U.S. patent application number 14/447524 was filed with the patent office on 2015-02-26 for method and device for judging radio link failure in carrier aggregation technology.
The applicant listed for this patent is CHINA ACADEMY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY. Invention is credited to Li CHEN, Jing Liang, Jiamin Liu.
Application Number | 20150055488 14/447524 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43585894 |
Filed Date | 2015-02-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150055488 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
CHEN; Li ; et al. |
February 26, 2015 |
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR JUDGING RADIO LINK FAILURE IN CARRIER
AGGREGATION TECHNOLOGY
Abstract
The present invention discloses a method and device for judging
Radio Link Failure (RLF) in Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology,
which are used to effectively judge whether a radio link is failed
or not in CA technology. Said method comprises: on an evaluation
point, comparing the determined radio link quality parameter of
each carrier participating in the RLF judgement with the
corresponding radio link quality parameter threshold, determining
whether to trigger an in-sync indication or out-of-sync indication
on the evaluation point, and judging whether the radio link of the
User Equipment (UE) is failed according to the number of the
continuously received in-sync indications or out-of-sync
indications. The embodiment of the present invention determines
whether to trigger an in-sync indication or out-of-sync indication
by comparing the radio link quality parameters of the carriers
participating in the RLF judgement with the corresponding radio
link quality parameter thresholds, and thereby judges that whether
the radio link is failed or not in CA technology.
Inventors: |
CHEN; Li; (Beijing, CN)
; Liu; Jiamin; (Beijing, CN) ; Liang; Jing;
(Beijing, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
CHINA ACADEMY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY |
Beijing |
|
CN |
|
|
Family ID: |
43585894 |
Appl. No.: |
14/447524 |
Filed: |
July 30, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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13390332 |
Feb 13, 2012 |
8824309 |
|
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PCT/CN2010/001235 |
Aug 13, 2010 |
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14447524 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/242 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y02D 70/1262 20180101;
H04W 52/0216 20130101; Y02D 70/20 20180101; H04L 5/005 20130101;
H04L 5/001 20130101; Y02D 30/70 20200801; H04W 76/18 20180201; Y02D
70/24 20180101; H04W 24/08 20130101; H04W 76/19 20180201; H04W
24/10 20130101; H04L 25/0208 20130101; Y02D 70/1264 20180101; Y02D
70/00 20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
370/242 |
International
Class: |
H04W 24/08 20060101
H04W024/08; H04W 76/02 20060101 H04W076/02; H04W 52/02 20060101
H04W052/02; H04L 5/00 20060101 H04L005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Aug 13, 2009 |
CN |
200910090483.8 |
Claims
1. A method for judging radio link failure in carrier aggregation,
comprising: a User Equipment, UE, determining radio link quality
parameter of carrier involved in judgment of radio link failure,
wherein the radio link quality parameter of the carrier involved in
the judgment is obtained by measuring a cell-specific reference
signal of the carrier more than once within each evaluation period
and filtering measurement results on an evaluation point of each
evaluation period, the evaluation point is an end of the evaluation
period; the UE comparing on evaluation points each determined radio
link quality parameter with a corresponding radio link quality
parameter threshold and determining whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points;
and judging failure of a radio link of the UE when the UE does not
receive continuously a preset number of in-sync indications in a
preset judgment length of time: wherein the determining radio link
quality parameter of the carrier involved in judgment of radio link
failure comprises: determining a primary carrier of the UE as a
carrier involved in judgment of radio link failure, measuring the
cell-specific reference signal of the primary carrier more than
once within the evaluation period, and filtering measurement
results on the evaluation point of the evaluation period to obtain
the radio link quality parameter corresponding to the primary
carrier.
2. (canceled)
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE comparing on evaluation
points each determined radio link quality parameter with a
corresponding radio link quality parameter threshold and
determining whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an
out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points comprises: the UE
on the evaluation points determining an out-of-sync indication to
be triggered if the radio link quality parameter of the primary
carriers is below a first radio link quality parameter threshold
corresponding to the primary carrier, or an in-sync indication to
be triggered if the radio link quality parameter of the primary
carrier is above a second radio link quality parameter threshold
corresponding to the primary carrier, or neither in-sync indication
nor out-of-sync indication to be triggered if the radio link
quality parameter of the primary carrier is between the first radio
link quality parameter threshold and the second radio link quality
parameter threshold, wherein the second radio link quality
parameter threshold is above the first radio link quality parameter
threshold.
4. (canceled)
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE judging failure of a radio
link of the UE when a preset number of in-sync indications are not
received continuously in a preset length of time comprises: the UE
enabling a tuner to monitor for the preset length of time upon
continuous reception of a first number of out-of-sync indications;
and judging failure of the radio link of the UE when a second
number of in-sync indications are not received continuously during
operation of the timer.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first number, the second
number and the timer are configured at the network side in Radio
Resource Control, RRC, signaling.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first number is configured at
the network side according to a preset number of times that the
primary carrier of the UE is involved in comparison of the radio
link quality parameter.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the preset number of times is no
smaller than one: a correspondence relationship between the
Discontinuous Reception, DRX, period of the carrier and the preset
number of times; or the longest DRX period and the shortest DRX
period of the respective carriers of the UE.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the evaluation points
comprises: determining the evaluation points according to the DRX
mode of the primary carrier.
10. (canceled)
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier comprise: an
activated carrier configured at the Radio Resource Control, RRC,
layer of the network side, wherein the activated carrier is the
carrier on which the UE performs uplink and downlink transmission
and performs CQI measurement; or an independently operating
carrier, wherein the independently operating carrier is the carrier
which operates as independent cell without relying on another
carrier; or an primary carrier configured at the RRC layer of the
network side.
12. A device for judging radio link failure in carrier aggregation,
comprising: a determining module configured to determine radio link
quality parameter of a carrier involved in judgment of radio link
failure, wherein the radio link quality parameter of the carrier
involved in the judgment is obtained by measuring a cell-specific
reference signal of the carrier more than once within each
evaluation period and filtering measurement results on an
evaluation point of each evaluation period, the evaluation point is
an end of the evaluation period; a triggering module configured to
compare on evaluation points each determined radio link quality
parameter with a corresponding radio link quality parameter
threshold and to determine whether to trigger an in-sync indication
or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points; and a
judging module configured to judge failure of a radio link of a
User Equipment, UE, when a preset number of in-sync indications are
not received continuously in a preset judgment length of timer;
wherein the determining module is further configured to determine a
primary carrier of the user equipment as a carrier involved in
judgement of radio link failure, to measure the cell-specific
reference signal of the primary carrier more than once within the
evaluation period, and to filter measurement results on the
evaluation point of the evaluation period to obtain the radio link
quality parameter corresponding to the primary carrier.
