CN103096329A

CN103096329A - Carrier wave configuration method and system

Info

Publication number: CN103096329A
Application number: CN2011103417056A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 苟伟; 张峻峰; 夏树强; 戴博
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2011-11-02
Filing date: 2011-11-02
Publication date: 2013-05-08
Also published as: WO2013064056A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a carrier wave configuration method and a system. A base station ascertains a corresponding relation between carrier waves and the component carrier waves paired with the carrier waves; and according to the corresponding relation, the base station configures the primary synchronization signals (PSS)/ the secondary synchronization signals (SSS) and/or the cell-specific reference signals (CRS) in the carrier waves. The invention further correspondingly discloses a carrier wave configuration system. According to the carrier wave configuration method and the system, at the same time that user equipment (UE) working in the carrier waves is capable of keeping a synchronous downlink, the frequency resource consumption of the carrier waves from a synchronizing channel and reference signals can be reduced, so that the resource utilization rate of the carrier waves is improved.

Description

Carrier configuration method and system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of mobile wireless communications, and in particular, to a carrier configuration method and system.

Background

With the development of the mobile communication industry and the increasing demand for mobile data services, the demand for mobile communication rate and quality of service (Qos) is higher, and therefore, before the third generation mobile communication (3G) is not yet commercialized in a large scale, research and development work on the next generation mobile communication system has been started, wherein the LTE system can provide the highest spectrum bandwidth of 20MHz (megahertz), typically, by the Long Term Evolution (LTE) project initiated by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP). With the further evolution of the network, as an LTE evolution system, LTE-a (evolution LTE) can provide a spectrum bandwidth up to 100MHz, support more flexible and higher-quality communication, and meanwhile, the LTE-a system has good backward compatibility. In an LTE-a system, there are multiple Component Carriers (CCs), one LTE terminal can only operate on a certain CC that is backward compatible, and an LTE-a terminal with a strong capability can simultaneously transmit on multiple CCs. Namely, the terminal of the LTE-A can transmit and receive data in a plurality of component carriers at the same time, thereby achieving the purpose of improving the bandwidth. This technique is referred to as a multi-carrier aggregation technique.

In the LTE-a system, a multi-carrier aggregation technology is supported, and data is transmitted by multi-carrier aggregation in order to achieve a larger bandwidth. The base station subordinate to a maximum of 5 carriers, which are called component carriers, are carriers having backward compatibility. With the development of standardization, the protocols provide for the introduction of relay nodes, which are of various types, such as Pico, femto, RRH, etc. (here, the relay node takes RRH as an example), so that some carriers need to be relayed by RRH before reaching the UE, as shown in fig. 1.

The carriers have backward compatibility, the configuration is well-fixed, and the configuration of each carrier is the same. However, in practical applications, it is not necessary to configure each carrier separately as a carrier with backward compatibility, because each carrier supporting an old version of channels and reference signals, etc. are configured in the backward compatible carrier, and these channels and reference signals affect the efficiency of the carrier to some extent, and as technology advances, the efficiency of these channels and reference signals is significantly reduced, especially when the number of UEs in the old version is small in the system, because the UEs in the old version can slowly push out the history stage. Therefore, research on a multi-carrier system needs to be carried out, and a carrier configuration mode is provided, so that the resource utilization rate of the carrier can be effectively improved.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention provides a method and a system for configuring a carrier, which can improve the resource utilization of the carrier.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

a carrier configuration method, comprising:

the base station determines the corresponding relation between the carrier and the component carrier matched with the carrier;

and the base station configures primary and secondary synchronization signals PSS/SSS and/or cell-specific reference signals CRS in the carrier according to the corresponding relation.

After the base station determines the correspondence between the carrier and the component carrier paired therewith, the method further includes:

and the base station sends the corresponding relation to the UE through point-to-multipoint system broadcast information or RRC signaling, or the base station sends the corresponding relation to the UE through point-to-point RRC signaling or a special control channel.

