Patent Description:
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to optimization of carrier aggregation (CA) capabilities for support of different bands defined in a same frequency range.

The publication "<NPL>, relates to reporting fall band combination in capability signalling. It is proposed to modify the Rel-<NUM> band combination retrieval function such that the UE enables to report only the fallback band combination for which different UE capability are supported. The eNB can provide the list of CA band combinations for which the eNB wishes to retrieve the different UE capability of their fallback combinations.

The following summarizes some aspects of the present disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the discussed technology.

In similar fashion, while exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as device, system, or method embodiments the exemplary embodiments can be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.

The Appendix provides further details regarding various embodiments of this disclosure and the subject matter therein forms a part of the specification of this application.

The detailed description set forth below, in connection with the appended drawings and appendix, is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

This disclosure relates generally to providing or participating in authorized shared access between two or more wireless communications systems, also referred to as wireless communications networks. In various embodiments, the techniques and apparatus may be used for wireless communication networks such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, <NUM>th Generation (<NUM>) or new radio (NR) networks, as well as other communications networks. As described herein, the terms "networks" and "systems" may be used interchangeably.

In particular, <NUM> networks contemplate diverse deployments, diverse spectrum, and diverse services and devices that may be implemented using an OFDM-based unified, air interface. In order to achieve these goals, further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are considered in addition to development of the new radio technology for <NUM> NR networks. The <NUM> NR will be capable of scaling to provide coverage (<NUM>) to a massive Internet of things (IoTs) with an ultra-high density (e.g., ~<NUM> nodes/km<NUM>), ultra-low complexity (e.g., ~<NUM> of bits/sec), ultra-low energy (e.g., ~<NUM>+ years of battery life), and deep coverage with the capability to reach challenging locations; (<NUM>) including mission-critical control with strong security to safeguard sensitive personal, financial, or classified information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., ~<NUM>% reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., ~ <NUM>), and users with wide ranges of mobility or lack thereof; and (<NUM>) with enhanced mobile broadband including extreme high capacity (e.g., ~ <NUM> Tbps/km<NUM>), extreme data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rate, <NUM>+ Mbps user experienced rates), and deep awareness with advanced discovery and optimizations.

The <NUM> NR may be implemented to use optimized OFDM-based waveforms with scalable numerology and transmission time interval (TTI); having a common, flexible framework to efficiently multiplex services and features with a dynamic, low-latency time division duplex (TDD)/frequency division duplex (FDD) design; and with advanced wireless technologies, such as massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO), robust millimeter wave (mmWave) transmissions, advanced channel coding, and device-centric mobility. Scalability of the numerology in <NUM> NR, with scaling of subcarrier spacing, may efficiently address operating diverse services across diverse spectrum and diverse deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments of less than <NUM> FDD/TDD implementations, subcarrier spacing may occur with <NUM>, for example over <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and the like bandwidth. For other various outdoor and small cell coverage deployments of TDD greater than <NUM>, subcarrier spacing may occur with <NUM> over <NUM>/<NUM> bandwidth. For other various indoor wideband implementations, using a TDD over the unlicensed portion of the <NUM> band, the subcarrier spacing may occur with <NUM> over a <NUM> bandwidth. Finally, for various deployments transmitting with mmWave components at a TDD of <NUM>, subcarrier spacing may occur with <NUM> over a <NUM> bandwidth.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating <NUM> network <NUM> including various base stations and UEs configured according to aspects of the present disclosure. The <NUM> network <NUM> includes a number of base stations <NUM> and other network entities. A base station may be a station that communicates with the UEs and may also be referred to as an evolved node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (gNB), an access point, and the like. Each base station <NUM> may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to this particular geographic coverage area of a base station and/or a base station subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A base station may provide communication coverage for a macro cell or a small cell, such as a pico cell or a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A base station for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro base station. A base station for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell base station, a pico base station, a femto base station or a home base station. In the example shown in <FIG>, the base stations 105d and 105e are regular macro base stations, while base stations 105a-105c are macro base stations enabled with one of <NUM> dimension (3D), full dimension (FD), or massive MIMO. Base stations 105a-105c take advantage of their higher dimension MIMO capabilities to exploit 3D beamforming in both elevation and azimuth beamforming to increase coverage and capacity. Base station 105f is a small cell base station which may be a home node or portable access point. A base station may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and the like) cells.