13. (canceled)
14. The device of claim 12, wherein the triggering module is
configured to determine on the evaluation points an out-of-sync
indication to be triggered if the radio link quality parameter of
the primary carrier is below a first radio link quality parameter
threshold corresponding to the primary carrier, or an in-sync
indication to be triggered if the radio link quality parameter of
the primary carrier is above a second radio link quality parameter
threshold corresponding to the primary carrier, or nether in-sync
indication nor out-of-sync indication to be triggered if the radio
link quality parameter of the primary carrier is between the first
radio link quality parameter threshold and the second radio link
quality parameter threshold, wherein the second radio link quality
parameter threshold is above the first radio link quality parameter
threshold.
15. (canceled)
16. The device of claim 12, wherein the triggering module further
comprises: an evaluation point determining unit configured to
determine the evaluation points according to the DRX mode of the
primary carrier.
17. (canceled)
18. The device of claim 12, wherein the judging module comprises:
an enabling unit configured to enable a timer to monitor for the
preset length of time upon continuous reception of a first number
of out-of-sync indications; and a judging unit configured to judge
failure of the radio link of the UE when a second number of in-sync
indications are not received continuously during operation of the
timer.
Description
[0001] The present application is a continuation application of
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/390,332, filed Feb. 13, 2012,
entitled "Method and Device for Judging Radio Link Failure in
Carrier Aggregation Technology," which is a U.S. National Phase
application under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.371 of International Application
No. PC/CN2010/001235, filed Aug. 13, 2010, entitled METHOD AND
DEVICE FOR JUDGING RADIO LINK FAILURE IN CARRIER AGGREGATION
TECHNOLOGY, which claims the benefit of Chinese patent application
number 200910090483.8, filed with the Chinese Patent Office on Aug.
13, 2009 and entitled "Method and device for judging radio link
failure in carrier aggregation," the entirety of which has been
incorporated by reference.
FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates to the field of communications
and particularly to a method and device for judging radio link
failure in Carrier Aggregation (CA).
BACKGROUND
[0003] A Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-Advanced) system is
provided with greatly improved peak rates, and carrier aggregation
has been introduced to the LTE-A system for better compatibility
with an LTE system.
[0004] Unlike a User Equipment (UE) operating over a single carrier
in the LTE system, the use of carrier aggregation can have the UE
operate concurrently over a plurality of uplink and downlink
component carriers. An E-UTRAN NodeB (eNB) can manage and schedule
the plurality of component carriers to have the UE switch between
the different component carriers. The respective component carriers
may be consecutive or inconsecutive, and for better compatibility
with the LTE system, the maximum bandwidth of each component
carrier is 20 MHz, and the bandwidths of the respective component
carriers may be identical or different. A plurality of types of
carriers, particularly a backwards compatible carrier, a
non-backwards compatible carrier and an extension carrier, may be
involved in carrier aggregation.
[0005] In the LTE system, methods in which the UE judges whether a
radio link fails include:
[0006] (1) The UE determines whether a T310 timer expires;
[0007] (2) The UE determines whether a random access problem
indication transmitted from the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer
is received when T300, T301, T304 and T311 are disabled; and
[0008] (3) The UE determines whether an indication of reaching the
maximum number of retransmissions transmitted from the Radio Link
Control (RLC) layer is received.
[0009] Particularly the method in which the UE judges whether a
radio link fails according to whether a T310 timer expires
includes:
[0010] When a number N310 of out-of-sync indications transmitted
from the physical layer of the UE are received continuously at the
Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer thereof and all the timers T300,
T301, T304 and T311 are disabled, a T310 timer is enabled at the
RRC layer of the UE to monitor for a preset judgment length of
time, and if a number N311 of in-sync indications transmitted from
the physical layer of the UE are received continuously at the RRC
layer thereof during operation of T310, then it is judged at the
RRC layer of the UE that a radio link does not fail, and the timer
T310 is disabled; otherwise, failure of the radio link is judged at
the RRC layer of the UE upon expiration of T310.
[0011] In the foregoing implementation, it is necessary to measure
a Cell specific Reference Signal (CRS) at the physical layer of the
UE to detect the quality of a downlink radio link and thereby
determine whether to transmit an out-of-sync or in-sync indication
to an upper layer, i.e., the RRC layer. In a Discontinuous
Reception (DRX) mode, the quality of a radio link is evaluated at
least once in each DRX period, and the result of calculating the
quality of the radio link in the evaluation period is compared with
a radio link quality parameter threshold to determine whether to
transmit an out-of-sync or in-sync indication to the upper layer.
In a non-DRX mode, the UE assesses the quality of a radio link at
the physical layer for a specific sub-frame of each radio frame,
and the result of calculating the quality of the radio link in each
evaluation period is compared with a radio link quality parameter
threshold to determine whether to transmit an out-of-sync or
in-sync indication to the upper layer. Particularly a point of time
at which the UE evaluates the quality of a radio link is referred
to as an evaluation point.
[0012] In a specific process of determining whether to transmit an
out-of-sync or in-sync indication to the upper layer, the UE
transmits an out-of-sync indication to the upper layer when the
result of calculating the quality of a radio link is below a first
radio link quality parameter threshold Q.sub.out, that is, when a
current channel quality is poorer than a channel quality
corresponding to Q.sub.out, or the UE transmits an in-sync to the
upper layer when the result of calculating the quality of the radio
link is above a second radio link quality parameter threshold
Q.sub.in, that is, when the current channel quality is better than
a channel quality corresponding to Q.sub.in. The out-of-sync
indication corresponds to an evaluation period of 200 ms, and the
in-sync indication corresponds to an evaluation period of 100 ms.
Particularly the first radio link quality parameter threshold
Q.sub.out and the second radio link quality parameter threshold
Q.sub.in are not configured values but resulting statistics of a
Block Error Rate (BER) corresponding to the quality of a downlink
radio link being above 10% and below 2% under the parameter
condition of a specific bandwidth, etc., specified in the protocol
3GPP TS 36.133.
[0013] In summary, since a UE operates over a single carrier in the
LTE system, whether a radio link of the single carrier fails can be
judged simply by determining the quality of the radio link;
however, in the LTE-A system with carrier aggregation, a
deteriorated-quality radio link of a carrier may not imply that a
UE can not perform normal transmission of data. Therefore a method
for judging radio link failure in a multi-carrier operating context
is desired in the LTE-A system.
SUMMARY
[0014] In view of this, embodiments of the invention provide a
method and device for judging radio link failure in carrier
aggregation to judge effectively in carrier aggregation whether a
radio link fails.