After the base station determines the correspondence between the carrier and the component carrier paired therewith, the method further includes: and the base station informs the corresponding relation to the UE which is going to work or is working in the carrier.

The base station determines that the corresponding relation between the carrier and the component carrier paired with the carrier is as follows:

and the base station preferentially selects the component carrier waves in the same band as the pairing carrier waves of the component carrier waves.

the base station preferentially configures the same transmission node for the carrier and the component carrier paired with the carrier, or preferentially configures the component carrier with the same transmission node for the carrier.

The base station configures the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier according to the corresponding relation:

when the carrier and the frequency point of the matched component carrier are in the same band, the base station informs and indicates the UE, and PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration does not exist in the carrier;

and when the frequency points of the carrier and the matched component carrier are in different bands, the base station informs and indicates the UE, and the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration condition in the carrier.

The configuration case comprises the following steps:

the PSS/SSS configuration time frequency resource and/or period and/or sequence, and/or CRS configuration pattern and/or period and/or sequence.

The configuration case further includes: whether CRS and/or PSS/SSS in LTE R10 are configured in the carrier.

The method further comprises the following steps: when the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 is configured in the carrier, the resource position of the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that transmitted in LTE R10, and/or the transmission period of the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTER 10.

when a carrier and a transmission node experienced by a paired component carrier in the process of reaching UE are completely the same, a base station informs and indicates the UE, and PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration does not exist in the carrier;

when the carrier and the component carrier are not identical to each other in the transmission node, the base station informs and indicates the UE, and the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration condition in the carrier.

The configuration case comprises the following steps:

The method further comprises the following steps: when the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 is configured in the carrier, the base station configures the resource position of the PSS/SSS to be different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or configures the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS to be different from that transmitted in LTE R10.

After the base station configures the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS in the carrier according to the corresponding relationship, the method further includes:

and the base station informs the UE of the configuration information, and when the UE working in the carrier knows that the PSS/SSS and/or CRS are configured in the carrier, the UE uses the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier to synchronize with the carrier.

and the base station informs the UE whether the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in LTE R10 is configured in the carrier or not through the pairing component carrier of the carrier.

the base station informs and indicates configuration information of PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier through a pairing component carrier of the carrier.

When the base station configures the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS in the carrier according to the corresponding relationship, the method further includes:

the base station informs the configuration of a system frame number and/or a physical broadcast channel PBCH in the carrier through the component carrier, wherein the configuration of the PBCH refers to whether the PBCH is configured in the carrier or not, or the position and/or the period of the PBCH configuration.

A carrier configuration system, comprising: a corresponding relation determining unit and a configuration unit; wherein,

the corresponding relation determining unit is used for determining the corresponding relation between the carrier and the component carrier matched with the carrier;

the configuration unit is configured to configure the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS in the carrier according to the corresponding relationship determined by the corresponding relationship determination unit.

The system also comprises a communication unit used for sending the corresponding relation determined by the corresponding relation determining unit to the UE through point-to-multipoint system broadcast information or RRC signaling, or sending the corresponding relation to the UE through point-to-point RRC signaling or a dedicated control channel.

The communication unit is further configured to notify and indicate the UE when the frequency points of the carrier and the paired component carrier are in the same band, where the carrier has no PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration; and when the frequency points of the carrier and the paired component carrier are in different bands, notifying and indicating the UE, and the configuration condition of the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier.

The configuration unit is further configured to, when the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 is configured in a carrier, configure the resource location of the PSS/SSS to be different from the resource location of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or configure the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS to be different from the sequence transmitted in LTE R10, and/or configure the transmission period of the PSS/SSS to be different from the period of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10.

The communication unit is further configured to notify and indicate the UE when the carrier and the paired component carrier are completely the same as the experienced transmission node in the process of reaching the UE, where there is no PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration in the carrier; and when the carrier and the component carrier are not identical to the transmission node experienced in the process of reaching the UE, informing and indicating the UE of the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration condition in the carrier.