The <NUM> network <NUM> may support synchronous or asynchronous operation.

The UEs <NUM> are dispersed throughout the wireless network <NUM>, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, or the like. A UE may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, or the like. In one aspect, a UE may be a device that includes a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). In another aspect, a UE may be a device that does not include a UICC. In some aspects, UEs that do not include UICCs may also be referred to as internet of everything (IoE) devices. UEs 115a-115d are examples of mobile smart phone-type devices accessing <NUM> network <NUM> A UE may also be a machine specifically configured for connected communication, including machine type communication (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and the like. UEs 115e-<NUM> are examples of various machines configured for communication that access <NUM> network <NUM>. A UE may be able to communicate with any type of the base stations, whether macro base station, small cell, or the like. In <FIG>, a lightning bolt (e.g., communication links) indicates wireless transmissions between a UE and a serving base station, which is a base station designated to serve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink, or desired transmission between base stations, and backhaul transmissions between base stations.

In operation at <NUM> network <NUM>, base stations 105a-105c serve UEs 115a and 115b using 3D beamforming and coordinated spatial techniques, such as coordinated multipoint (CoMP) or multi-connectivity. Macro base station 105d performs backhaul communications with base stations 105a-105c, as well as small cell, base station 105f. Macro base station 105d also transmits multicast services which are subscribed to and received by UEs 115c and 115d.

<NUM> network <NUM> also support mission critical communications with ultra-reliable and redundant links for mission critical devices, such UE 115e, which is a drone. Redundant communication links with UE 115e include from macro base stations 105d and 105e, as well as small cell base station 105f. Other machine type devices, such as UE 115f (thermometer), UE <NUM> (smart meter), and UE <NUM> (wearable device) may communicate through <NUM> network <NUM> either directly with base stations, such as small cell base station 105f, and macro base station 105e, or in multi-hop configurations by communicating with another user device which relays its information to the network, such as UE 115f communicating temperature measurement information to the smart meter, UE <NUM>, which is then reported to the network through small cell base station 105f. <NUM> network <NUM> may also provide additional network efficiency through dynamic, low-latency TDD/FDD communications, such as in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mesh network between UEs 115i-<NUM> communicating with macro base station 105e.

<FIG> shows a block diagram of a design of a base station <NUM> and a UE <NUM>, which may be one of the base station and one of the UEs in <FIG>. At the base station <NUM>, a transmit processor <NUM> may receive data from a data source <NUM> and control information from a controller/processor <NUM>. The control information may be for the PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH, EPDCCH, MPDCCH etc. The data may be for the PDSCH, etc. The transmit processor <NUM> may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor <NUM> may also generate reference symbols, e.g., for the PSS, SSS, and cell-specific reference signal. A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor <NUM> may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 232a through 232t. Downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via the antennas 234a through 234t, respectively.

At the UE <NUM>, the antennas 252a through 252r may receive the downlink signals from the base station <NUM> and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. A MIMO detector <NUM> may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators 254a through 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols.

On the uplink, at the UE <NUM>, a transmit processor <NUM> may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source <NUM> and control information (e.g., for the PUCCH) from the controller/processor <NUM>. The symbols from the transmit processor <NUM> may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor <NUM> if applicable, further processed by the modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station <NUM>. At the base station <NUM>, the uplink signals from the UE <NUM> may be received by the antennas <NUM>, processed by the demodulators <NUM>, detected by a MIMO detector <NUM> if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor <NUM> to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may provide the decoded data to a data sink <NUM> and the decoded control information to the controller/processor <NUM>.

The controller/processor <NUM> and/or other processors and modules at the base station <NUM> may perform or direct the execution of various processes for the techniques described herein. The controllers/processor <NUM> and/or other processors and modules at the UE <NUM> may also perform or direct the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The memories <NUM> and <NUM> may store data and program codes for the base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM>, respectively.