[0015] An embodiment of the invention provides a method for judging
radio link failure in carrier aggregation, which includes:
[0016] a User Equipment, UE, determining radio link quality
parameters of one or more carriers involved in judgment of radio
link failure;
[0017] the UE comparing on evaluation points each determined radio
link quality parameter with a corresponding radio link quality
parameter threshold and determining whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points;
and
[0018] judging failure of a radio link of the UE when the UE does
not receive continuously a preset number of in-sync indications in
a preset judgment length of time.
[0019] An embodiment of the invention provides a device for judging
radio link failure in carrier aggregation, which includes:
[0020] a determining module configured to determine radio link
quality parameters of one or more carriers involved in judgment of
radio link failure;
[0021] a triggering module configured to compare on evaluation
points each determined radio link quality parameter with a
corresponding radio link quality parameter threshold and to
determine whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an
out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points; and
[0022] a judging module configured to judge failure of a radio link
of the UE when a preset number of in-sync indications are not
received continuously in a preset judgment length of time.
[0023] The embodiments of the invention provide a method and device
for judging radio link failure in carrier aggregation, and in the
method, determined radio link quality parameters of a specific
carrier(s) involved in judgment of radio link failure are compared
on evaluation points with corresponding radio link quality
parameter thresholds, it is determined whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation
points, and whether a radio link of the UE fails is judged
according to the number of continuously received in-sync
indications or out-of-sync indications, and thus in the embodiments
of the invention, the radio link quality parameters of the
carrier(s) involved in judgment of radio link failure are compared
on evaluation points with the corresponding radio link quality
parameter thresholds to thereby determine whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication, thus judging in
carrier aggregation whether a radio link fails.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] FIG. 1 is a process of judging radio link failure in carrier
aggregation according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0025] FIG. 2 is a first implementation of judging whether a radio
link fails according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0026] FIG. 3 is a second implementation of judging whether a radio
link fails according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0027] FIG. 4 is a third implementation of judging whether as radio
link fails according to an embodiment of the invention; and
[0028] FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for
judging radio link failure in carrier aggregation according to an
embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0029] In order to judge radio link failure in carrier aggregation,
an embodiment of the invention provides a method for judging radio
link failure in carrier aggregation, and this method includes: a UE
comparing on evaluation points a determined radio link quality
parameter of each carrier involved in judgment of radio link
failure with each corresponding radio link quality parameter
threshold; determining whether to trigger an in-sync or out-of-sync
indication on the evaluation points; and judging whether a radio
link of the UE fails according to the number of continuously
received in-sync or out-of-sync indications. In an embodiment of
the invention, the radio link quality parameter of each carrier
involved in judgment of radio link failure is compared with the
corresponding radio link quality parameter threshold to thereby
determine whether to trigger an in-sync or out-of-sync indication
on the evaluation points, thus judging in carrier aggregation
whether a radio link of the UE fails.
[0030] Embodiments of the invention will be detailed below with
reference to the drawings.
[0031] FIG. 1 is a process of judging radio link failure in carrier
aggregation according to an embodiment of the invention, and this
process includes the following operations:
[0032] S101: A UE determines radio link quality parameters of one
or more carriers involved in judgment of radio link failure.
[0033] Since the UE operates over a plurality of carriers, it is
necessary for the UE to determine radio link quality parameters of
one or more carriers involved in judgment of radio link failure,
and this process includes:
[0034] Respective carriers of the UE are determined as carriers
involved in judgment of radio link failure, CRSs of the respective
carriers are measured respectively, and respective instantaneous
measurement results are filtered based upon an evaluation period,
thereby acquiring radio link quality parameters of the respective
carriers; or the UE measures CRSs of the respective carriers,
selects the largest value among measurement results of the
respective carriers and determines a first carrier corresponding to
the largest value as a carrier involved in judgment of radio link
failure, that is, only one instantaneous value is measured each
time and L1-filtered based upon an evaluation period to acquire a
radio link quality parameter corresponding to the first carrier; or
an primary carrier or a serving carrier of the UE is determined as
a carrier involved in judgment of radio link failure, a CRS of the
primary carrier is measured, and respective measurement values are
filtered based upon an evaluation period to acquire a radio link
quality parameter corresponding to the primary carrier, which is
also referred to as a serving cell if each carrier subject to
carrier aggregation is regarded as a separate cell, where a CRS of
a carrier is measured at the physical layer of the UE.
[0035] S102: The UE compares on evaluation points each determined
radio link quality parameter with a corresponding radio link
quality parameter threshold and determine whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation
points.
[0036] Particularly in the process of determining whether to
trigger an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication, when
respective carriers of the UE are determined as carriers involved
in judgment of radio link failure, it is determined whether the
respective carriers correspond to the same radio link quality
parameter thresholds; and when the respective carriers correspond
to the same radio link quality parameter thresholds, the largest
value among the radio link quality parameters of the respective
carriers is selected and compared with the radio link quality
parameter thresholds, and an out-of-sync indication is triggered
when the largest value is below the first radio link quality
parameter threshold or an in-sync indication is triggered when the
largest value is above the second radio link quality parameter
threshold; or when the respective carriers correspond to different
radio link quality parameter thresholds, the radio link quality
parameters of the respective carriers are compared with the radio
link quality parameter thresholds corresponding to the respective
carriers, and an out-of-sync indication is triggered when the radio
link quality parameters of the respective carriers are below first
radio link quality parameter thresholds corresponding to the
respective carriers or an in-sync indication is triggered when a
radio link quality parameter of at least one carrier is above a
second radio link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the
carrier. An evaluation point is a point of time at which the UE
evaluates the quality of a radio link. That is, if none of the
radio link quality measurement values of the respective carriers
involved in judgment of radio link failure is above a first radio
link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the same carrier,
then an out-of-sync indication is triggered, or if one of the radio
link quality measurement values is above a second radio link
quality parameter threshold corresponding to the same carrier, then
an in-sync indication is triggered.
[0037] S103: Failure of a radio link of the UE is judged when the
UE does not receive continuously a preset number of in-sync
indications in a preset judgment length of time according to the
number of continuously received in-sync indications or out-of-sync
indications and a preset timer.
[0038] For the UE to judge whether a radio link of the UE fails,
when the UE receives continuously a first number of out-of-sync
indications and all the timers in a second set of timers are
disabled, a timer preset to monitor for a preset judgment length of
time is enabled, and it is determined whether a second number of
in-sync indications are received continuously during counting of
the preset timer, and the UE disables the timer upon reception of
the second number of in-sync indications, that is, the radio link
of the UE does not fail, or the UE judges failure of the radio link
thereof when the second number of in-sync indications are not
received continuously, where whether the radio link fails is judged
at the RRC layer of the UE.