The configuration unit is further configured to, when the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 is configured in a carrier, configure resource locations of the PSS/SSS to be different from resource locations of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or configure a sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS to be different from a sequence transmitted in LTE R10.

The communication unit is further configured to notify the UE of the configuration information after the configuration unit configures the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS in the carrier.

The communication unit is further configured to notify, through the component carrier, a system frame number and/or a configuration of PBCH in the carrier, where the configuration of PBCH refers to whether PBCH is configured in the carrier or not, or a location and/or a period of PBCH configuration.

The invention relates to a carrier configuration method and a system.A base station determines the corresponding relation between a carrier and a component carrier matched with the carrier; and the base station configures primary and secondary synchronization signals (PSS/SSS) and/or Cell-specific reference signals (CRS) in the carrier according to the corresponding relation. The invention can reduce the frequency resource consumption of the carrier by the synchronous channel and the reference signal while ensuring that the UE can keep the downlink synchronization when working in the carrier, thereby improving the resource utilization rate of the carrier.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of multi-carrier aggregation with RRH relay;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a carrier configuration method according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a pairing process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The basic idea of the invention is: the base station determines the corresponding relation between the carrier and the component carrier paired with the carrier (the carrier and the component carrier in the description are two nouns); and the base station configures the PSS/SSS and/or the reference signal in the carrier wave according to the corresponding relation. For the carrier, the reference signal therein may be dynamically or semi-statically configured, and the configuration information is sent to the UE through the component carrier, so that the efficiency of the reference signal in the carrier is higher. The reference signal may be a CRS, and although the efficiency of the conventional reference signal is low, the present invention also includes the reference signal, because the reference signal may not be configured in the carrier through signaling in the present invention, even if the CRS is used, if the CRS is not configured in the carrier, the effect of improving the carrier efficiency may be achieved. For convenience of description, the CRS is used as an example.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a carrier configuration method of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, the method includes:

step 201: the base station determines the correspondence of the carrier and the component carrier paired therewith.

Step 202: and the base station configures the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier wave according to the corresponding relation.

Optionally, after step 201, the method further includes:

Optionally, after step 201, the method further includes: and the base station informs the corresponding relation to the UE which is going to work or is working in the carrier.

Optionally, in step 201, the base station determines that the correspondence between the carrier and the component carrier paired with the carrier is: the base station selects the component carrier wave in the same band as the pairing carrier wave preferentially for the carrier wave, wherein the component carrier wave corresponding to the carrier wave configuration by the base station is in the same band with the frequency point of the carrier wave, or in different bands.

Optionally, in step 201, the base station determines that the correspondence between the carrier and the component carrier paired with the carrier is: the base station configures the same transmission node or different transmission nodes for the carrier and the component carrier matched with the carrier; or, the base station configures component carriers with the same or different transmission nodes for the carriers as its paired carriers, and the base station preferentially configures the same transmission nodes for the carriers and the component carriers paired therewith, or preferentially configures component carriers with the same transmission nodes for the carriers.

Optionally, in step 202, the base station configures, according to the correspondence, a PSS/SSS and/or a CRS in the carrier:

The configuration case may include: the PSS/SSS configuration time frequency resource and/or period and/or sequence, and/or CRS configuration pattern and/or period and/or sequence.

The configuration case may further include: whether the CRS and/or the PSS/SSS in the LTE R10 (the configuration of the CRS and/or the PSS/SSS in the LTE R8, R9 and R10 is the same, wherein the LTE R10 generally refers to the CRS and/or the PSS/SSS in accordance with the specification requirements of the LTER 8/R9/R10) are configured in the carrier.

Optionally, the method further includes: when the PSS/SSS is configured in the carrier, the resource position of the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that transmitted in LTE R10, and/or the transmission period of the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTER10, so as to avoid the mistaken access of LTE R10 UE.

Optionally, the method further includes: when the CRS is configured in the carrier, the CRS configured by the base station is the same as the CRS of the LTER10, and when the reference signal different from the CRS is configured in the carrier, the base station notifies the UE through the component carrier, wherein the pattern and/or the period of the reference signal different from the CRS.

