Global System for Mobile communications, GSM, IS-95, Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA, and/or the like. In addition, for example, the apparatus 10 may be capable of operating in accordance with 2.5G wireless communication protocols General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), and/or the like. Further, for example, the apparatus 10 may be capable of operating in accordance with 3G wireless communication protocols, such as for example, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division- Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and/or the like. The apparatus 10 may be additionally capable of operating in accordance with 3.9G wireless communication protocols, such as for example, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and/or the like. Additionally, for example, the apparatus 10 may be capable of operating in accordance with 4G wireless communication protocols, such as for example, LTE Advanced and/or the like as well as similar wireless communication protocols that may be subsequently developed. Further, the apparatus may be capable of operating in accordance with carrier aggregation.

It is understood that the processor 20 may include circuitry for implementing audio/video and logic functions of apparatus 10. For example, the processor 20 may comprise a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, and/or the like. Control and signal processing functions of the apparatus 10 may be allocated between these devices according to their respective capabilities. The processor 20 may additionally comprise an internal voice coder (VC) 20a, an internal data modem (DM) 20b, and/or the like. Further, the processor 20 may include functionality to operate one or more software programs, which may be stored in memory. In general, processor 20 and stored software instructions may be configured to cause apparatus 10 to perform actions. For example, processor 20 may be capable of operating a connectivity program, such as for example, a web browser. The connectivity program may allow the apparatus 10 to transmit and receive web content, such as for example, location-based content, according to a protocol, such as for example, wireless application protocol, WAP, hypertext transfer protocol, HTTP, and/or the like.

Apparatus 10 may also comprise a user interface including, for example, an earphone or speaker 24, a ringer 22, a microphone 26, a display 28, a user input interface, and/or the like, which may be operationally coupled to the processor 20. The display 28 may, as noted above, include a touch sensitive display, where a user may touch and/or gesture to make selections, enter values, and/or the like. The processor 20 may also include user interface circuitry configured to control at least some functions of one or more elements of the user interface, such as for example, the speaker 24, the ringer 22, the microphone 26, the display 28, and/or the like. The processor 20 and/or user interface circuitry comprising the processor 20 may be configured to control one or more functions of one or more elements of the user interface through computer program instructions, for example, software and/or firmware, stored on a memory accessible to the processor 20, for example, volatile memory 40, non-volatile memory 42, and/or the like. The apparatus 10 may include a battery for powering various circuits related to the mobile terminal, for example, a circuit to provide mechanical vibration as a detectable output. The user input interface may comprise devices allowing the apparatus 20 to receive data, such as for example, a keypad 30 (which can be a virtual keyboard presented on display 28 or an externally coupled keyboard) and/or other input devices.

As shown in FIG. 3, apparatus 10 may also include one or more mechanisms for sharing and/or obtaining data. For example, the apparatus 10 may include a short-range radio frequency (RF) transceiver and/or interrogator 64, so data may be shared with and/or obtained from electronic devices in accordance with RF techniques. The apparatus 10 may include other short-range transceivers, such as for example, an infrared (IR) transceiver 66, a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver 68 operating using Bluetooth wireless technology, a wireless universal serial bus (USB) transceiver 70, and/or the like. The Bluetooth transceiver 68 may be capable of operating according to low power or ultra-low power Bluetooth technology, for example, Wibree, radio standards. In this regard, the apparatus 10 and, in particular, the short-range transceiver may be capable of transmitting data to and/or receiving data from electronic devices within a proximity of the apparatus, such as for example, within 10 meters, for example. The apparatus 10 including the WiFi or wireless local area networking modem may also be capable of transmitting and/or receiving data from electronic devices according to various wireless networking techniques, including 6LoWpan, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi low power, WLAN techniques such as for example, IEEE 802.1 1 techniques, IEEE 802.15 techniques, IEEE 802.16 techniques, and/or the like.

The apparatus 10 may comprise memory, such as for example, a subscriber identity module (SIM) 38, a removable user identity module (R-UIM), and/or the like, which may store information elements related to a mobile subscriber. In addition to the SIM, the apparatus 10 may include other removable and/or fixed memory. The apparatus 10 may include volatile memory 40 and/or non-volatile memory 42. For example, volatile memory 40 may include Random Access Memory (RAM) including dynamic and/or static RAM, on-chip or off-chip cache memory, and/or the like. Non-volatile memory 42, which may be embedded and/or removable, may include, for example, read-only memory, flash memory, magnetic storage devices, for example, hard disks, floppy disk drives, magnetic tape, optical disc drives and/or media, non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), and/or the like. Like volatile memory 40, non-volatile memory 42 may include a cache area for temporary storage of data. At least part of the volatile and/or non-volatile memory may be embedded in processor 20. The memories may store one or more software programs, instructions, pieces of information, data, and/or the like which may be used by the apparatus for performing functions of the user equipment/mobile terminal. The memories may comprise an identifier, such as for example, an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, capable of uniquely identifying apparatus 10. The functions may include one or more of the operations disclosed herein with respect to the user equipment, such as for example, the functions disclosed at process 200 (for example, receiving, by a user equipment, at least one of a broadcast or a signaling, wherein the at least one of the broadcast or the signaling includes information indicative of an allowance of interrupts on a first cell; sending, by the user equipment based on the received allowance at the first cell, an indication to cause interrupts on the first cell; and receiving a configuration from a base station serving the first cell, wherein the configuration takes into account that the user equipment causes the interrupts on the first cell). The memories may comprise an identifier, such as for example, an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, capable of uniquely identifying apparatus 10. In the example embodiment, the processor 20 may be configured using computer code stored at memory 40 and/or 42 to enable the user equipment to operate as disclosed herein with respect to process 200 and/or the like.

