JP6059783B2 - Wireless communication system, communication method, terminal device, and base station device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, a communication method, a terminal device, and a base station device, and more particularly to a configuration that can simultaneously use a plurality of wireless communication systems.

3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) has formulated various standards for speeding up communication and increasing capacity. As a technique for increasing the speed and capacity of such communication, a technique using a plurality of carriers is specified. For example, 3GPP
In Release 8, Multicarrier_HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) technology that uses a plurality of carriers simultaneously is specified. 3
GPP uses LTE (Long Term Evolution) _Carri in Release 10.
Carrier Aggregation technology that uses multiple er at the same time is specified.

  A technique for performing communication using these techniques using HSDPA_Carrier and LTE_Carrier at the same time has been studied (for example, see Non-Patent Documents 1 to 3).

  Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2010-011397 (Patent Document 1) discloses a wireless communication apparatus that can simultaneously communicate with a plurality of frequency channels.

  In the current technology, a method of using UE Capability is known as a method of notifying the base station device of the capability of the terminal device. This UE Capability includes information on available radio communication systems and frequency bands as terminal capabilities of the terminal device.

JP 2010-011397 A

Nokia Siemens Networks, Nokia, "Aggregating HSDPA and LTE carriers", 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting # 64, R1-111060, February 21-25, 2011 Huawei, HiSilicon, "Migration scenarios and possible aggregation between HSPA and LTE", 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 # 64, R1-111126, February 21-25, 2011 ZTE, "Consideration on the aggregation of LTE and HSPA", 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting # 64, R1-111173, February 21-25, 2011 3GPP Organizational Partners, "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 10)", 3GPP TS 36.331 V10.4.0 ( 2011-12)

  Regarding a wireless communication system that employs carrier aggregation technology that performs communication using the HSDPA_Carrier and LTE_Carrier described above simultaneously, that is, a wireless communication system that can use a plurality of wireless communication systems at the same time, a communication control method related to radio resource allocation and the like Have not been fully examined.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a more preferable communication control method in a wireless communication system that can use a plurality of wireless communication systems.

  A radio communication system according to an aspect of the present invention includes at least one base station apparatus that provides services according to a plurality of radio communication schemes, and a terminal apparatus connected to the base station apparatus. The terminal device includes means for notifying the base station device of terminal information indicating whether or not communication is possible using a plurality of wireless communication schemes simultaneously. The base station apparatus includes means for determining radio resources to be allocated to the terminal apparatus among radio resources usable in each of the plurality of radio communication schemes based on the terminal information notified from the terminal apparatus.

  Preferably, the terminal device includes means for notifying terminal information in each of a plurality of wireless communication schemes.

  Preferably, the terminal device includes means for notifying terminal information in a specific wireless communication method among a plurality of wireless communication methods.

  More preferably, the terminal device includes means for performing a cell search for a specific wireless communication system that notifies terminal information in preference to other wireless communication systems.

  Preferably, the terminal device includes means for adding terminal information to UE Capability and transmitting the UE information.

  Preferably, the terminal information includes information defining a wireless communication method that can be used separately for downlink and uplink.

  Preferably, the terminal information includes information indicating a usable frequency band among frequency bands used in a plurality of wireless communication schemes.

  More preferably, the terminal information includes information indicating which is prioritized for at least one of the wireless communication scheme and the frequency band.

  Preferably, the terminal device includes means for encapsulating terminal information related to one radio communication scheme and inserting it into UE Capability of another radio communication scheme.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a radio communication method in a radio communication system including at least one base station apparatus that provides services according to a plurality of radio communication schemes and a terminal apparatus. The wireless communication method includes a step of notifying terminal information indicating whether or not communication is possible using a plurality of wireless communication methods simultaneously from the terminal device to the base station device, and terminal information notified from the terminal device. And determining a radio resource to be allocated to the terminal device among radio resources usable in each of the plurality of radio communication schemes.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, a terminal apparatus connected to at least one base station apparatus that provides services according to a plurality of wireless communication schemes is provided. The terminal device notifies the base station device of terminal information indicating whether or not communication is possible using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time, and a radio resource allocated by the base station device based on the terminal information And means for performing communication using.

Whether the base station apparatus according to still another aspect of the present invention is capable of communicating with means for providing a service according to a plurality of radio communication schemes using a plurality of radio communication schemes simultaneously from a terminal device. Means for receiving terminal information indicating the above, and means for determining radio resources to be allocated to the terminal apparatus among radio resources usable in each of the plurality of radio communication schemes based on the terminal information notified from the terminal apparatus; including.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the more preferable communication control method etc. in the radio | wireless communications system which can use a some radio | wireless communication system are realizable.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the whole structure of the radio | wireless communications system assumed in this Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the apparatus structure of the terminal device used in the radio | wireless communications system shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the apparatus structure of the base station apparatus used in the radio | wireless communications system shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the apparatus structure of base station system 200A of the modification used in the radio | wireless communications system shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structural example (the 1) of the terminal capability information according to this Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structural example (the 2) of the terminal capability information according to this Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structural example (the 3) of the terminal capability information according to this Embodiment. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure of the radio communication system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure of the radio communication system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure of a radio communication system according to the second embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of UE capability of WCDMA transmitted from the terminal device according to Embodiment 4. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure of a radio communication system according to the fourth embodiment.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, about the same or equivalent part in a figure, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and the description is not repeated.

<A. Overall Configuration of Wireless Communication System>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration of a wireless communication system SYS assumed in the present embodiment. The wireless communication system SYS provides a service according to a plurality of wireless communication systems. As a typical example, it is assumed that the radio communication system SYS supports a WCDMA system corresponding to the LTE system and HSDPA / HSUPA.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the radio communication system SYS includes a terminal device 100 and a base station device 200. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 1 shows a state in which the terminal apparatus 100 and the base station apparatus 200 perform one-to-one communication. However, the number and topology of the terminal apparatus 100 and the base station apparatus 200 are different from those of the radio communication system SYS. It is set as appropriate according to the required specifications.

In FIG. 1, as an example, it is assumed that the terminal apparatus 100 and the base station apparatus 200 communicate using a plurality of LTE_Carriers and a plurality of WCDMA_Carriers simultaneously. More specifically, the terminal apparatus 100 and the base station apparatus 200 include a plurality of LTE_
Carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation) is performed by Carrier and a plurality of WCDMA_Carrier. As an example, FIG. 1 shows an example in which carrier aggregation is performed using three carriers in the LTE scheme and using two carriers in the WCDMA scheme. In the present embodiment, carrier aggregation by one or more carriers of one wireless communication system and one or more carriers of another wireless communication system is assumed, and the carrier aggregation used in each wireless communication system is assumed. The number is appropriately set according to the communication environment.

  According to the current standard, each LTE_Carrier has a bandwidth of 20 MHz, and each WCDMA_Carrier has a bandwidth of 5 MHz. Therefore, by using three LTE_Carriers and two WCDMA_Carriers, communication can be performed between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200 with a total bandwidth of 70 MHz.

In WCDMA downlink, HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet)
Access) is employed, and it is assumed that HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) is employed in the uplink.

  FIG. 1 shows an example in which data is transmitted / received simultaneously using a plurality of carriers in both downlink and uplink, but the number of carriers used for each downlink and uplink is shown. It may be set. For example, for the downlink, communication may be performed using the five carriers shown in FIG. 1 at the same time, and for the uplink, communication may be performed using only one LTE_Carrier of the carriers shown in FIG. .

<B. Device configuration>
First, a description will be given of the configuration of each main body constituting the wireless communication system SYS shown in FIG.

[B1: Configuration of terminal device 100]
The structure of the terminal device 100 used in the radio | wireless communications system SYS shown in FIG. 1 is demonstrated. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a device configuration of the terminal device 100 used in the wireless communication system SYS shown in FIG.