In some cases, UE <NUM> and base station <NUM> of the <NUM> network <NUM> (in <FIG>) may operate in a shared radio frequency spectrum band, which may include licensed or unlicensed (e.g., contention-based) frequency spectrum. In an unlicensed frequency portion of the shared radio frequency spectrum band, UEs <NUM> or base stations <NUM> may traditionally perform a medium-sensing procedure to contend for access to the frequency spectrum. For example, UE <NUM> or base station <NUM> may perform a listen before talk (LBT) procedure such as a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the shared channel is available. A CCA may include an energy detection procedure to determine whether there are any other active transmissions. For example, a device may infer that a change in a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a power meter indicates that a channel is occupied. Specifically, signal power that is concentrated in a certain bandwidth and exceeds a predetermined noise floor may indicate another wireless transmitter. A CCA also may include detection of specific sequences that indicate use of the channel. For example, another device may transmit a specific preamble prior to transmitting a data sequence. In some cases, an LBT procedure may include a wireless node adjusting its own backoff window based on the amount of energy detected on a channel and/or the acknowledge/negative-acknowledge (ACK/NACK) feedback for its own transmitted packets as a proxy for collisions.

Use of a medium-sensing procedure to contend for access to an unlicensed shared spectrum may result in communication inefficiencies. This may be particularly evident when multiple network operating entities (e.g., network operators) are attempting to access a shared resource. In the <NUM> network <NUM>, base stations <NUM> and UEs <NUM> may be operated by the same or different network operating entities. In some examples, an individual base station <NUM> or UE <NUM> may be operated by more than one network operating entity. In other examples, each base station <NUM> and UE <NUM> may be operated by a single network operating entity. Requiring each base station <NUM> and UE <NUM> of different network operating entities to contend for shared resources may result in increased signaling overhead and communication latency.

In wireless communication implementations, CA may be used to increase the bandwidth of wireless communications, as user terminals may transmit data over multiple component carriers. These component carriers may be associated with particular operating bands of the wireless communication spectrum. Network entities supporting CA, may support various combinations of CA, such as intra-band, and/or inter-band CA. In particular, a UE may support thousands of CA combinations (e.g., operating band combinations). In existing implementations, every CA combination supported by a UE is reported by the UE. Moreover, for each CA combination, the UE also signals the capabilities supported for the bands in the CA combination, separately for each CA combination. For example, for a particular CA combination, the UE may signal features (e.g., configurations, limitations, etc.) supported for each band of the supported CA combination. Additionally, in some implementations, it may be possible to define multiple bands within the same frequency range, or as a superset of other bands. As used herein, a superset of a particular band may refer to a band that includes, within its bandwidth, the particular band (e.g., the band includes a wider frequency range than the particular band) or may refer to a band with tighter RF requirements.

In another case, new operating bands may be defined (e.g., adding a new operating band to the communication spectrum, or reconfiguring/rearranging the existing operating bands to define a new operating band). In this case, CA capabilities with respect to the new bands, including each CA combination that includes the new band, and every feature supported by the new band in the new CA combinations, is to be signaled, thereby further increasing the CA capability signaling size.

As will be appreciated, a UE supporting CA may have to signal large amounts of information, which may lead to messages of a very large size, in the order of megabytes in some cases, in order to properly signal the UEs CA capability. Because of this, CA capability signaling is very difficult to manage in existing systems.

Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to providing a mechanism for optimization of CA capability signaling. Such CA capability signaling optimization may facilitate support of different bands defined within the same frequency range, or defined as supersets of other bands.

