Patent ID: 9686817
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: H04B,H04L,H04W,Y02D

Claim:
1. An apparatus of user equipment (UE) configurable for connectivity with multiple cell groups, the apparatus comprising: memory; and processing circuitry, configured to: decode a first medium-access control (MAC) configuration element received for the first cell group and a second MAC configuration element for the second cell group, the MAC configuration elements to configure the UE for independent discontinuous reception (DRX) operations and independent buffer status reporting operations for each cell group, wherein the first MAC configuration element includes DRX configuration information and buffer status report (BSR) configuration information for the first cell group, and wherein the second MAC configuration element includes DRX configuration information and BSR configuration information for the second cell group; perform buffer status reporting and DRX operations for the second cell group independently of buffer status reporting and DRX operations for the first cell group; configure first uplink data for transmission to the first eNB in accordance with scheduling information received for the first cell group; configure second uplink data for transmission to the second eNB in accordance with scheduling information received for the second cell group; wherein to perform buffer status reporting for the first cell group, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to perform a first buffer status reporting procedure, based on the BSR configuration information for the first cell group, to inform the first eNB about data available for transmission in uplink buffers associated with MAC operations for the first eNB; wherein to perform buffer status reporting for the second cell group, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to perform a second buffer status reporting procedure, based on the BSR configuration information for the second cell group, to inform the second eNB about data available for transmission in uplink buffers associated with MAC operations for the second eNB, wherein the first and second buffer status reporting procedures are performed independently; and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: maintain a first retransmission BSR (retxBSR) timer and a first periodic BSR timer for the first buffer status reporting procedure; and maintain a second retransmission BSR (retxBSR) timer and a second periodic BSR timer for the second buffer status reporting procedure, wherein values for the first retransmission BSR timer and the first periodic BSR timer are received in the first MAC configuration element, and wherein values for the second retransmission BSR timer and the second periodic BSR timer are received in the second MAC configuration element.