  2, the terminal device 100 includes a control unit 110, LTE transmission units 120.1, 120.2,... Connected to transmission antennas 122.1, 122.2,. , Connected to 1, 132.2,... And LTE receivers 140.1, 140.2 connected to receiving antennas 142.1, 142.2,. ,... And WCDMA receivers 150.1, 150.2,... Connected to receiving antennas 152.1, 152.2,. .. And LTE receivers 140.1, 140.2,... Exchange data with base station apparatus 200 according to the LTE scheme. Further, WCDMA transmission units 130.1, 130.2,... And WCDMA reception units 150.1, 150.2,... Exchange data with base station apparatus 200 according to the WCDMA system. The WCDMA transmission units 130.1, 130.2,... Can perform HSUPA transmission processing. The WCDMA receivers 150.1, 150.2,... Can perform HSDPA reception processing.

The terminal apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2 can be connected to the base station apparatus 200 using carriers of a plurality of frequency bands. As an example, it is assumed that two frequency bands (frequency bands I and II) can be used as a plurality of frequency bands. In FIG. 2, LT
“I” and “II” described in the blocks corresponding to each of the E transmitter, the WCDMA transmitter, the LTE receiver, and the WCDMA receiver indicate that they correspond to the frequency band I and the frequency band II, respectively.

  Frequency band I and frequency band II indicate available frequency bands defined in the wireless communication system SYS. Such a frequency band depends on the radio wave administration in each country. For example, 2 GHz band (downlink: 2110 MHz-2170 MHz / uplink: 1920 MHz-1980 MHz) and 800 MHz band (downlink: 869 MHz-894 MHz / Uplink: 824 MHz-849 MHz) is assumed.

  In FIG. 2, the transmission unit and the reception unit are depicted as independent configurations. However, a portion where processing can be shared may be shared. Alternatively, the transmission unit and the reception unit may be further parallelized. For example, when communication is performed using a plurality of LTE_Carriers simultaneously in the frequency band I, a plurality of LTE receiving units 122.1 corresponding to the frequency band I may be provided.

  .., LTE transmitters 120.1, 120.2,..., WCDMA transmitters 130.1, 130.2,..., LTE receivers 140.1, 140.2,. 150.1, 150.2, and so on are controlled. The control unit 110 is a processing main body mainly composed of a processor and a memory.

  The control unit 110 includes a terminal capability storage unit 112 and a terminal capability transmission processing unit 114 as its functional configuration. The terminal capability storage unit 112 stores terminal capability information 300 that is information on capabilities of the terminal device 100. As an example, the terminal capability information 300 includes UE capability defined in the 3GPP specification. Details of terminal capability information 300 according to the present embodiment will be described later. The terminal capability transmission processing unit 114 performs processing related to transmission of the terminal capability information 300 stored in the terminal capability storage unit 112 to the base station apparatus 200.

  In addition to the processing related to the terminal capability information 300 described above, the control unit 110 is configured so that the terminal device 100 communicates with the base station device 200, such as processing on received data and transmission data, and control related to carrier frequency control in the transmitting unit and the receiving unit. Various controls necessary for performing communication with are performed. Although not shown, programs and modules necessary for these controls are also installed in the control unit 110.

[B2: Configuration of base station apparatus 200]
A configuration of the base station apparatus 200 used in the radio communication system SYS illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a device configuration of a base station device 200 used in the radio communication system SYS shown in FIG.

3, base station apparatus 200 includes control unit 210, LTE transmission units 220.1, 220.2,... Connected to transmission antennas 222.1, 222.2,. , WCDMA transmitters 230.1, 230.2,... Connected to the receiving antennas 242.1, 242.2,. And WCDMA receivers 250.1, 250.2,... Connected to the receiving antennas 252.1, 252.2,. The LTE transmission units 220.1, 220.2, ... and the LTE reception units 240.1, 240.2, ... exchange data with the terminal device 100 in accordance with the LTE scheme. Further, the WCDMA transmitters 230.1, 230.2,... And the WCDMA receivers 250.1, 250.2,.
Data is exchanged with 00. The WCDMA transmitters 230.1, 230.2,... Can perform HSDPA transmission processing. The WCDMA receivers 250.1, 250.2,... Can perform HSUPA reception processing.

  Suppose that base station apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 3 can communicate using carriers of a plurality of frequency bands. That is, base station apparatus 200 provides services according to a plurality of wireless communication schemes. As an example, it is assumed that two frequency bands (frequency bands I and II) can be used as a plurality of frequency bands. Similar to the terminal device 100 described above, in FIG. 3, “I” and “II” described in the blocks corresponding to the LTE transmission unit, the WCDMA transmission unit, the LTE reception unit, and the WCDMA reception unit are respectively frequency bands I And corresponding to frequency band II.

  In FIG. 3, the transmission unit and the reception unit are depicted as independent configurations, but portions that can share processing may be configured to be shared. Alternatively, the transmission unit and the reception unit may be further parallelized. For example, when communication is performed using a plurality of LTE_Carriers simultaneously in the frequency band I, a plurality of LTE receiving units 240.1 corresponding to the frequency band I may be provided.

  .., LTE transmitters 220.1, 220.2,..., LTE receivers 240.1, 240.2,..., WCDMA receivers Controls communication processing with 250.1, 250.2,. The control unit 210 is a processing main body mainly composed of a processor and a memory.

  The control unit 210 includes a terminal capability reception processing unit 212, a terminal capability storage unit 214, and a scheduling processing unit 216 as its functional configuration.

  The terminal capability reception processing unit 212 executes processing for receiving the terminal capability information 300 from each terminal device 100 and stores the received terminal capability information 300 in the terminal capability storage unit 214.

  The terminal capability storage unit 214 stores terminal capability information 300 from one or more terminal devices 100 that are communicating with the local station. As an example, the terminal capability information 300 is inserted into UE Capability or the like defined in the 3GPP specification.

  The scheduling processing unit 216 refers to the terminal capability information 300 stored in the terminal capability storage unit 214 and appropriately allocates radio resources to each terminal device 100. At this time, the scheduling processing unit 216 executes radio resource allocation in consideration of radio quality and the like in each terminal apparatus 100.

  In addition to the scheduling process described above, the control unit 210 performs communication between the base station apparatus 200 and the terminal apparatus 100 such as processing for reception data and transmission data, and control related to carrier frequency control in the transmission unit and reception unit. Various controls necessary for this purpose Although not shown, programs and modules necessary for these controls are also installed in the control unit 210.

[B3: Configuration of base station apparatus 200 (modification)]
Instead of the configuration of the base station apparatus 200 illustrated in FIG. 3, a configuration of intrasite carrier aggregation may be employed.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a device configuration of a base station system 200A of a modified example used in the radio communication system SYS shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 4, base station system 200A includes an LTE base station apparatus 260, a WCDMA base station apparatus 270, and a base station controller 280.

  The LTE base station apparatus 260 is an apparatus that provides a service according to the LTE scheme, and controls the allocation of LTE radio resources and the like. The WCDMA base station device 270 is a device that provides a service according to the WCDMA system, and controls the allocation of WCDMA radio resources and the like. The base station controller 280 is connected between the core network 400 and the WCDMA base station apparatus 270, and controls the allocation of WCDMA radio resources in the WCDMA base station apparatus 270.

  The LTE base station apparatus 260 is directly connected to the core network 400. The LTE base station apparatus 260 and the WCDMA base station apparatus 270 exchange control information, user data, and the like via the LTE base station apparatus 260 and the core network 400. Alternatively, the LTE base station apparatus 260 and the WCDMA base station apparatus 270 may be directly connected (LTE-WCDMA base station connection 290).

  In the base station system 200A shown in FIG. 4, the scheduling process according to the present embodiment (the radio resource allocation process for each terminal apparatus 100) may be executed by the control unit 210A of the LTE base station apparatus 260, for example. Good. FIG. 4 shows a configuration example when the control unit 210A of the LTE base station apparatus 260 executes the scheduling process.