The configuration case may further include: whether CRS and/or PSS/SSS in LTE R10 are configured in the carrier.

Optionally, the method further includes: when the PSS/SSS is configured in the carrier, the base station configures the resource position of the PSS/SSS to be different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or configures the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS to be different from that transmitted in LTE R10, so as to avoid R10UE from being accessed by mistake.

Optionally, after step 201, the method further includes:

Optionally, in step 202, the base station notifies, through the component carrier, a system frame number and/or a configuration of a PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel) in the carrier, where the configuration of the PBCH refers to whether the carrier is configured with the PBCH or a location and/or a period of the PBCH configuration.

Specifically, the present invention provides a method for a base station to determine whether a PSS/SSS and/or a CRS configuration needs to be performed on its paired carrier through the carrier, for example, for a carrier without a PSS/SSS and/or a CRS, such as an extension carrier (which is a non-independently operated non-backward compatible carrier and must be paired with a backward compatible carrier for use, and as a part of the backward compatible carrier, the extension carrier is operated by means of carrier aggregation, and the size of the carrier must be one of six bandwidths (1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20MHz) supported by the existing LTE system (If specific, an a carrier which can be operated as a single carrier), and a packet a part of an a component carrier which can be operated as a single carrier), the method can be implemented according to the scheme of the invention, and the base station can adjust the configuration conditions of the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS in the carrier wave through a flexible signaling mode. And if the configuration is not the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS, the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS are/is provided, and the configuration for the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS is sent to the UE. In a multi-carrier system, the number of carriers subordinate to a base station is large, and the use of each carrier should be flexible, so the method proposes to configure the PSS/SSS and/or CRS of another carrier through one carrier (including the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configured with or without LTE R8/R9/R10), so that in some scenarios, the base station can notify another carrier that the PSS/SSS and/or CRS is not configured through a paired carrier to save resources, and the UE can keep synchronization with the carrier without the PSS/SSS and/or CRS through the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the paired carrier, thereby realizing the operation in the carrier. When the base station changes the use of the carrier, if the PSS/SSS and/or CRS needs to be configured under the new use, the base station can inform and indicate the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration condition in the carrier through the carrier paired with the carrier.

The invention can enhance the flexibility of using the subordinate carrier of the base station in the multi-carrier system, and make the PSS/SSS and/or CRS of the carrier dynamic, thereby achieving the purpose of saving resources on the premise of not influencing the normal work of the system. And the invention provides a method for informing the PSS/SSS and/or CRS conditions of the paired carriers by the base station through the carrier pairing mode by using the paired carriers.

On the basis of the above, the present invention may further provide the configuration of PBCH for another carrier by configuring one of the carriers through the relationship of carrier pairing. The specific configuration is the same as PSS/SSS and/or CRS described above. For example, whether PBCH is configured in another carrier or the configured resource location and/or periodicity of PBCH in another carrier may be provided.

A base station needs to determine a relationship of paired carriers, where pairing between carriers may be one-to-many, many-to-one, or one-to-one, and fig. 3 and 4 are two kinds of pairing diagrams in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, a carrier 1 is paired with a carrier 2, and a carrier 3 is paired with a carrier 4, as shown in fig. 4, a carrier 1 is paired with a carrier 2 and a carrier 3, respectively.

For example, carrier 1 is paired with carrier 2, then the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration in carrier 2 indicated in carrier 1 may be selected, or the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration in carrier 1 indicated in carrier 2 may be selected, here mainly depending on which carrier of carrier 1 or carrier 2 the PSS/SSS and/or CRS may be reconfigured. The base station may also pair carrier 1 with carrier 2 and carrier 3, and then indicate, through carrier 1, the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration in the carriers 2 and 3. The base station may also pair carrier 1, carrier 2, carrier 3 with carrier 4, and then indicate the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration of carrier 4 through carrier 1, carrier 2, and carrier 3, respectively, which is many-to-one.