FIG. 4 depicts an example implementation of a network node, such as a base station, access point, and/or any other type of node. The network node may include one or more antennas 720 configured to transmit via a downlink and configured to receive uplinks via the antenna(s) 720. The network node may further include a plurality of radio interfaces 740 coupled to the antenna 720. The radio interfaces may correspond one or more of the following: Long Term Evolution (LTE, or E-UTRAN), Third Generation (3G, UTRAN, or high speed packet access (HSPA)), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, such as for example 802.1 1 WiFi and/or the like, Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy (BT-LE), near field communications (NFC), and any other radio technologies. The radio interface 740 may further include other components, such as filters, converters (for example, digital-to-analog converters and/or the like), mappers, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) module, and/or the like, to generate symbols for a transmission via one or more downlinks and to receive symbols (for example, via an uplink). The network node may further include one or more processors, such as processor 730, for controlling the network node and for accessing and executing program code stored in memory 735. In some example embodiments, memory 735 includes code, which when executed by at least one processor causes one or more of the operations described herein with respect to a base station (for example, sending information indicative of an allowance of interrupts on a first cell, wherein the information is sent via at least one of a broadcast or a signaling; receiving, in response to the allowance, an indication to cause by a user equipment interrupts on the first cell; and sending another indication representative of allowing the user equipment to activate the interrupts on the first cell).

Some of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in software, hardware, application logic, or a combination of software, hardware, and application logic. The software, application logic, and/or hardware may reside on memory 40, the control apparatus 20, or electronic components, for example. In some example embodiment, the application logic, software or an instruction set is maintained on any one of various conventional computer-readable media. In the context of this document, a "computer- readable medium" may be any non-transitory media that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as for example, a computer or data processor, with examples depicted at FIGs. 3 and 4. A computer-readable medium may comprise a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that may be any media that can contain or store the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as for example, a computer. Moreover, some of the embodiments disclosed herein include computer programs configured to cause methods as disclosed herein (see, for example, process 200, and/or the like).

Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, a technical effect of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein may include more predictable behavior in user equipment and networks with respect to PCell interrupts and associated operations.

If desired, the different functions discussed herein may be performed in a different order and/or concurrently with each other. Furthermore, if desired, one or more of the above- described functions may be optional or may be combined. Although various aspects of the disclosed embodiments are set out in the independent claims, other aspects of the disclosed embodiments comprise other combinations of features from the described embodiments and/or the dependent claims with the features of the independent claims, and not solely the combinations explicitly set out in the claims. It is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments, these descriptions should not be viewed in a limiting sense. Rather, there are several variations and modifications that may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosed embodiments as defined in the appended claims. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims. The term "based on" includes "based on at least."

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending, by a user equipment, an indication to cause interrupts on a first cell; and receiving, by the user equipment, a configuration from a base station serving the first cell, wherein the configuration takes into account that the user equipment causes the interrupts on the first cell.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first cell comprises a primary cell.

3. The method of claims 1 , wherein the first cell is at least one of a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first cell comprises a primary cell associated with carrier aggregation.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interrupts represents interrupts in the first cell in order to perform one or more operations on a second cell.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interrupts are caused to enable operations associated with at least one of inter-band carrier aggregation, intra-band carrier aggregation, dual connectivity, or multimedia broadcast multicast service.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration comprises configuring the user equipment to allow interrupts in the first cell.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the configuration comprises a deactivated secondary cell measurement cycle.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sent indication comprises capabilities information for the user equipment.

10. An apparatus 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 apparatus to perform at least the following:

send, by the apparatus, an indication to cause interrupts on a first cell; and receive, by the apparatus a configuration from a base station serving the first cell, wherein the configuration takes into account that the apparatus causes the interrupts on the first cell.

1 1 . The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first cell comprises a primary cell.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first cell is at least one of a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first cell comprises a primary cell associated with carrier aggregation.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the interrupts represents interrupts in the first cell in order to perform one or more operations on a second cell.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the interrupts are caused to enable operations associated with at least one of inter-band carrier aggregation, intra-band carrier aggregation, dual connectivity, or multimedia broadcast multicast service.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the configuration comprises configuring the user equipment to allow interrupts in the first cell.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the configuration comprises a deactivated secondary cell measurement cycle.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the sent indication comprises capabilities information for the user equipment.

19. An apparatus comprising:

means for sending, by an apparatus, an indication to cause interrupts on a first cell; and means for receiving a response from a base station serving the first cell, wherein response indicates the apparatus is allowed to activate the interrupts on the first cell.

20. A method comprising:

receiving, an indication to cause by a user equipment interrupts on the first cell; and

sending indication representative of allowing the user equipment to activate the interrupts on the first cell.

21 . An apparatus 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 apparatus to perform at least the following:

receive an indication to cause by a user equipment interrupts on a first cell; and send an indication representative of allowing the user equipment to activate the interrupts on the first cell.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer program code, which when executed by at least one processor provides operations comprising: receiving, an indication to cause by a user equipment interrupts on a first cell; and sending an indication representative of allowing the user equipment to activate the interrupts on the first cell.

23. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving an indication to cause by a user equipment interrupts on a first cell; and

means for sending an indication representative of allowing the user equipment to activate the interrupts on the first cell.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer program code, which when executed by at least one processor provides operations comprising: sending, by a user equipment, an indication to cause interrupts on a first cell; and receiving, by a user equipment, a configuration from a base station serving the first cell, wherein the configuration takes into account that the user equipment causes the interrupts on the first cell.