  That is, the control unit 210A of the LTE base station apparatus 260 includes, as its functional configuration, a terminal capability reception processing unit 212A, a terminal capability storage unit 214A, and a scheduling processing unit 216A. On the other hand, WCDMA base station apparatus 270 includes a terminal capability reception processing unit 212B and a terminal capability storage unit 214B as functional configurations.

  In this configuration, when carrier aggregation by LTE_Carrier and WCDMA_Carrier (HSDPA) is performed, the control unit 210A of the LTE base station apparatus 260 determines the radio resources of LTE and HSDPA to be allocated for carrier aggregation. Then, control unit 210A of LTE base station apparatus 260 transmits to control unit 210B of WCDMA base station apparatus 270 via LTE-WCDMA base station connection 290 or the like.

  Alternatively, as another method, a core network control device (not shown) arranged in the core network 400 may perform the scheduling process. In this case, the radio resources of LTE and HSDPA allocated for carrier aggregation are each notified from the core network control device to control unit 210A of LTE base station device 260 and control unit 210B of WCDMA base station device 270.

[B4: Other configuration]
Functions in the terminal device 100, the base station device 200, and the base station system 200A may be realized by a processor that configures the control unit executing a program stored in advance in a nonvolatile memory or the like. In this case, an instruction set such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) is executed by a preinstalled instruction set.

Alternatively, part or all of the functions may be implemented as dedicated hardware (typically, an integrated circuit). In this case, a circuit that realizes all functions may be integrated into one chip. Furthermore, a system-on-a-chip (SoC) in which components such as a processor, a memory, and a controller for peripheral devices are integrated into one chip can be used.

<C. Overview of issues and solutions>
In order to realize carrier aggregation using LTE_Carrier and WCDMA_Carrier (HSDPA_Carrier) at the same time between terminal apparatus 100 and base station apparatus 200 as shown in FIG. 1, terminal apparatus 100 performs carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA. It is necessary for the wireless communication system SYS to know in advance that it is compatible with the above.

  Further, when the frequency band that can be used for carrier aggregation of LTE and WCDMA is limited, the terminal device 100 is identified as a terminal device 100 that can execute carrier aggregation of LTE and WCDMA. However, the radio communication system SYS may not be able to appropriately allocate radio resources to the terminal device 100.

  In the current technology, a method of using UE Capability is known as a method of notifying the base station device of the capability of the terminal device. However, in the wireless communication system that can use a plurality of wireless communication systems as described above, the content of how to use UE capability has not been studied. That is, a method of notifying information on the capability of a terminal device regarding a plurality of wireless communication schemes in which wireless communication method, and what kind of communication control is performed based on the notified information on the capabilities of the terminal devices Is not taught.

  The present embodiment is directed to a radio communication system in which one or more terminal apparatuses 100 and one or more base station apparatuses 200 can use a plurality of radio communication schemes simultaneously. Each terminal apparatus 100 transmits to the base station apparatus 200 terminal capability information 300 that is terminal information indicating whether or not it is possible to communicate using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time. That is, the terminal capability information 300 of each terminal device 100 (including information on whether or not the terminal device 100 can simultaneously use a plurality of wireless communication methods) is notified in advance to the base station device 200 (network side). By doing so, the base station apparatus 200 (network side) can appropriately allocate radio resources to each terminal apparatus 100 (perform scheduling processing). That is, as a scheduling process, base station apparatus 200, based on terminal capability information 300 notified from terminal apparatus 100, among radio resources usable in each of a plurality of radio communication schemes, radio resources to be allocated to terminal apparatus 100 To decide.

  In radio communication system SYS according to the present embodiment, whether or not it is possible to communicate using a plurality of radio communication schemes simultaneously in existing UE capabilities notified by terminal apparatus 100 to base station apparatus 200. Information indicating this may be added. For example, information indicating whether or not LTE and WCDMA carrier aggregation are supported is added to UE Capability used in the LTE scheme, and LTE and WCDMA carrier aggregation is also used in UE Capability used in the WCDMA scheme. Information on whether or not it is compatible may be added.

  Thus, by adding the terminal capability information 300 as described above to the existing UE capability, the notification method from the terminal device 100 to the base station device 200 can be simplified.

  Information indicating whether or not LTE and WCDMA carrier aggregation are supported may be added to at least one of UE Capability used in the LTE scheme and UE Capability used in the WCDMA scheme.

  Of course, the carrier aggregation can be more reliably performed by notifying the terminal capability information 300 of the terminal device 100 to all systems that manage the available wireless communication systems. That is, the terminal apparatus 100 adds information (terminal capability information 300) indicating whether or not it is possible to simultaneously communicate using a plurality of radio communication schemes to UE Capability used in the LTE scheme. In addition to notifying the station apparatus 200, UE capability used in the WCDMA scheme is added with terminal information (terminal capability information 300) indicating whether it is possible to communicate using a plurality of radio communication schemes simultaneously. To the base station apparatus 200. Base station apparatus 200 allocates radio resources to terminal apparatus 100 based on terminal capability information 300 from these terminal apparatuses 100.

  As described above, by notifying the terminal capability information 300 of the terminal device 100 to all systems that manage the available wireless communication systems, the terminal device 100 is initially connected to any wireless communication system. Even so, the terminal capability information 300 of the terminal device 100 can be reliably notified to the base station device 200.

  Or you may make it notify the terminal capability information 300 of the terminal device 100 only with respect to one certain system which manages the radio | wireless communication system which can be used. In this case, the terminal device 100 first performs the cell search in the wireless communication scheme in which the terminal capability information 300 is to be notified. When the terminal device 100 detects a carrier (cell) in the target wireless communication scheme, the terminal device 100 notifies the base station device 200 corresponding to the detected carrier of the terminal capability information 300 of the own station. Upon receiving the terminal capability information 300 from the terminal device 100, the base station device 200 allocates radio resources to the terminal device 100 based on the terminal capability information 300.

  In addition, when the terminal device 100 cannot detect the carrier in the target wireless communication method, the terminal device 100 changes the wireless communication method for notifying the terminal capability information 300, and performs the cell search again in another wireless communication method.

  In this way, the terminal capability information 300 is notified only to the base station device 200 that provides one radio communication method, and the base station device 200 receives the terminal capability information 300 from the terminal device 100, so that the radio resource By adopting the control method of starting the allocation of the terminal, it is possible to efficiently process the terminal capability information 300 regarding a plurality of wireless communication schemes.

<D. Terminal capability information>
Next, details of terminal capability information 300 according to the present embodiment will be described. As described above, terminal capability information 300 according to the present embodiment includes at least information indicating whether or not terminal device 100 is capable of communicating using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time.

  In the present embodiment, as a typical example, terminal capability information 300 including information indicating whether or not the terminal device 100 is capable of communicating using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time is added to the UE capability. To be notified.

  In addition, more detailed terminal capability information 300 including other information on the downlink and uplink and information on frequency bands that can be used for carrier aggregation may be notified.

  As the data structure of the terminal capability information 300, an appropriate data structure can be adopted according to the device configuration, application, system capability, and the like, but a typical data structure of the terminal capability information 300 will be exemplified below. Of course, the configuration of the terminal capability information 300 is not limited to the one exemplified below.

[D1: Structure example of terminal capability information (part 1)]
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a structural example (part 1) of terminal capability information according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 5, a reference numeral “300A” is attached to mean one structural example of the terminal capability information 300. The terminal capability information 300A illustrated in FIG. 5 includes information indicating whether or not the transmission source terminal apparatus 100 is capable of carrier aggregation (CA) between LTE and WCDMA. The terminal capability information 300A is typically added to UE Capability transmitted from the terminal device 100.