The paired carriers are selected according to requirements, and the basic principle is that the pairing of the carriers within the same band and subjected to the same transmission node in the transmission process is considered preferentially. This may allow the PSS/SSS and/or CRS not to be configured in one of the paired carriers to conserve resources, and the UE may utilize the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the other of the paired carriers to synchronize with the operating carrier. For example, if the base station determines that carrier 1 is paired with carrier 2, and then carrier 1 and carrier 2 satisfy the above-mentioned requirement of being located in the same band and having the same transmission node, the base station may configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in carrier 1, not configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in carrier 2, and notify and indicate the UE through carrier 1, and not configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in carrier 2. Thus, UEs that are about to operate in carrier 2 or are operating in carrier 2 may utilize PSS/SSS and/or CRS in carrier 1 to maintain synchronization with carrier 2.

When the above situation changes, for example, transmission nodes experienced by paired carrier 1 and carrier 2 are different, the base station may notify PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration in carrier 2 through carrier 1. Thus, dynamic configuration of PSS/SSS and/or CRS of the carrier waves in the system can be realized. The carrier is a carrier which needs to be used together with other carriers, and is aggregated and used with a compatible carrier through an aggregation technology, so that the effect of expanding the transmission bandwidth of the data domain of the compatible carrier is achieved. Such carriers are typically not configured with PSS/SSS and/or CRS to conserve bandwidth resources for data transmission. However, there are some cases that the carrier wave is not time-frequency synchronized with the paired carrier wave during the use process. For example, the carrier and the paired carrier are not in the same band, or the carrier and the paired carrier experience different transmission nodes, etc., which all result in that the UE operating in the carrier is out of synchronization with the carrier, so that the UE cannot continue to use the carrier, if this happens, the base station may configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier, and notify the UE through the carrier of the carrier pairing.

The configuration of the PSS/SSS and/or CRS may be divided into configuring the PSS/SSS in LTER8/R9/R10 and CRS in the required carrier, so that the base station only needs to notify the UE of the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier needing to configure the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the paired carrier. The base station may also configure a PSS/SSS and/or a CRS for the above carriers, which is different from that of LTE R8/R9/R10, for example, configure a different transmission resource from that of PSS/SSS of LTE R8/R9/R10, and notify the UE of the resource information through paired carriers, or configure a different sequence from that of PSS/SSS of LTE R8/R9/R10, where the sequence needs to be defined in advance with the UE. Configuring PSS/SSS different from LTE R8/R9/R10 may avoid UE of LTE R8/R9/R10 to access in the carrier. If the carrier is configured with the PSS/SSS of LTE R8/R9/R10, the UE of the LTER8/R9/R10 can be accessed, but the system broadcast information cannot be received after the access, so that the UE also needs to search for the carrier access again, and certain influence is brought to the UE.

Therefore, for the carrier, the base station determines a suitable component carrier for the carrier to pair, and according to the frequency point and/or transmission node distribution of the carrier and the component carrier, the base station determines the configuration of the PSS/SSS and/CRS in the carrier, and notifies the UE through the component carrier. The base station may notify the carrier pairing relationship in the UE system using system broadcast information or RRC signaling from point to multipoint in the component carrier, so that the UE in the system can know the pairing relationship in time. The base station can also inform the UEs which need to operate in the carrier and are operating in the carrier in a point-to-point manner, and the pairing relationship between the carrier and the component carrier in the system.

In addition to the foregoing base station preferentially considering carrier pairing pairs within the same band and having undergone the same transmission node in the transmission process, the base station may also pair carriers within different bands, for example, a 2GHz carrier is paired with a 900MHz carrier, which is also allowed, but according to the present invention, the base station needs to configure an independent PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the 900MHz carrier. And the base station informs the UE of configuring PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the 900Mhz carrier through the 2GHz carrier. Obviously, this is not an optimal pairing, but in some cases it is necessary to pair them, for example, the system has only the 2 carriers mentioned above.