[0039] In an embodiment of the invention, whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication can be determined
at the physical layer of the UE in numerous methods, some of which
will be described below in particular embodiments.
[0040] When the UE determines each carrier thereof as a carrier
involved in judgment of radio link failure, CRSs of the respective
carriers are measured respectively at the physical layer of the UE,
and respective instantaneous measurement results are filtered based
upon an evaluation period to thereby acquire the radio link quality
parameters of the respective carriers, and then it is determined
whether the respective carriers correspond to the same radio link
quality parameter thresholds, and when it is determined that the
respective carriers correspond to the same radio link quality
parameter thresholds, the largest value among the radio link
quality parameters of the respective carriers is selected on each
evaluation point and compared with the radio link quality
parameters threshold corresponding to the respective carriers, and
whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync
indication on the evaluation point is determined according to the
result of comparison; or when the respective carriers correspond to
different radio link quality parameter thresholds, the radio link
quality parameters of the respective carriers are compared on each
evaluation point with the radio link quality parameter thresholds
corresponding to the respective carriers, and whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation
point is determined according to the result of comparison.
[0041] Whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync
indication can be determined in a combination of the foregoing two
methods when not all the radio link quality parameter thresholds of
the respective carriers are the same, for example, when two
carriers have the same radio link quality parameter thresholds. For
example, there are three carriers of the UE which are involved in
judgment of radio link failure, i.e., a first carrier, a second
carrier and a third carrier, respectively, where the first carrier
and the second carrier have the same radio link quality parameter
thresholds, whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an
out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points can be determined
by selecting the largest radio link quality parameter value among
radio link quality parameters of the first carrier and the second
carrier and comparing the largest value with the radio link quality
parameter thresholds corresponding to the two carriers, and by
comparing the radio link quality parameter of the third carrier
with the radio link quality parameter thresholds corresponding to
the third carrier.
[0042] When CRSs of respective carriers are measured at the
physical layer of the UE, the largest value among measurement
results of the respective carriers is acquired, a first carrier
corresponding to the largest value is determined as a carrier
involved in judgment of radio link failure, the largest value is
taken as a current instantaneous value, that is, there is only one
instantaneous value measured each time, and the instantaneous value
of each time is L1-filtered based upon an evaluation period, and a
radio link quality parameter corresponding to the first carrier is
acquired and then compared on the evaluation points with a radio
link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the first
carrier, and whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an
out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points is determined
according to the result of comparison.
[0043] When the UE determines an primary carrier as a carrier
involved in judgment of radio link failure, a CRS of the primary
carrier of the UE is measured at the physical layer thereof,
respective measurement values are filtered based upon an evaluation
period, and a radio link quality parameter corresponding to the
primary carrier is acquired and then compared on the evaluation
points with a radio link quality parameter threshold corresponding
to the primary carrier, and whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points is
determined according to the result of comparison, where the primary
carrier is a specific carrier configured at the RRC layer of the
network side. For example, the primary carrier which is a primary
operating carrier can also be referred to a serving carrier or a
serving cell, and there can be only one primary carrier.
[0044] In an embodiment of the invention, the UE determines a
carrier involved in judgment of radio link failure as an activated
carrier configured at the RRC layer of the network side, which can
be an independently operating carrier including a backwards
compatible carrier and a non-backwards compatible carrier in a
radio link.
[0045] In the foregoing embodiment, in the process of determining
whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync
indication on the evaluation points according to the result of
comparison when the respective carriers of the UE are determined as
carriers involved in judgment of radio link failure and the
respective carriers correspond to the same radio link quality
parameter thresholds, the largest radio link quality parameter
value among the radio link quality parameters of the respective
carriers is selected and compared with the radio link quality
parameter thresholds, and an out-of-sync indication is triggered on
the evaluation points when the largest radio link quality parameter
value is below the first radio link quality parameter threshold or
an in-sync indication is triggered on the evaluation points when
the largest radio link quality parameter value is above the second
radio link quality parameter threshold,
[0046] In the process of determining whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points
according to the result of comparison when the respective carriers
of the UE are determined as carriers involved in judgment of radio
link failure and the respective carriers correspond to different
radio link quality parameter thresholds, the radio link quality
parameters of the respective carriers are compared with the radio
link quality parameter thresholds corresponding to the respective
carriers, and an out-of-sync indication is triggered on the
evaluation points when all the radio link quality parameter of the
respective carriers are below first radio link quality parameter
thresholds corresponding to the respective carriers or an in-sync
indication is triggered on the evaluation points when a radio link
quality parameter of at least one carrier is above a second radio
link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the carrier.
[0047] In the foregoing embodiment (i.e., when the UE operates over
the first, second and third carriers and the first carrier and the
second carrier correspond to the same radio link quality parameter
thresholds, then the largest radio link quality parameter value
among the radio link quality parameters of the first carrier and
the second carrier is selected and compared with the radio link
quality parameter thresholds corresponding to the first carrier and
the second carrier, and the radio link quality parameter of the
third carrier is compared with the radio link quality parameter
thresholds corresponding to the third carrier), an out-of-sync
indication is triggered on the evaluation points when the largest
value is below a first radio link quality parameter threshold and
the radio link quality parameter of the third carrier is below a
radio link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the third
carrier, or an in-sync indication is triggered on the evaluation
points when the largest value is above the first radio link quality
parameter threshold and/or the radio link quality parameter of the
third carrier is above the radio link quality parameter threshold
corresponding to the third carrier.
[0048] When the radio link quality parameter of only one carrier is
compared with the radio link quality parameter thresholds
corresponding to the carrier, particularly when the radio link
quality parameter of a first carrier is compared with the radio
link quality parameter thresholds of the first carrier or the radio
link quality parameter of an primary carrier is compared with the
radio link quality parameter thresholds of the primary carrier, an
out-of-sync indication is triggered on the evaluation points when
the radio link quality parameter of the carrier is below the first
radio link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the carrier
or an in-sync indication is triggered on the evaluation points when
the radio link quality parameter of the carrier is above the second
radio link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the
carrier.
[0049] In the foregoing embodiment, the radio link quality
parameter of the carrier being below the first radio link quality
parameter threshold particularly means that the radio link quality
of the carrier being poorer than the first radio link quality
threshold of the carrier, and the radio link quality parameter of
the carrier being above the second radio link quality parameter
threshold particularly means that the radio link quality of the
carrier being better than the second radio link quality threshold
of the carrier. Neither in-sync indication nor out-of-sync
indication will be triggered when the radio link quality parameter
of the carrier is equal to the first radio link quality parameter
threshold or the second radio link quality parameter threshold.