  FIG. 5 shows a structure example of the simplest terminal capability information 300A. The terminal capability information 300A is used when the terminal device 100 can use all frequency bands provided by the wireless communication system SYS for carrier aggregation. That is, it is suitable when there is no restriction on the frequency band that the terminal device 100 uses for carrier aggregation. The terminal device 100 transmits the terminal capability information 300A by using UE Capability in each wireless communication scheme.

  Referring to FIG. 5, the value of “permitted” or “not permitted” is stored in association with the item “permitted CA of LTE and WCDMA”. “Yes” is set if the source terminal device 100 can perform carrier aggregation of LTE and WCDMA, and “No” is set if the source terminal device 100 cannot perform carrier aggregation.

  The terminal capability information 300A is stored in the terminal capability storage unit 112 of each terminal device 100. The terminal capability information 300A transmitted from each terminal device 100 to the base station device 200 is stored in the terminal capability storage unit 214 of the base station device 200.

[D2: Structure example of terminal capability information (part 2)]
Information indicating whether carrier aggregation (CA) between LTE and WCDMA is possible may be defined for each downlink and uplink, and terminal capability information may be used. For example, information that carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA (HSDPA) is possible in the downlink, but carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA (HSUPA) is impossible in the uplink (only LTE can be used). Can be included.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a structure example (No. 2) of terminal capability information according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 6, a reference numeral “300B” is attached to mean one structural example of the terminal capability information 300. FIG. 6 shows terminal capability information 300B defined separately for the downlink and the uplink as compared to the terminal capability information 300A shown in FIG. That is, the terminal capability information 300B includes whether or not carrier aggregation (CA) between LTE and HSDPA is possible as the reception capability of the terminal device 100, and carrier aggregation (CA) between LTE and HSUPA as the transmission capability of the terminal device 100. ) Is possible. That is, the terminal capability information 300B includes information that defines a usable wireless communication scheme for each downlink and uplink.

  By using such terminal capability information 300B, carrier aggregation between LTE and HSDPA is possible as reception capability, but radio resources are provided to the terminal device 100 that supports only LTE as transmission capability. Can be assigned appropriately.

[D3: Structure example of terminal capability information (part 3)]
Terminal capability information including information on frequency bands that can be used for carrier aggregation may be used. For example, the terminal capability information includes (1) any frequency band of LTE and HSDPA.
Which frequency band can be used simultaneously, (2) the number of frequency bands that can be used for carrier aggregation (each maximum value and / or the maximum value that can be simultaneously communicated), and (3) any wireless communication method Information on whether or not to prioritize.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a structure example (No. 3) of terminal capability information according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 7, a reference numeral “300C” is attached to mean one structural example of the terminal capability information 300. FIG. 7 shows terminal capability information 300C in which information indicating which frequency band is capable of carrier aggregation is further defined as compared to terminal capability information 300A shown in FIG.

  In the terminal capability information 300C, combinations of frequency bands that can be carrier-aggregated are numbered and defined. That is, the number “1” in the terminal capability information 300C indicates that carrier aggregation is possible with any combination of the LTE frequency bands I, II, and III and the WCDMA frequency bands VI and VII. The number “1” indicates that, for example, carrier aggregation between the LTE frequency bands I and II and the WCDMA frequency band VI is possible. Alternatively, it indicates that carrier aggregation using all of the five frequency bands defined by the number “1” is also possible. Of course, it is shown that carrier aggregation using only the LTE frequency band (for example, frequency bands I, II, and III) is also possible.

  Similarly, the terminal capability information 300C indicates that combinations of numbers “2” to “5” are possible. For example, the number “5” indicates that there is no frequency band that can be WCDMA carrier-aggregated, and when the LTE frequency band V is used for carrier aggregation, only LTE carrier aggregation can be performed.

  That is, the terminal capability information 300C illustrated in FIG. 7 includes information indicating a usable frequency band among frequency bands used in a plurality of wireless communication schemes. The terminal capability information 300C can also include information indicating which is prioritized for at least one of the wireless communication scheme and the frequency band.

  When the terminal capability information 300C shown in FIG. 7 is used, in order to reduce the memory capacity of the terminal capability storage units 112 and 214 as much as possible, the number of combinations of frequency bands is defined to be as small as possible. It is preferable.

[D4: Structure example of terminal capability information (others)]
Also for the terminal capability information 300C shown in FIG. 7, the reception capability and the transmission capability of the terminal device 100 may be defined separately, similarly to the terminal capability information 300B shown in FIG. By adopting such separately defined terminal capability information, the configuration of the terminal device 100 can be simplified. That is, since terminal capability information 300A shown in FIG. 5 includes only information on whether carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA is possible, it is determined which frequency band of LTE and which frequency band of WCDMA are capable of carrier aggregation. Since this is not possible, the terminal device 100 needs to support carrier aggregation for all combinations of frequency bands. On the other hand, by adopting the terminal capability information 300B shown in FIG. 6, the terminal device 100 only needs to support carrier aggregation only for a specific combination of frequency bands. Therefore, the configuration of the terminal device 100 can be simplified.

Further, information such as which radio communication system and which frequency band to use preferentially may be added to the terminal capability information 300C shown in FIG. By adopting such terminal capability information, the base station apparatus can determine which frequency band of which radio communication scheme should be used for each terminal apparatus 100 with priority. Wireless resources can be used more effectively.

  Alternatively, instead of the terminal capability information 300C shown in FIG. 7, as the terminal capability information, the maximum number of carriers that can be carrier-aggregated by LTE, the maximum number of carriers that can be carrier-aggregated by WCDMA, and carrier aggregation by combining LTE and WCDMA. Information such as the maximum possible number of carriers may be defined. Furthermore, these pieces of information may define the reception capability and transmission capability of the terminal device 100 separately.

<E. Embodiment 1>
Next, a communication control method between the terminal apparatus 100 and the base station apparatus 200 using the UE capability including the terminal capability information 300 as described above will be described.

  In the first embodiment, the terminal device 100 adds the terminal capability information 300 as described above to both the UE capabilities that are notified in the LTE and HSDPA wireless communication schemes. By adopting such a notification method of the terminal capability information 300, the base station device 200 (network side) can know the terminal capability information 300 even if the terminal device 100 camps on any wireless communication method. .

  8 and 9 are sequence diagrams showing a communication procedure of the wireless communication system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8 illustrates an example in which the terminal device 100 first detects an LTE carrier by a cell search, and FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which the terminal device 100 first detects a WCDMA carrier by a cell search.

  The terminal device 100 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is assumed to be capable of carrier aggregation by LTE_Carrier and WCDMA_Carrier (HSDPA). It is assumed that the terminal capability storage unit 112 of the terminal device 100 stores the terminal capability information 300 shown in any of FIGS. 6 to 8 described above.

  Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, when terminal device 100 is activated by turning on the power button or the like (sequence SQ100), terminal device 100 starts a cell search (sequence SQ102). In the example shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that a carrier with LTE is detected first by cell search (sequence SQ104).

  Then, terminal device 100 notifies base station device 200 of terminal capability information 300 of the own station through LTE (sequence SQ106). The terminal capability information 300 is typically notified as a part of information indicating normal terminal capability (UE Capability in LTE). That is, the terminal device 100 notifies the base station device 200 of terminal capability information 300 indicating whether or not communication is possible using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time. At this time, the terminal device 100 adds the terminal capability information 300 to the UE capability and transmits the UE capability.

  When receiving the terminal capability information 300 from the terminal device 100 through LTE, the base station device 200 stores the received terminal capability information 300 in the terminal capability storage unit 112 together with information for identifying the terminal device 100 that is the transmission source. (Sequence SQ108). Subsequently, base station apparatus 200 transmits a response to the notification of terminal capability information 300 to terminal apparatus 100 through LTE (sequence SQ110). Terminal apparatus 100 then enters a standby state in LTE (sequence SQ112).