If nodes with relay properties such as RRH exist in the system, the base station needs to consider that paired carriers experience the same nodes in the process of transmitting the paired carriers to the UE on the basis of priority of carrier pairing in the same band in the system, so that synchronization between the paired carriers can be ensured, and if the base station does not configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in one of the carriers, the UE can complete synchronization through the paired carriers. This is also a preferred scheme, and the present invention allows selecting carrier pairs with different transmission nodes, only the base station needs to configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier, and the operation is the same.

It may also be employed herein to determine whether the PSS/SSS and/or CRS are configured in the carrier in an agreed manner. For example, in a system without relay nodes such as RRHs, when a carrier determined by a base station and a component carrier paired with the carrier are located in the same band, PSS/SSS and/or CRS are not configured in a default carrier; and if the carrier is not located in the same band, configuring the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS in the default carrier, wherein the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration in the default carrier can be further defaulted to be the same as that in LTE R8/R9/R10. Therefore, after the base station sends the pairing relationship between the carrier and the component carrier to the UE after the agreement in the standard protocol, the UE can judge whether the carrier is located in the same band according to the pairing relationship and the frequency point information of the component carrier and the carrier, so that the UE can know whether the carrier is provided with the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS, and when the carrier is provided with the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS, the UE uses the PSS/SSS and/or the CRS in the carrier for synchronization.

In each of the above cases, the optional base station may further notify the UE of the system frame number of the paired carrier by pairing the carrier, so as to help the UE identify the accurate system frame number. The system frame number adopts the transmission mode of the pairing relation.

The base station determines the pairing relationship of the carriers, determines whether to notify and indicate a PSS/SSS and/or a CRS in another carrier through 1 carrier in the paired carriers according to the carrier frequency points and the transmission nodes in the pairing relationship, and further includes notifying whether a PBCH is configured in another carrier through one carrier in the paired carriers. The PBCH may be a PBCH structure in an LTE R8/R9/R10 system.

The invention also correspondingly provides a carrier configuration system, which comprises: a corresponding relation determining unit and a configuration unit; wherein,

It can be seen that the present invention provides a way to configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in a carrier, which can increase the resources for the carrier to transmit data without affecting the carrier synchronization.

The technical solution of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following embodiments, so as to describe in detail how to apply the technical means to solve the technical problems and achieve the technical effects.

Example 1

Assuming that a base station supporting multi-carrier aggregation has 4 carriers (denoted as CC1, CC2, CC3 and CC4), and assuming that there is no RRH under the base station and that the 4 carriers are all of the same band, the base station may use the 4 carriers in the following manner according to the present invention.

The base station pairs 4 carriers, assuming that the pairing is 2 pairs, namely CC1 and CC2, and CC3 and CC4, and sends the pairing relationship to the UE, for example, system broadcast information of CC1 and CC3 is sent to the UE. In order to save resources, the base station does not configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in CC2 and CC4, and then the base station transmits information that PSS/SSS and/or CRS are not configured in CC2 and CC4 to the UE through CC1 and CC 3. Point-to-point transmission may be used to notify UEs that are about to operate or are operating in CC2 and CC 4. UEs operating in CC2 and CC4 then utilize PSS/SSS and/or CRS in CC1 and CC3 to maintain synchronization with CC2 and CC 4.

Example 2

Assume that a base station supporting multi-carrier aggregation has 4 carriers (denoted as CC1, CC2, CC3 and CC4), assume that the base station has no RRH under its control, and that CC1 and CC2 are located in the same band, and CC3 and CC4 are located in the same band, where CC2 and CC4 are carriers. Then the base station may use 4 carriers in the following manner according to the present invention.