[0050] An evaluation point in use may vary from one carrier to
another because some carriers are in a DRX mode and some carriers
in a non-DRX mode in a radio link, and in order to facilitate
subsequent determination of whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication for the evaluation point,
the evaluation point will be determined in a corresponding method
according to DRX modes of the respective carriers in an embodiment
of the invention, and the method for determining an evaluation
point will be detailed below.
[0051] When the UE operates over the respective carriers in the
same DRX mode (that is, all the carriers are in the non-DRX mode or
the DRX mode) and with the same DRX period, evaluation points are
determined according to the DRX period of the respective carriers,
particularly according to a radio frame, that is, a specific
sub-frame of a specific radio frame carried over each carrier are
taken as an evaluation point of the carrier, and the respective
acquired radio link quality parameters are assessed uniformly on
the evaluation point to thereby determine whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication and further judge
whether the radio link fails.
[0052] When the UE operates over the respective carriers in
different DRX mode (that is, some carriers are in the DRX mode and
some carriers are in the non-DRX mode) or the respective carriers
are in the same DRX mode but with different DRX periods, evaluation
points are determined in such a method: the carrier with the
shortest DRX period is selected, and respective evaluation points
corresponding to the carrier with the shortest DRX period are taken
as evaluation points of the respective carriers in the radio link,
or the carrier with the longest DRX period is selected, and
respective evaluation points corresponding to the carrier with the
longest DRX period are taken as evaluation points of the respective
carriers in the radio link; and the radio link quality parameter of
each carrier involved in judgment of radio link failure is assessed
uniformly on the evaluation points to thereby determine whether to
trigger an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication and
further judge whether the radio link fails.
[0053] FIG. 2 is an implementation in which whether an in-sync or
out-of-sync indication is triggered to thereby judge whether a
radio link fails when respective carriers are in the same DRX mode
and with the same DRX period according to an embodiment of the
invention. For example, the UE operates over two carriers, i.e., a
second carrier and a third carrier, respectively, in the same DRX
mode and with the same DRX period or in the same non-DRX mode, thus
a specific sub-frame of each radio frame carried over the two
respective carriers is taken as an evaluation point of the two
respective carriers. As illustrated in FIG. 2, evaluation points
over the second carrier are X.sub.0, X.sub.1, X.sub.2 . . .
X.sub.k+2 and evaluation points over the third carrier are Y.sub.0,
Y.sub.1, Y.sub.2 . . . Y.sub.k+2 with the evaluation points X.sub.0
corresponding to Y.sub.0, X.sub.1 corresponding to Y.sub.1, X.sub.2
corresponding to Y.sub.2, . . . , X.sub.k+2 corresponding to
Y.sub.k+2.
[0054] A radio link quality parameter of each carrier is determined
respectively, and when the two carriers correspond to the same
radio link quality parameter thresholds on the corresponding
evaluation points of the two carriers, the largest value among the
radio link quality parameters of the two carriers are determined
and compared with the first radio link quality parameter threshold,
and an out-of-sync indication is triggered on the evaluation
points, e.g., the corresponding evaluation points X.sub.5
(Y.sub.5), X.sub.6 (Y.sub.6), X.sub.7 (Y.sub.7) . . . of the two
carriers, as illustrated in FIG. 2, etc, when the largest radio
link quality parameter value is below the first radio link quality
parameter threshold, or an in-sync indication is triggered on the
evaluation points, e.g., the corresponding evaluation points
X.sub.k (Y.sub.k), X.sub.k+1 (Y.sub.k+1) and X.sub.k+2 (Y.sub.+2)
of the two carriers, as illustrated in FIG. 2, etc., when the
largest radio link quality parameter value is above the second
radio link quality parameter threshold.
[0055] When the two carriers correspond to different radio link
quality parameter thresholds, the radio link quality parameter of
each carrier is compared on each corresponding evaluation point of
the two carriers with the radio link quality parameter threshold
corresponding to the carrier, and whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation point is
determined according to the result of comparison. For example, an
out-of-sync indication is triggered on the evaluation point when
the radio link quality parameter of the second carrier is below the
first radio link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the
second carrier and the radio link quality parameter of the third
carrier is below the first radio link quality parameter threshold
corresponding to the third carrier; or an in-sync indication is
triggered on the evaluation point when the radio link quality
parameter of the second carrier is above the second radio link
quality parameter threshold corresponding to the second carrier
and/or the radio link quality parameter of the third carrier is
above the second radio link quality parameter threshold
corresponding to the third carrier.
[0056] When the UE measures cell-specific reference signals of the
two carriers and the measurement result of the second carrier is
larger than that of the third carrier, the second carrier is
determined as a first carrier involved in judgment of radio link
failure, and the radio link quality parameter of the second carrier
is acquired, or when the second carrier is an primary carrier, the
radio link quality parameter of the primary carrier is acquired,
When the two carriers are in the same DRX mode, evaluation points,
e.g., the respective evaluation points over the second carrier, as
illustrated in FIG. 2, etc., are determined according to a DRX
period of the two carriers, and the UE compares on each evaluation
point the acquired radio link quality parameter of the second
carrier with the radio link quality parameter thresholds of the
second carrier and triggers an out-of-sync indication on the
evaluation point when the radio link quality parameter of the
second carrier is below the first radio link quality parameter
threshold of the second carrier or triggers an in-sync indication
on the evaluation point when the radio link quality parameter of
the second carrier is above the second radio link quality parameter
threshold of the second carrier. That is, an in-sync indication or
an out-of-sync indication is triggered on each of the evaluation
points X.sub.0, X.sub.1, X.sub.2, X.sub.3, X.sub.4, X.sub.5, . . .
, X.sub.k+2.
[0057] When a first number of out-of-sync indication are received
continuously at the RRC layer of the UE from the physical layer
(where the first number is N310 of e.g., 3, etc., in an LTE system)
and all the timers T300, T301, T304 and T311 are disabled, the UE
enables a preset timer, which is T310 in the LTE system, and when a
second number of in-sync indications are received continuously at
the RRC layer of the UE from the physical layer during counting of
T310 (where the second number is N311 of e.g., 3, etc., in the LTE
system), the UE disables the timer T310, that is, judges that the
radio link of the UE does not fail; otherwise, when the UE does not
receive continuously the number N311 of in-sync indications during
counting of T310, the UE judges failure of the radio link of the
UE, where the first number, the second number and the timer are
configured at the network side in Radio Resource Control (RRC)
signaling.