When a communication request such as a packet or voice occurs (sequence SQ114), terminal device 100
Requests communication connection to base station apparatus 200 through LTE that is currently camping on (sequence SQ116). For example, it is assumed that a communication request for a packet having a large data size occurs and a data connection request is made. The terminal device 100 may notify the wireless quality information of the communicable cell together with the communication connection request. Further, the data size to be transmitted may be notified together with a communication connection request. In addition, you may notify regularly about the radio | wireless quality information of the cell which can communicate.

  In response to the communication connection from the terminal device 100, the base station device 200 determines whether carrier aggregation is possible. That is, base station apparatus 200 determines a resource to be allocated to terminal apparatus 100 among radio resources that can be used in each of a plurality of radio communication schemes, based on terminal capability information 300 notified from terminal apparatus 100.

  More specifically, the scheduling processing unit 216 of the base station apparatus 200 determines the radio quality of the communicable cell, the total traffic volume, whether the data to be transmitted / received is a packet or voice (and the data to be transmitted / received is In the case of a packet, it is determined whether or not carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA (HSDPA) is performed based on the data size) and the corresponding terminal capability information 300. When it is determined that carrier aggregation is to be performed, the scheduling processing unit 216 of the base station apparatus 200 determines in which frequency band to perform carrier aggregation. On the other hand, when it is determined that carrier aggregation is not performed, the scheduling processing unit 216 of the base station apparatus 200 uses which radio communication method of LTE or WCDMA (HSDPA), or the selected radio communication It is determined whether carrier aggregation is performed in the system, and in which frequency band is performed when carrier aggregation is performed.

  For example, when the transmission target data size is relatively small, the scheduling processing unit 216 of the base station apparatus 200 has a small amount of traffic and good radio quality between one LTE carrier and one HSDPA carrier. Select one of them. In this case, not only carrier aggregation between LTE and HSDPA but also carrier aggregation within the wireless communication method is not executed. More specifically, when only a voice call is requested, it is determined that WCDMA is always used without considering carrier aggregation or the like. On the other hand, when a videophone is requested, it is determined that voice uses WCDMA, and moving images use LTE carrier aggregation, that is, LTE and WCDMA carrier aggregation.

  Further, the terminal device 100 may notify the base station device 200 of the remaining battery level. In this case, for example, when the remaining battery level is low, it is also possible to perform scheduling so as to select a wireless communication method with less current consumption.

  In addition, the terminal apparatus 100 may notify the base station apparatus 200 of a wireless communication scheme in which an abnormality or failure has occurred. In this case, for example, it is possible to perform scheduling so as not to select a malfunctioning wireless communication method.

  FIG. 8 shows an example in which a communication connection with a large data size is requested. In this example, scheduling processing section 216 of base station apparatus 200 selects to perform carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA (HSDPA) (sequence SQ118). Base station apparatus 200 notifies terminal apparatus 100 of the selection result of carrier aggregation through LTE (sequence SQ120). More specifically, base station apparatus 200 notifies terminal apparatus 100 of a frequency band to be used in LTE and a frequency band to be used in WCDMA (HSDPA).

  Terminal apparatus 100 starts data communication with base station apparatus 200 using LTE, HSDPA, and carrier aggregation in accordance with the notified carrier aggregation selection result (sequence SQ122).

  In the example shown in FIG. 9, it is assumed that a carrier with WCDMA is detected first by cell search. That is, FIG. 8 shows a processing example when the terminal device 100 camps on LTE, and FIG. 9 shows a processing example when the terminal device 100 camps on WCDMA. The difference between FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 is that communication control is executed through LTE in the communication procedure shown in FIG. 8, whereas communication control is executed through WCDMA in the communication procedure shown in FIG. It is a point.

  In other words, in the example shown in FIG. 9, it is assumed that a carrier with WCDMA is first detected by cell search (sequence SQ105). Terminal apparatus 100 then notifies terminal station apparatus 200 of terminal capability information 300 of its own station through WCDMA (sequence SQ107). This terminal capability information 300 is typically notified as a part of information indicating normal terminal capability (UE Capability in WCDMA). That is, the terminal device 100 notifies the base station device 200 of terminal capability information 300 indicating whether or not communication is possible using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time. At this time, the terminal device 100 adds the terminal capability information 300 to the UE capability and transmits the UE capability.

  Base station apparatus 200 transmits a response to the notification of terminal capability information 300 to terminal apparatus 100 through WCDMA (sequence SQ111). Terminal apparatus 100 then enters a standby state in WCDMA (sequence SQ113).

  When a communication request such as a packet or voice is generated (sequence SQ114), terminal apparatus 100 requests communication connection to base station apparatus 200 through WCDMA currently camping on (sequence SQ117). Then, based on the terminal capability information 300 notified from the terminal apparatus 100, the base station apparatus 200 determines a resource to be allocated to the terminal apparatus 100 among radio resources that can be used in each of a plurality of radio communication schemes. In this case, the base station apparatus 200 selects use of carrier aggregation. Then, base station apparatus 200 notifies terminal apparatus 100 of the carrier aggregation selection result through WCDMA (sequence SQ121).

  In the communication procedure according to the first embodiment described above, it is necessary to be able to notify the terminal capability information 300 of the terminal device 100 in both LTE and WCDMA wireless communication schemes. As one method for realizing this, for example, the terminal capability information 300 may be added to both the UE capability of LTE and the UE capability of WCDMA. That is, the terminal device 100 notifies the terminal capability information 300 in each of a plurality of wireless communication schemes.

  By adopting such a method, it is possible to notify the terminal capability information 300 from the terminal device 100 to the base station device 200 even if the terminal device 100 camps on any of the LTE and WCDMA wireless communication systems. Thus, radio resources can be allocated flexibly.

<F. Second Embodiment>
In the first embodiment described above, an example of a configuration in which the terminal capability information 300 of the terminal device 100 can be notified by both the LTE and WCDMA wireless communication schemes has been described. The information 300 may be notified. In the second embodiment, a communication procedure when such a configuration is adopted will be described.

  In the second embodiment, as an example, it is assumed that terminal capability information 300 of terminal apparatus 100 is notified only in LTE. According to the following description, it is obvious that the same method can be applied even when the terminal capability information 300 of the terminal device 100 is notified only by WCDMA.

  More specifically, there may be a case where the terminal capability information 300 is added to the UE UE capability of LTE but not added to the UE capability of WCDMA (the existing UE capability is used as it is).

  FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure of the radio communication system according to the second embodiment. Referring to FIG. 10, when terminal device 100 is activated by turning on a power button or the like (sequence SQ200), terminal device 100 starts a cell search (sequence SQ202). In the second embodiment, an LTE cell search is first performed. Here, when a carrier with LTE is detected, a communication procedure similar to that shown in the sequence diagram of FIG. 8 is executed. Therefore, detailed description of this case will not be repeated.

  On the other hand, when no LTE carrier is detected in the LTE cell search, terminal apparatus 100 performs a WCDMA cell search (sequence SQ204). Then, it is assumed that a carrier with WCDMA is detected (sequence SQ205). Note that if no WCDMA carrier is detected, the terminal device 100 is out of service.

  When detecting the WCDMA carrier, the terminal device 100 notifies the UE capability to the base station device 200 (sequence SQ206). However, unlike the above-described first embodiment, this UE capability does not include the terminal capability information 300.

  Upon receiving the UE capability from terminal apparatus 100 through WCDMA, base station apparatus 200 stores the received UE capability in terminal capability storage section 112 together with information for identifying the terminal apparatus 100 that is the transmission source (sequence SQ208). . Since UE Capability does not include the terminal capability information 300, in this situation, the base station apparatus 200 cannot determine whether or not the target terminal apparatus 100 can perform carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA.