The base station pairs 4 carriers, assuming that the pairing is 2 pairs, namely CC1 and CC2, and CC3 and CC4, and sends the pairing relationship to the UE, for example, system broadcast information of CC1 and CC3 is sent to the UE. And the base station informs the UE that CC2 and CC4 in the system exist in the form of carriers. Then, in order to save resources, the bs does not configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in CC2 and CC4, and then the bs sends information that PSS/SSS and/or CRS are not configured in CC2 and CC4 to the UE through CC1 and CC 3. Point-to-point transmission may be used to notify UEs that are about to operate or are operating in CC2 and CC 4. Here, the base station and the UE may also adopt a default manner, that is, when the base station and the UE know that CC2 and CC4 in the system are carriers, and after receiving a pairing relationship about the carriers sent by the base station, know that CC1 and CC2, CC3 and CC4 are paired, and determine frequency points of the paired carriers, it may be found that CC1 and CC2, CC3 and CC4 are respectively the same band, and then the UE may default that PSS/SSS and/or CRS are not configured in CC2 and CC 4.

In addition, if the pairing relationship changes to CC1 and CC4, CC3 and CC2, the base station and the UE determine that the frequency points of the paired carriers are not located in the same band, the base station needs to configure PSS/SSS and/or CRS in CC2 and CC4, and the UE knows that the CCs 2 and CC4 are carriers but configured with PSS/SSS and/or CRS according to the convention.

In this embodiment, the method may also be implemented in a signaling manner provided by the present invention.

For example, when the base station pairs CC1 and CC2, CC3 and CC4, respectively, the base station notifies the UE through system broadcast information of CC1 and CC3 or point-to-point in CC1 and CC3, and whether PSS/SSS and/or CRS are configured in CC2 and CC4, although it is assumed that CC2 and CC4 are carriers, the carriers may also be configured with PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the present invention. Except that in most cases the carriers are not configured with PSS/SSS and/or CRS.

For another example, when the base station pairs CC1 and CC4, CC3 and CC2, respectively, the base station notifies the UE through system broadcast information of CC1 and CC3 or point-to-point in CC1 and CC3, or adds new pairing dedicated signaling to CC1 and CC3, and whether PSS/SSS and/or CRS are configured in CC2 and CC 4.

Herein, configured PSS/SSS and/or CRS is to be understood as the configured PSS/SSS and/or CRS are configured as specified in LTE R8/R9/R10. It is also understood that configuring PSS/SSS and/or CRS means that new PSS/SSS and/or CRS different from what is specified in the LTE R8/R9/R10 protocol is designed, e.g., PSS/SSS and/or CRS is located in a different resource than LTE R8/R9/R10, or the PSS/SSS and/or CRS is used in a different sequence. For the latter case, detailed resource location information or agreed sequence set information in CC1 and CC3 informing PSS/SSS and/or CRS in CC2 and CC4 is required.

Example 3

On the basis of embodiment 2, it is further assumed that the base station in embodiment 3 has RRHs. And it is assumed that CC1 and CC2 are carriers commonly used by the base station and the RRH. The following were used:

assume that a base station supporting multi-carrier aggregation has 4 carriers (denoted as CC1, CC2, CC3, and CC4), assume that the base station has one RRH under it, and CC1 and CC2 are located in the same band, and CC3 and CC4 are located in the same band, where CC2 and CC4 are carriers. Further assume that CC1 and CC2 are both carriers used by RRH forwarding. That is, the RRH operates using CC1 and CC 2. Then the base station may use 4 carriers in the following manner according to the present invention.

The processing process is only the pairing, and the base station preferentially belongs to the same band and undergoes the carrier pairing of the same transmission node. The remaining processing is similar to that in embodiment 2 and is not described here again.

Example 4

In the above embodiments, if the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configured in the paired carrier cannot meet the requirements of the UE operating in the carrier, the PBCH may be configured in the carrier in the same manner. That is, the base station configures the PBCH in one of the paired carriers in the other carrier, for example, whether the PBCH exists or not may be configured (as default, the PBCH is specified in the LTE R8/R9/R10 protocol or is well agreed by the protocol), and the configured resource location and period may also be notified.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps of the above methods may be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a program, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as a read-only memory, a magnetic or optical disk, and the like. Alternatively, all or part of the steps of the above embodiments may be implemented using one or more integrated circuits. Accordingly, each module/unit in the above embodiments may be implemented in the form of hardware, and may also be implemented in the form of a software functional module. The present invention is not limited to any specific form of combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only exemplary of the present invention and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. that are within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the present invention.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a carrier, the method comprising:

2. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, wherein after the base station determines the correspondence between the carrier and the component carrier paired therewith, the method further comprises:

3. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, wherein after the base station determines the correspondence between the carrier and the component carrier paired therewith, the method further comprises: and the base station informs the corresponding relation to the UE which is going to work or is working in the carrier.

4. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, wherein the base station determines the correspondence between the carrier and the component carrier paired with the carrier as:

5. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, wherein the base station determines the correspondence between the carrier and the component carrier paired with the carrier as:

6. The carrier configuration method according to claim 4, wherein the base station configures PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier according to the correspondence:

7. The carrier configuration method according to claim 6, wherein the configuration condition comprises:

8. The carrier configuration method according to claim 7, wherein the configuration case further comprises: whether CRS and/or PSS/SSS in LTE R10 are configured in the carrier.

9. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, further comprising: when the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 is configured in the carrier, the resource position of the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that transmitted in LTE R10, and/or the transmission period of the PSS/SSS configured by the base station is different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTER 10.

10. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, wherein the base station configures PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier according to the correspondence:

11. The carrier configuration method according to claim 10, wherein the configuration condition comprises:

12. The carrier configuration method according to claim 11, wherein the configuration case further comprises: whether CRS and/or PSS/SSS in LTE R10 are configured in the carrier.

13. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, further comprising: when the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 is configured in the carrier, the base station configures the resource position of the PSS/SSS to be different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or configures the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS to be different from that transmitted in LTE R10.

14. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, wherein after the base station configures PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier according to the correspondence, the method further comprises:

15. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, wherein the base station configures PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier according to the correspondence:

16. The carrier configuration method according to claim 1, wherein the base station configures PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier according to the correspondence:

17. The carrier configuration method according to any of claims 1 to 16, wherein when the base station configures PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier according to the corresponding relationship, the method further comprises:

18. A carrier configuration system, comprising: a corresponding relation determining unit and a configuration unit; wherein,

19. The carrier configuration system according to claim 18, further comprising a communication unit configured to send the correspondence determined by the correspondence determining unit to the UE through point-to-multipoint system broadcast information or RRC signaling, or send the correspondence to the UE through point-to-point RRC signaling or a dedicated control channel.

20. The carrier configuration system according to claim 19, wherein the communication unit is further configured to notify and indicate a UE when a carrier is in a same band as a frequency point of a paired component carrier, and there is no PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration in the carrier; and when the frequency points of the carrier and the paired component carrier are in different bands, notifying and indicating the UE, and the configuration condition of the PSS/SSS and/or CRS in the carrier.

21. The carrier configuration system of claim 18, wherein the configuration unit is further configured to configure, when the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 is configured in the carrier, the resource location of the PSS/SSS is different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10, and/or the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS is different from that in LTE R10, and/or the transmission period of the PSS/SSS is different from that of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10.

22. The carrier configuration system according to claim 19, wherein the communication unit is further configured to notify and instruct the UE when the carrier is identical to the transmission node experienced by the paired component carrier in the UE, and there is no PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration in the carrier; and when the carrier and the component carrier are not identical to the transmission node experienced in the process of reaching the UE, informing and indicating the UE of the PSS/SSS and/or CRS configuration condition in the carrier.

23. The carrier configuration system of claim 18, wherein the configuration unit is further configured to configure the resource location of the PSS/SSS to be different from the resource location of the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 and/or configure the sequence transmitted in the PSS/SSS to be different from the sequence transmitted in LTE R10 when the PSS/SSS in LTE R10 is configured in the carrier.

24. The carrier configuration system of claim 19, wherein the communication unit is further configured to notify a UE of configuration information after the configuration unit configures PSS/SSS and/or CRS of the carrier.

25. The carrier configuration system of any of claims 18 to 24,