[0058] The foregoing implementation relates to the process of
judging whether a radio link fails according to radio link quality
parameters of two carriers, and it is believed that an
implementation of judging whether the radio link fails when there
are a plurality of carriers in the radio link can be apparent to
those skilled in the art benefiting from the description of the
foregoing implementation, and a repeated description thereof will
be omitted here. A process of determining whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication according to radio
link quality parameters and radio link quality parameter thresholds
of at least two carriers in the radio link can be performed as in
the specific methods according to the foregoing embodiments.
[0059] FIG. 3 is an implementation in which an in-sync or
out-of-sync indication is determined to be triggered to thereby
judge whether a radio link fails when respective carriers are in
different DRX modes or the respective carriers are in the same DRX
mode but with different DRX periods according to an embodiment of
the invention. The UE operates over two carriers, i.e., a second
carrier and a third carrier, respectively, in different DRX modes
in that the second carrier is in the non-DRX mode and the third
carrier is in the DRX mode with a period of 40 ms, and respective
evaluation points corresponding to the carrier with the shortest
DRX period can be taken as evaluation points of the respective
carrier in the radio link. Since the carrier with the shortest DRX
period is the third carrier, a specific sub-frame of each radio
frame (10 ms) can be taken as an evaluation point or presence of an
evaluation point in each radio frame can be determined. In FIG. 3,
there are 40 ms from an endpoint to Y.sub.0 over the third carrier
and four evaluation points present in a period of the DRX mode,
that is, there are four evaluation points present between Y.sub.0
and Y.sub.1, which correspond respectively to X.sub.4, X.sub.5,
X.sub.6 and X.sub.7 over the second carrier, where the evaluation
point X.sub.3 over the second carrier corresponds to the evaluation
point Y.sub.0 over the third carrier, the evaluation point X.sub.7
over the second carrier corresponds to the evaluation point Y.sub.1
over the third carrier, and the evaluation point X.sub.k+3 over the
second carrier corresponds to the evaluation point Y.sub.k over the
third carrier (where K is an integer larger than one).
[0060] Radio link quality parameters of the two carriers are
determined respectively, and when the two carriers correspond to
the same radio link quality parameter thresholds, the radio link
quality parameter of only the second carrier is present on the
evaluation point X.sub.0 of the second carrier, thus the radio link
quality parameter is compared with the radio link quality parameter
thresholds, and whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an
out-of-sync indication is determined according to the result of
comparison. The radio link quality parameter of only the second
carrier is present on the evaluation points X.sub.1, X.sub.2,
X.sub.4, X.sub.5, X.sub.6, . . . , . . . , of the second carrier,
i.e., the evaluation points of the second carrier which do not
correspond to the third carrier, thus whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication is determined by comparing
the radio link quality parameter of the second carrier with the
radio link quality parameter thresholds. The radio link quality
parameters of both the second carrier and the third carrier are
present on the evaluation points X.sub.3 (Y.sub.0), X7 (Y.sub.2), .
. . , X.sub.k+3 (Y.sub.k) of the second carrier correspondingly
identical to the third carrier, the largest radio link quality
parameter value among the radio link quality parameters of the two
carriers is selected and compared with the radio link quality
parameter thresholds, and whether to trigger an in-sync indication
or an out-of-sync indication is determined according to the result
of comparison.
[0061] When the two carriers correspond to different radio link
quality parameter thresholds, the radio link quality parameter of
each carrier is compared on each evaluation point with the radio
link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the carrier, and
whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync
indication is determined according to the result of comparison. In
FIG. 3, the radio link quality parameter of only the second carrier
is present on the evaluation points of the second carrier which do
not correspond to the third carrier, e.g., the evaluation points
X.sub.1, X.sub.2, X.sub.4, X.sub.5, X.sub.6, . . . , X.sub.k+2,
etc., thus the radio link quality parameter of the second carrier
is compared with the radio link quality parameter threshold
corresponding to the second carrier, and whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication is determined
according to the result of comparison. The radio link quality
parameters of both the second and the third carriers are present on
the evaluation points of the second carrier corresponding to the
third carrier, e.g., X.sub.3 (Y.sub.0), X.sub.7 (Y.sub.1), . . . ,
X.sub.k+3 (Y.sub.k), etc., the radio link quality parameters of the
two carriers are compared respectively with the radio link quality
parameter thresholds corresponding to the carriers, and an
out-of-sync indication is determined to be triggered on the
evaluation points when the radio link quality parameters of both
the carriers are below corresponding radio link quality parameter
thresholds, or an in-sync indication is determined to be triggered
on the evaluation points when the radio link quality parameter of
the second carrier and/or the third carrier is above the second
radio link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the
carrier.
[0062] When the UE measures cell-specific reference signals of the
two carriers and the measurement result of the second carrier is
larger than that of the third carrier, the second carrier is
determined as a first carrier involved in judgment of radio link
failure, and the radio link quality parameter of the second carrier
is acquired, or when the second carrier is an primary carrier, the
radio link quality parameter of the primary carrier is acquired.
When the two carriers are in different DRX modes, evaluation
points, e.g., the respective evaluation points over the second
carrier, as illustrated in FIG. 3, etc., are determined according
to the carrier with the shortest DRX period, i.e., the third
carrier, and the UE compares on each evaluation point the acquired
radio link quality parameter of the second carrier with the radio
link quality parameter threshold of the second carrier and triggers
an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation point when the radio
link quality parameter of the second carrier is below the second
radio link quality parameter threshold of the second carrier or
triggers an in-sync indication on the evaluation point when the
radio link quality parameter of the second carrier is above the
second radio link quality parameter threshold of the second
carrier. That is, an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync
indication is triggered on each of the evaluation points X.sub.0,
X.sub.1, X.sub.2, X.sub.3, X.sub.4, X.sub.5, X.sub.6, . . . ,
X.sub.k+2.
[0063] When a first number of out-of-sync indication are received
continuously at the RRC layer of the UE from the physical layer
(where the first number is N310 of e.g., 5, etc., in an LTE system)
and all the timers T300, T301, T304 and T311 are disabled, the UE
enables a preset timer, which is T310 in the LTE system, and when a
second number of in-sync indications are received continuously at
the RRC layer of the UE from the physical layer during counting of
T310 (where the second number is N311 of e.g., 3, etc., in the LTE
system), the UE disables the timer T310, that is, judges that the
radio link thereof does not fail; otherwise, when the UE does not
receive the number N311 of in-sync indications during counting of
T310, the UE judges failure of the radio link thereof, where the
first number, the second number and the timer are configured at the
network side in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.