  Base station apparatus 200 transmits a response to the notification of terminal capability information 300 to terminal apparatus 100 through WCDMA (sequence SQ210). Terminal apparatus 100 then enters a standby state in WCDMA (sequence SQ212).

  When a communication request such as a packet or voice is generated (sequence SQ214), terminal apparatus 100 requests communication connection to base station apparatus 200 through WCDMA currently camping on (sequence SQ216). For example, it is assumed that a communication request for a packet having a large data size occurs and a data connection request is made. As described in the first embodiment, various information related to scheduling may be notified together with the data connection request.

The scheduling processing unit 216 of the base station apparatus 200 determines whether to perform carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA (HSDPA) based on various information notified by the terminal apparatus 100, the total traffic volume, UE capability, and the like. to decide. As this determination method, the same determination method as described in the first embodiment can be adopted. However, here, since it is not possible to determine whether or not the target terminal apparatus 100 is capable of carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA, the scheduling processing unit 216 of the base station apparatus 200 does not use LTE, WCDMA (HSDPA) Select only communication.

  FIG. 10 shows an example in which a communication connection with a large data size is requested. In this example, scheduling processing section 216 of base station apparatus 200 selects to perform carrier aggregation only for WCDMA (HSDPA) (sequence SQ218). That is, base station apparatus 200 determines a resource to be allocated to terminal apparatus 100 among radio resources that can be used in each of a plurality of radio communication schemes, based on terminal capability information 300 notified from terminal apparatus 100. Then, base station apparatus 200 notifies terminal apparatus 100 of the selection result of carrier aggregation through WCDMA (sequence SQ220).

  Terminal apparatus 100 starts data communication with base station apparatus 200 using carrier aggregation of HSDPA according to the notified selection result of carrier aggregation (sequence SQ222). In the communication procedure shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the data communication is performed using carrier aggregation between LTE and HSDPA. However, in the communication procedure shown in FIG. 10 according to the second embodiment, only HSDPA is used. Data communication.

  In this case, LTE, HSDPA, and carrier aggregation cannot be selected, but since the terminal apparatus 100 exists in an area where the terminal device 100 cannot be connected to LTE in the first place, carrier aggregation of only HSDPA is an optimal selection. Therefore, by adopting the communication procedure according to the second embodiment, for example, the terminal capability information 300 is not added to the existing UE capability of WCDMA, but only added to the UE capability of LTE. Can be flexibly assigned.

  That is, the terminal device 100 notifies the terminal capability information 300 in a specific wireless communication system (in the above example, the LTE method) among a plurality of wireless communication methods. At this time, the terminal device 100 performs cell search for a specific wireless communication method for notifying the terminal capability information 300 in preference to other wireless communication methods (in the above example, the WCDMA method).

  If LTE carriers are periodically searched and LTE carriers can be detected, camping on LTE may be preferentially performed over WCDMA. By adopting such a method, radio resources can always be allocated flexibly.

  Further, the terminal capability information 300 may be added only to the UE capability of WCDMA without being added to the existing UE capability of LTE. In this case, if a cell search is first performed for WCDMA, radio resources can be flexibly allocated in the same procedure as the communication procedure shown in FIG.

  In addition, when location registration is performed in both LTE and WCDMA wireless communication systems when the terminal device 100 is activated, if the terminal capability information 300 is included in one of the UE Capabilities of LTE and WCDMA, Since the terminal capability information 300 can be notified to the base station apparatus 200 via the wireless communication method, there is no particular problem.

As described above, as one notification method of the terminal capability information 300, the terminal capability information 300 is added only to the LTE UE Capability. And as a communication procedure, the terminal device 100 tries to camp on LTE first. If the terminal apparatus 100 can camp on LTE, the terminal capability information 300 can be notified to the base station apparatus 200 (network side) by LTE UE Capability. On the other hand, if the terminal device 100 cannot camp on LTE, the terminal device 100 camps on WCDMA (HSDPA). In this case, the terminal capability information 300 cannot be notified to the base station apparatus 200 (network side), but since the terminal capability information 300 cannot use carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA, no particular problem occurs.

<G. Embodiment 3>
In the first and second embodiments described above, an example in which the terminal capability information 300 is notified from the terminal device 100 to the base station device 200 by using UE Capability including the terminal capability information 300 has been described. Instead of the configuration in which the terminal device 100 voluntarily notifies the terminal capability information 300, a configuration in which the base station device 200 requests the terminal capability information 300 from the terminal device 100 may be employed.

  For example, the base station device 200 can communicate with the terminal device 100 by WCDMA (HSDPA) (and can carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA (HSDPA)). The base station apparatus 200 may schedule carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA (HSDPA) if the terminal apparatus 100 responds that the terminal apparatus 100 is communicable.

<H. Embodiment 4>
In the above-described first to third embodiments, an example in which terminal capability information 300 is additionally defined in WCDMA UE Capability has been described. In this case, the base station apparatus 200 (network side) can directly read the terminal capability information 300 via WCDMA. However, with the further development of LTE, various improvements may be made. Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, a configuration will be described in which LTE-related UE Capabilities are encapsulated and defined in WCDMA UE Capabilities. This UE capability for expansion for LTE is prepared for expansion for the future. At this time, in the WCDMA system, it is only possible to know that the information added by encapsulation is UE Capability for LTE.

[H1: Structure example of terminal capability information]
In Embodiment 4, UE Capability for LTE transmitted from terminal apparatus 100 includes terminal capability information 300 shown in any of FIGS. 5 to 6 in addition to the information included in the existing UE Capability. .

  On the other hand, the UE capability of WCDMA transmitted from the terminal device 100 includes the terminal capability information 300 shown in any of FIGS. 5 to 6 in addition to the information included in the existing UE capability. .

  FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of WCDMA UE Capability transmitted from terminal apparatus 100 according to the fourth embodiment. The WCDMA UE Capability shown in FIG. 11 includes an existing part 450 and an extended part 460.

  “WCDMA UE Capability 1”, “CDMA UE Capability 2”, “CDMA UE Capability 3”, etc. included in the existing part 450 are information defined in the current 3GPP specifications such as basic information, frequency information, and other information. Show.

The extended portion 460 includes “WCDMA UE Capability n”, and this portion corresponds to the terminal capability information 300. "WCDMA UE Capability n"
In (extended portion 460), terminal capability information 300 shown in any of FIGS. 5 to 6 is encapsulated and inserted. Further, various other terminal capability information 300 for LTE may be encapsulated and inserted.

  As described above, the extended portion 460 is an extended portion with respect to the existing UE capability. In other words, the extended portion 460 corresponds to a part of UE capability of WCDMA, but substantially indicates UE capability for extension for LTE. From the WCDMA system side, it is known that the information is for LTE, but its contents cannot be immediately decoded. That is, when viewed from the WCDMA system side, it is in an encapsulated state.

  The extension part 460 is used only when necessary for extension for LTE. For example, if the terminal device does not support LTE, the information on the extended portion 460 is not necessary, and thus it is not necessary to notify WCDMA UE Capability n.

  As described above, the terminal capability information 300 (or UE capability including the terminal capability information 300) related to LTE of the terminal capability information 300 is encapsulated and inserted into the UE Capability of WCDMA (HSDPA). More specifically, a UE capability area for LTE is provided in the UE capability area of HSDPA. From the perspective of the HSDPA system, it is known that the information is for LTE, but its contents cannot be immediately decoded. In this way, the terminal device 100 encapsulates the terminal information related to one radio communication scheme and inserts it into the UE capability of another radio communication scheme.

[H2: Communication control method]
Next, a communication control method when the above-described LTE and WCDMA UE Capabilities are used will be described.

  FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure of the radio communication system according to the fourth embodiment. When terminal device 100 is activated by turning on a power button or the like (sequence SQ300), terminal device 100 starts a cell search (sequence SQ302). Here, when a carrier with LTE is detected, a communication procedure similar to that shown in the sequence diagram of FIG. 8 is executed. Therefore, detailed description of this case will not be repeated.