[0064] The foregoing implementation relates to the process of
judging whether a radio link fails according to radio link quality
parameters of two carriers, and it is believed that an
implementation of judging whether the radio link fails when there
are a plurality of carriers in the radio link can be apparent to
those skilled in the art benefiting from the description of the
foregoing implementation, and a repeated description thereof will
be omitted here. A process of determining whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication according to radio
link quality parameters and radio link quality parameter thresholds
of at least two carriers in the radio link can be performed as in
the specific methods according to the foregoing embodiments.
[0065] FIG. 4 is an implementation in which respective evaluation
points corresponding to the carrier with the longest DRX period are
taken as evaluation points of respective carriers in a radio link
to thereby judge whether the radio link fails on the evaluation
points when the respective carriers are in different DRX modes
according to an embodiment of the invention. For example, when the
second carrier is in the non-DRX mode and the third carrier is in
the DRX mode, the carrier with the longest DRX period in the radio
link is the third carrier in the DRX mode with a period of 40 ms,
and evaluation points are determined according to the period of the
DRX mode, that is, an evaluation point is taken per 40 ms. As the
evaluation points determined according to the period of the DRX
mode of the third carrier, the evaluation points of the second
carrier are X.sub.3, X.sub.7, . . . , X.sub.k+3, and the evaluation
points of the third carrier are Y.sub.0, Y.sub.1, . . . , Y.sub.k
with the evaluation points X.sub.3 corresponding to Y.sub.0,
X.sub.7 corresponding to Y.sub.1, . . . , X.sub.k+3 corresponding
to Y.sub.k, are as illustrated in FIG. 4.
[0066] A radio link quality parameter of each carrier is determined
respectively, and when the two carriers correspond to the same
radio link quality parameter thresholds on the corresponding
evaluation points of the two carriers, the largest value among the
radio link quality parameters of the two carriers are determined
and compared with the radio link quality parameter thresholds, and
an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication is determined to
be triggered according to the result of comparison, that is, an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication is triggered on
each of the evaluation points X.sub.3 (Y.sub.0), X7 (Y.sub.1), . .
. , X.sub.k+3 (Y.sub.k). When the two carriers correspond to
different radio link quality parameter thresholds, the radio link
quality parameter of each carrier is compared on each evaluation
point with the radio link quality parameter thresholds
corresponding to the carrier, and whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication is determined according to
the result of comparison. Since the respective evaluation points of
the carrier with longest DRX period in the radio link are taken as
evaluation points of the respective carriers in the radio link in
the foregoing process, the radio link quality parameter of at least
one carrier can be acquired on each evaluation point, and
furthermore whether the radio link fails can be judged for the
respective carriers corresponding to the same or different radio
link quality parameter thresholds.
[0067] When the UE measures cell-specific reference signals of the
two carriers and the measurement result of the second carrier is
larger than that of the third carrier, the second carrier is
determined as a first carrier involved in judgment of radio link
failure, and the radio link quality parameter of the second carrier
is acquired, or when the second carrier is an primary carrier, the
radio link quality parameter of the primary carrier is acquired.
When the two carriers are in different DRX modes, evaluation
points, e.g., the respective evaluation points X.sub.3, X.sub.7, .
. . , X.sub.k+3, over the second carrier, as illustrated in FIG. 4,
etc., are determined according to the carrier with the longest DRX
period, and the UE compares on each evaluation point the acquired
radio link quality parameter of the second carrier with the radio
link quality parameter threshold of the second carrier and triggers
an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation point when the radio
link quality parameter of the second carrier is below the first
radio link quality parameter threshold of the second carrier or
triggers an in-sync indication on the evaluation point when the
radio link quality parameter of the second carrier is above the
second radio link quality parameter threshold of the second
carrier. That is, an in-sync indication or an out-of-sync
indication is triggered on each of the evaluation points X.sub.3,
X.sub.7, . . . , X.sub.k+3.
[0068] When a first number of out-of-sync indication are received
continuously at the RRC layer of the UE from the physical layer
thereof (where the first number is N310 of e.g., 1, etc., in an LTE
system) and all the timers T300, T301, T304 and T311 are disabled,
the UE enables a preset timer, which is T310 in the LTE system, and
when a second number of in-sync indications are received
continuously at the RRC layer of the UE from the physical layer
thereof during counting of T310 (where the second number is N311 of
e.g., 1, etc., in the LTE system), the UE disables the timer T310,
that is, judges that the radio link thereof does not fail;
otherwise, when the UE does not receive the number N311 of in-sync
indications during counting of T310, the UE judges failure of the
radio link thereof, where the first number, the second number and
the timer are configured at the network side in Radio Resource
Control (RRC) signaling.
[0069] The foregoing implementation relates to the process of
judging whether a radio link fails according to radio link quality
parameters of two carriers, and it is believed that an
implementation of judging whether the radio link fails when there
are a plurality of carriers in the radio link can be apparent to
those skilled in the art benefiting from the description of the
foregoing implementation, and a repeated description thereof will
be omitted here. A process of determining whether to trigger an
in-sync indication or an out-of-sync indication according to radio
link quality parameters and radio link quality parameter thresholds
of at least two carriers in the radio link can be performed as in
the specific methods according to the foregoing embodiments.
[0070] In the foregoing implementation, the UE takes the evaluation
points of the carrier with the shortest DRX period or the carrier
with the longest DRX period as evaluation points of the respective
carriers in the radio link, thus the DRX periods of the respective
carriers shall be taken into account when the number of received
out-of-sync indications (i.e., the first number) is configured at
the network side in RRC signaling, to thereby ensure that the radio
link parameter of the carrier with the longest period can be
involved in comparison for at least a preset number, e.g., M, etc.,
of times, where M is an integer no smaller than one and the value
of M is configured at the RRC layer of the network side and issued
to the UE, and the value of M configured at the RRC layer of the
network side is related to the DRX period of the carrier, that is,
the value of M has a specific correspondence relationship with the
DRX period of the carrier, or the value of M has a specific
relationship with the ratio of the DRX periods of the carriers, for
example, if the longest and smallest DRX periods of the respective
carriers are T.sub.max and T.sub.min, and the DRX period
corresponding to a carrier in a non-DRX mode can be determined as 1
ms, then a specific relationship of the value of M with
T.sub.max/T.sub.min can be determined.
[0071] FIG. 5 is a device for judging radio link failure in carrier
aggregation according to an embodiment of the invention, which is
generally applicable to a user equipment and which includes:
[0072] a determining module 51 configured to determine radio link
quality parameters of one or more carriers involved in judgment of
radio link failure;
[0073] a triggering module 52 configured to compare on evaluation
points each determined radio link quality parameter with a
corresponding radio link quality parameter threshold and to
determine whether to trigger an in-sync indication or an
out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points; and
[0074] a judging module 53 configured to judge failure of a radio
link of the UE when a preset number of in-sync indications are not
received continuously in a preset judgment length of time.
[0075] In alternative embodiments, the determining module 51 is
particularly configured:
[0076] To determine respective carriers of the user equipment as
carriers involved in judgment of radio link failure, to measure
cell-specific reference signals of the respective carriers, and to
determine the radio fink quality parameters corresponding to the
respective carriers according to the results of measurement; or
[0077] To measure cell-specific reference signals of the respective
carriers, to select the largest value among measurement results of
the respective carriers, to determine a first carrier corresponding
to the largest value as a carrier involved in judgment of radio
link failure, and to acquire the radio fink quality parameter
corresponding to the first carrier according to the largest value;
or
[0078] To determine an primary carrier of the user equipment as a
carrier involved in judgment of radio link failure, to measure a
cell-specific reference signal of the primary carrier, and to
determine the radio link quality parameter corresponding to the
primary carrier according to the result of measurement.
[0079] Preferably the triggering module 52 is particularly
configured to determine on the evaluation points an out-of-sync
indication to be triggered if none of the radio link quality
measurement values of the respective one or more carriers involved
in judgment of radio link failure is above a first radio link
quality parameter threshold corresponding to the same carrier, or
an in-sync indication to be triggered if one of the radio link
quality measurement values is above a second radio link quality
parameter threshold corresponding to the same carrier.
[0080] Further in a preferred embodiment, the triggering module 52
particularly includes:
[0081] a determining unit 521 configured to determine whether the
respective carriers correspond to the same radio link quality
parameter threshold;
[0082] a comparing unit 522 configured to select the largest value
among the radio link quality parameters of the respective carriers
and compare the largest value with the radio link quality parameter
threshold when the respective carriers correspond to the same radio
link quality parameter threshold, or to compare the radio link
quality parameter of each carrier with the radio link quality
parameter threshold corresponding to the carrier when the
respective carriers correspond to different radio link quality
parameter thresholds; and
[0083] a triggering unit 523 configured to trigger an out-of-sync
indication on the evaluation points when the largest value is below
the first radio link quality parameter threshold or trigger an
in-sync indication on the evaluation points when the largest value
is above the second radio link quality parameter threshold, when
the respective carriers correspond to the same radio link quality
parameter threshold; or to trigger an out-of-sync indication on the
evaluation points when all the radio link quality parameter of the
respective carriers are below the first radio link quality
parameter threshold corresponding to the respective carrier or
trigger an in-sync indication on the evaluation points when the
radio link quality parameter of at least one carrier is above the
second radio link quality parameter threshold corresponding to the
carrier, when the respective carriers correspond to different radio
link quality parameter thresholds.
[0084] Further the triggering module 52 further includes:
[0085] an evaluation point determining unit 524 configured to
determine whether the respective carriers are in the same DRX mode
and to determine the evaluation points according to the result of
determination.
[0086] The evaluation point determining unit 524 particularly
includes:
[0087] a first determining sub-unit 5241 configured to determine
the evaluation points according to the DRX period of the respective
carriers when the respective carriers are in the same DRX mode and
with the same DRX carrier; and
[0088] a second determining sub-unit 5242 configured to select the
carrier with the shortest DRX period and determine the evaluation
points according to the carrier or select the carrier with the
longest DRX period and determine the evaluation points according to
the carrier, when the respective carriers are in different DRX
modes or the respective carriers are in the same DRX mode but with
different DRX periods.
[0089] The judging module 53 particularly includes:
[0090] an enabling unit 531 configured to enable a timer to monitor
for the preset length of time upon continuous reception of a first
number of out-of-sync indications; and
[0091] a judging unit 532 configured to judge failure of the radio
link of the UE when a second number of in-sync indications are not
received continuously during operation of the timer.
[0092] The embodiments of the invention provide a method and device
for judging radio link failure in carrier aggregation, and in the
method, determined radio link quality parameters of a carrier(s)
involved in judgment of radio link failure are compared on
evaluation points with corresponding radio link quality parameter
thresholds, it is determined whether to trigger an in-sync
indication or an out-of-sync indication on the evaluation points,
and whether a radio link of the UE fails is judged according to the
number of continuously received in-sync indications or out-of-sync
indications, and thus the radio link quality parameters of the UE's
carrier(s) involved in judgment are compared on evaluation points
with the corresponding radio link quality parameter thresholds
thereof to thereby judge whether the radio link of the UE fails in
carrier aggregation.
[0093] Those skilled in the art shall appreciate that the
embodiments of the invention can be embodied as a method, system or
computer program product. Therefore, the invention can be embodied
in the form of an all-hardware embodiment, an all-software
embodiment or an embodiment of software and hardware aspects in
combination. Furthermore the invention can be embodied in the form
of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer
useable storage mediums (including but not limited to a disk
memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, etc.) in which computer
useable program codes are contained.
[0094] The invention has been described in a flow chart and/or a
block diagram of the method, device (system) and computer program
product according to the embodiments of the invention. It shall be
appreciated that respective flows and/or blocks in the flow chart
and/or the block diagram and combinations of the flows and/or
blocks in the flow chart and/or the block diagram can be embodied
in computer program instructions. These computer program
instructions can be loaded onto a general-purpose computer, a
specific-purpose computer, an embedded processor or a processor of
another programmable data processing device to produce a machine so
that the instructions executed on the computer or the processor of
the other programmable data processing device create means for
performing the functions specified in the flow(s) of the flow chart
and/or the block(s) of the block diagram.
[0095] These computer program instructions can also be stored into
a computer readable memory capable of directing the computer or the
other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific
manner so that the instructions stored in the computer readable
memory create an article of manufacture including instruction means
which perform the functions specified in the flow(s) of the flow
chart and/or the block(s) of the block diagram.
[0096] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto
the computer or the other programmable data processing device so
that a series of operational operations are performed on the
computer or the other programmable data processing device to create
a computer implemented process so that the instructions executed on
the computer or the other programmable device provide operations
for performing the functions specified in the flow(s) of the flow
chart and/or the block(s) of the block diagram.
[0097] Although the preferred embodiments of the invention have
been described, those skilled in the art benefiting from the
underlying inventive concept can make additional modifications and
variations to these embodiments. Therefore the appended claims are
intended to be construed as encompassing the preferred embodiments
and all the modifications and variations coming into the scope of
the invention.
[0098] Evidently those skilled in the art can make various
modifications and variations to the invention without departing
from the scope of the invention. Thus the invention is also
intended to encompass these modifications and variations thereto so
long as the modifications and variations come into the scope of the
claims appended to the invention and their equivalents.
* * * * *