  In contrast, when a carrier with WCDMA is detected (sequence SQ304), terminal apparatus 100 encapsulates part of terminal capability information 300 (UE Capability) for LTE and inserts it into UE Capability of WCDMA. The sushi (sequence SQ306) notifies the base station apparatus 200 of the WCDMA UE capability after insertion (sequence SQ308). That is, the terminal device 100 notifies the base station device 200 of WCDMA UE Capability shown in FIG.

When receiving the UE capability from the terminal device 100 through the WCDMA, the base station device 200 decodes the received UE capability to extract the terminal capability information 300 and, together with information for identifying the transmission source terminal device 100 Store in terminal capability storage section 112 (sequence SQ310). Since UE Capability does not include the terminal capability information 300, the base station apparatus 200 cannot determine whether the target terminal apparatus 100 can perform carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA at this stage. However, the expanded LTE terminal capability information 300 is decoded from the WCDMA system of the base station apparatus 200 on the LTE system side via LTE. The read LTE terminal capability information 300 for LTE is stored in the terminal capability storage unit 214 together with the terminal capability information 300 decoded on the WCDMA side.

  When the intra-site carrier aggregation base station configuration shown in FIG. 4 is adopted, the UE capability notified through WCDMA is transferred via the LTE-WCDMA inter-base station connection 290 described above.

  Referring to FIG. 12 again, base station apparatus 200 transmits a response to notification of terminal capability information 300 to terminal apparatus 100 through WCDMA (sequence SQ312). Terminal apparatus 100 then enters a standby state in WCDMA (sequence SQ314).

  When a communication request such as a packet or voice is generated (sequence SQ316), terminal apparatus 100 requests communication connection to base station apparatus 200 through WCDMA currently camping on (sequence SQ318).

  The scheduling processing unit 216 of the base station apparatus 200 determines the radio quality of the communicable cell, the total traffic volume, whether the data to be transmitted / received is a packet or voice (and data if the data to be transmitted / received is a packet). Size) and the corresponding terminal capability information 300, etc., it is determined whether or not carrier aggregation between LTE and WCDMA (HSDPA) is performed.

  FIG. 12 shows an example in which a communication connection with a large data size is requested. In this example, scheduling processing section 216 of base station apparatus 200 selects to perform carrier aggregation only for WCDMA (HSDPA) (sequence SQ320). Then, base station apparatus 200 notifies terminal apparatus 100 of the carrier aggregation selection result through WCDMA (sequence SQ322).

  Terminal apparatus 100 starts data communication with base station apparatus 200 using carrier aggregation of HSDPA according to the notified selection result of carrier aggregation (sequence SQ324).

[H3: Modification]
In the above-described Embodiment 4, an example is shown in which UE capability information 300 (UE Capability) for LTE is additionally defined as an extension for UE capability of WCDMA, but other than the method of additionally defining This method can also be adopted. For example, the terminal capability information 300 (UE Capability) for LTE is encapsulated and inserted into the uplink control signal and / or data signal of WCDMA, and the base station apparatus 200 is notified independently of the existing UE Capability. You may do it. When inserting by this encapsulation, it is preferable to clearly indicate which radio communication system is addressed.

  Further, in the above-described fourth embodiment, an example has been described in which terminal capability information 300 (UE Capability) for LTE is encapsulated and inserted in UE Capability of WCDMA, but a terminal for WCDMA is inserted in UE Capability of LTE. Capability information 300 (UE capability) may be encapsulated and inserted. As described above, the terminal capability information 300 common among a plurality of wireless communication methods is defined in the main wireless communication method, and the other wireless communication methods are encapsulated to define extra information. Therefore, flexible and efficient communication control can be realized.

In the above-described fourth embodiment, the process of encapsulating the terminal capability information 300 (UE Capability) has been described. However, not only the terminal capability information 300 but also other control signals can be encapsulated in the same manner. Flexible and efficient communication control can be realized.

  For example, carrier aggregation between LTE and HSDPA is performed as the downlink, but a case is considered in which communication is performed using only LTE as the uplink. At this time, the ACK / NACK signal for the data signal in the LTE downlink may be transmitted by the existing method in the LTE uplink. On the other hand, the ACK / NACK signal for the data signal in the WCDMA downlink (HSDPA) needs to be transmitted in the LTE uplink since there is no existing WCDMA uplink. As this transmission procedure, for example, the following method may be employed.

  First, the terminal apparatus 100 encapsulates a WCDMA control signal, assigns a WCDMA destination, inserts it into an LTE uplink control signal, and transmits the LTE uplink control signal to the base station apparatus 200 through LTE. Alternatively, the terminal apparatus 100 may be inserted into an LTE uplink data signal and transmitted to the base station apparatus 200 through LTE.

  When the LTE receiving unit receives the LTE control signal or data signal, the base station apparatus 200 decodes the signal encapsulated through the WCDMA for the signal to which the WCDMA destination is assigned.

[H4: Advantage]
As described above, in the fourth embodiment, when the terminal device 100 camps on WCDMA for the first time, the UE capability of WCDMA is notified to the base station device 200 (network side). The terminal capability information 300 (UE Capability) is notified from the WCDMA side network to the LTE side network. On the LTE side, the encapsulated UE capability is decrypted. By adopting such a method, it is not necessary to change the UE capability of the existing WCDMA radio system every time it is expanded, and flexible and efficient communication control can be realized.

<I. Other forms>
In the above-described first to fourth embodiments, the configuration in which one base station apparatus 200 provides LTE and WCDMA, that is, the configuration of intrasite carrier aggregation is exemplified, but the configuration of intersite carrier aggregation may be employed. . That is, a plurality of base station apparatuses may be configured to provide LTE and WCDMA services, respectively. Furthermore, a plurality of base station configurations may be arranged in an LTE or WCDMA system, and an intersite carrier aggregation may be configured in each system.

  In Embodiments 1 to 4 described above, a combination of LTE and WCDMA has been described as an example of a plurality of radio communication schemes. However, it is obvious that the present invention can be applied to other radio communication schemes.

  For example, it is assumed that the terminal device 100 connected to WCDMA can perform carrier aggregation between a wireless LAN and HSDPA. In this case, the terminal device 100 can include the terminal capability information 300 (UE Capability) for the wireless LAN for expansion in the UE Capability of WCDMA. As the terminal capability information 300 for wireless LAN, the corresponding wireless LAN standard (IEEE802.11a / b / g / n), the supported frequency (2.4 GHz band and / or 5 GHz band), and the correspondence of MIMO Includes availability and security methods.

  The WCDMA base station device 200 may identify a wireless LAN base station located around the terminal device 100 from the location information of the terminal device 100 and transmit a search request to the identified wireless LAN base station. it can. In the current standard, since a search request in the C plane cannot be made, it is possible to adopt a method of transmitting in the U plane or defining the format of the C plane as extended.

<J. Advantage>
(1) The present embodiment is directed to a radio communication system in which one or more terminal devices 100 and one or more base station devices 200 can use a plurality of radio communication schemes simultaneously. Each terminal apparatus 100 transmits to the base station apparatus 200 terminal capability information 300 that is terminal information indicating whether or not it is possible to communicate using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time.

  By adopting such a configuration, the base station apparatus 200 (network side) determines whether or not it is possible to perform communication using a plurality of wireless communication methods from such a terminal apparatus 100 simultaneously. Based on the information shown, radio resources can be appropriately allocated to each terminal device 100.

  (2) In the present embodiment, terminal apparatus 100 adds terminal capability information 300 including information indicating whether or not communication is possible using a plurality of wireless communication schemes simultaneously to UE Capability. Thus, the base station apparatus 200 is notified. That is, the terminal device 100 adds the terminal capability information 300 to each of the LTE UE capability and the WCDMA UE capability.

  By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to notify the terminal capability information 300 using the existing UE capability, and the notification process of the terminal capability information 300 can be simplified.

  (3) In the present embodiment, terminal device 100 notifies terminal capability information 300 in each of a plurality of wireless communication schemes. The base station apparatus 200 can appropriately allocate radio resources to the terminal apparatus 100 based on the terminal capability information 300 notified via any of the radio communication system. That is, the terminal device 100 adds the terminal capability information 300 to both the UE capability of LTE and the UE capability of WCDMA.

  By adopting such a configuration, the base station apparatus 200 reliably receives the terminal capability information 300 even if the terminal apparatus 100 is initially connected to any of the plurality of wireless communication systems. be able to.

  (4) In the present embodiment, the terminal device 100 may notify the terminal capability information 300 in a specific wireless communication method among a plurality of wireless communication methods. At this time, the terminal device 100 performs a cell search for a specific wireless communication method for notifying the terminal capability information 300 in preference to other wireless communication methods. That is, the terminal capability information 300 first searches for a cell of a wireless communication system system in which the terminal capability information 300 is added to the UE capability. And if the target cell is detected, the terminal device 100 will notify the base station apparatus 200 of the terminal capability information 300 (including UE Capability). Base station apparatus 200 allocates radio resources to terminal apparatus 100 based on terminal capability information 300 from terminal apparatus 100. If the target cell is not detected, a cell of another wireless communication system is searched.

Thus, the terminal capability information 300 is notified only to the base station device 200 that provides a certain wireless communication method, and the base station device 200 transmits the terminal capability information 300 from the terminal device 100
By adopting the control method of starting the allocation of radio resources by receiving the mobile terminal, it is possible to efficiently process the terminal capability information 300 regarding a plurality of radio communication schemes.

  (5) In the present embodiment, the terminal device 100 defines terminal capability information that defines, for each of the downlink and the uplink, whether or not it is possible to communicate using a plurality of wireless communication schemes simultaneously. 300 may be notified.

  In the present embodiment, terminal apparatus 100 may notify, as terminal capability information 300, a combination of frequency bands that can be subjected to carrier aggregation. For example, the terminal capability information 300 includes information indicating what can be simultaneously communicated among combinations of any frequency band of LTE and any frequency band of WCDMA (HSDPA / HSUPA).

  In the present embodiment, the terminal apparatus 100 may notify the terminal capability information 300 of the number of frequency bands that can be used for carrier aggregation (the respective maximum value and / or the maximum value that can be simultaneously communicated). The terminal capability information 300 includes information such as the maximum number of carriers that can be carrier-aggregated by LTE, the maximum number of carriers that can be carrier-aggregated by WCDMA, and the maximum number of carriers that can be carrier-aggregated by combining LTE and WCDMA. These pieces of information may define the reception capability and transmission capability of the terminal device 100 separately.

  In the present embodiment, terminal apparatus 100 notifies terminal capability information 300 of information such as which radio communication method is prioritized and / or which frequency band is prioritized.

  By notifying more detailed contents as described above as the terminal capability information 300, the base station apparatus 200 can more appropriately allocate radio resources to each terminal apparatus 100.

  (6) In the present embodiment, an extension area for future expansion is provided in the UE capability. In this extension area, at least a part of UE Capability (terminal capability information 300) directed to a system of another radio communication scheme is inserted in an encapsulated manner. By adopting such a configuration, UE Capability can be flexibly expanded.

  More specifically, UE capability including information indicating whether or not it is possible to communicate using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time is encapsulated and inserted into the extension area. Further, information on the destination (for example, for LTE) is also added.

Alternatively, the terminal capability information 300 is added to an uplink control signal (for example, PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel in the case of LTE)) or an uplink data signal (for example, PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel in the case of LTE)). It may be encapsulated and included. Further, information on the destination (for example, for LTE) is also added.

  As described above, by encapsulating and inserting UE Capability (terminal capability information 300), a dedicated area for notifying information on whether or not communication is possible using a plurality of wireless communication methods at the same time. Therefore, a flexible control method can be realized.

(7) In the present embodiment, when the terminal device 100 first detects a cell provided by a system of a wireless communication method corresponding to UE Capability that is not to add the terminal capability information 300, the terminal capability information 300 Is encapsulated and inserted into the extension area, and a necessary destination is added and transmitted to the base station apparatus 200. Alternatively, the terminal device 100 encapsulates the terminal capability information 300 and inserts it in the uplink control signal or data signal, and adds a necessary destination to transmit to the base station device 200. When the base station apparatus 200 receives the encapsulated information, the base station apparatus 200 decodes the encapsulated terminal capability information 300 via the wireless communication system specified as the destination. Then, the base station apparatus 200 allocates radio resources based on the read terminal capability information 300.

  By adopting such a configuration, even if the terminal device 100 first detects a cell provided by a system of a wireless communication method corresponding to UE Capability to which the terminal capability information 300 is not added, the terminal capability The information 300 can be reliably notified to the appropriate base station apparatus 200 (network side).

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

100 terminal device, 110, 210, 210A, 210B control unit, 112, 214, 214A, 214B terminal capability storage unit, 114 terminal capability transmission processing unit, 120.1, 120.2, 220.1, 220.2 LTE transmission 140.1, 140.2, 240.1, 240.2 LTE receiver, 122.1, 122.2, 132.1, 132.2, 222.1, 222.2, 232.1, 232 .2 Transmit antenna, 130.1, 130.2, 230.1, 230.2 WCDMA transmitter, 142.1, 142.2, 152.1, 152.2, 242.1, 242.2, 252. 1, 252.2 receiving antenna, 150.1, 150.2, 250.1, 250.2 WCDMA receiver, 200, 260, 270 base station apparatus, 200A base station system, 2,212A, 212B terminal capability reception processing unit, 216,216A scheduling processing unit, 280 base station controller, between 290 base station connection, 300, 300A, 300B, 300C terminal capability information, 400
Core network, 450 existing part, 460 extended part, SYS wireless communication system.

Claims (6)

A wireless communication system,
A base station apparatus that communicates using at least one of the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system;
A terminal device connected to the base station device,
The terminal device uses the first wireless communication method and the second wireless communication method to simultaneously transmit terminal information indicating whether or not communication is possible using the first wireless communication method and the second wireless communication method. Means for notifying the base station apparatus only in a specific wireless communication system among wireless communication systems ;
Means for notifying the terminal information to the base station apparatus includes a means to transmit by adding the terminal information to the UE Capability, a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system according to claim 1 , wherein the terminal information includes information defining a wireless communication method that can be used separately for downlink and uplink. The wireless communication system according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the terminal information is information indicated by respective frequency bands of the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system. A wireless communication method in a wireless communication system including a base station device that communicates using at least one of a first wireless communication method and a second wireless communication method, and a terminal device,
Terminal information indicating whether or not it is possible to communicate using the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system at the same time , the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system Including the step of notifying the base station device from the terminal device only in a specific wireless communication method ,
The step of notifying the terminal information from the terminal device to the base station device includes a step of adding the terminal information to UE capability and transmitting the UE information. A terminal device connected to a base station device that communicates using at least one of a first wireless communication method and a second wireless communication method,
The terminal information indicating whether or not it is possible to communicate using a plurality of wireless communication systems at the same time, the terminal information only in a specific wireless communication system among the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system Means for notifying the base station device,
The means for notifying the terminal information to the base station apparatus includes a means for adding the terminal information to UE capability and transmitting the UE information. Means for communicating using the first wireless communication method or the second wireless communication method;
Terminal information indicating whether or not communication using the first wireless communication method and the second wireless communication method from the terminal device is possible at the same time is performed as the first wireless communication method and the second wireless communication method. Means for receiving only in a specific wireless communication method of the wireless communication methods of
A base station device in which UE capability is added to the terminal information by the terminal device.

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