<FIG> shows a diagram illustrating wireless communication system <NUM>, configured in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In particular, wireless communication system <NUM> may include UE <NUM>, configured to support CA. As noted above, UE <NUM> may be configured to support inter-band and intra-band CA combinations. The CA combinations supported by UE <NUM> may include CA combinations that include first band <NUM>, and may also include CA combinations that include second band <NUM>. In aspects, first band <NUM> may be a superset of second band <NUM>. In this case, as noted above, first band <NUM> may include a wider frequency range than second band <NUM>, and second band <NUM> may fall within the bandwidth of first band <NUM>. Additionally, or alternatively, first band <NUM> may have tighter RF requirements than second band <NUM>. Furthermore, first band <NUM> may support features and/or may have additional requirements that are not supported and/or required by second band <NUM>. For example, a combination using second band <NUM> may require that 2x2 MIMO be used, whereas a combination using first band <NUM> may require that 4x4 MIMO be used. In this case, the 4x4 MIMO requirement may also cover the 2x2 MIMO requirement and thus, first band <NUM> may support additional features than second band <NUM>.

In aspects, it may be determined that, based on first band <NUM> being a superset of second band <NUM>, UE <NUM>'s support of at least one CA combination that includes first band <NUM> may indicate that UE <NUM> may also support the same CA combination including second band <NUM>. For example, UE <NUM> may support a CA combination A that includes first band <NUM> and another band. In this case, it may be determined, e.g., by UE <NUM>, that UE <NUM> may support a CA combination A' that includes second band <NUM> and another band.

It is noted that in existing systems, UE <NUM> would signal CA capabilities for all supported CA combination, which would include CA combinations including first band <NUM>, and CA combinations including second band <NUM>. As such, in existing systems, UE <NUM> CA capability signaling would be duplicated, which may lead to a huge signaling overhead. In addition, such CA capability signaling duplication may also result in a cumbersome 3GPP standards-specification management, as all CA combinations are duplicated for a band (e.g., second band <NUM>) and for the superset band (e.g., first band <NUM>).

It is also noted that although the discussion above, and the discussion that follows, focuses on operations with respect to two operating bands, operations with respect more than two bands is also envisioned and applicable. Indeed, the functionality of UEs and base stations discussed herein with respect to CA capability signaling optimization, may be implemented with respect to every operating band supported by a UE and/or base station. For example, a UE may support CA combinations that include a first band that is a superset of more than one other band. In this case, the functionality described herein may also be applicable to derive UE support for combinations that include the more than one other band. Therefore, the description of operations of two bands is merely for illustrative purposes and should not be construed as limiting in any way.

Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to providing a mechanism for reporting to a network (e.g., network entities within a wireless communication system, such as base stations, relay nodes, access points, etc.), CA combinations (e.g., band combinations) including particular bands. In aspects, the reporting may include signaling only the CA combinations that include either one of a particular band or a superset of that band. For example, in the example illustrated in <FIG> UE <NUM> may signal only CA combinations that include either first band <NUM> or second band <NUM>. In aspects, a network entity receiving the signaling may determine all CA combination supported by the UE including the first and second bands based on the signaled CA combinations. For example, base station <NUM> may determine all CA combination supported by UE <NUM> that include first band <NUM> and all CA combinations that include second band <NUM> based on the signaled CA combinations (for either first band <NUM> or second band <NUM>).

<FIG> and <FIG> are block diagrams illustrating example blocks executed by a UE and a base station to implement aspects of the present disclosure. The example blocks will also be described with respect to gNB <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>, and with respect to UE <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating gNB <NUM> configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. gNB <NUM> includes the structure, hardware, and components as illustrated for gNB <NUM> of <FIG>. For example, gNB <NUM> includes controller/processor <NUM>, which operates to execute logic or computer instructions stored in memory <NUM>, as well as controlling the components of gNB <NUM> that provide the features and functionality of gNB <NUM>. gNB <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 700a-t and antennas 234a-t. Wireless radios 700a-t includes various components and hardware, as illustrated in <FIG> for gNB <NUM>, including modulator/demodulators 232a-t, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, transmit processor <NUM>, and TX MIMO processor.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating UE <NUM> configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. UE <NUM> includes the structure, hardware, and components as illustrated for UE <NUM> of <FIG>. For example, UE <NUM> includes controller/processor <NUM>, which operates to execute logic or computer instructions stored in memory <NUM>, as well as controlling the components of UE <NUM> that provide the features and functionality of UE <NUM>. UE <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 800a-r and antennas 252a-r. Wireless radios 800a-r includes various components and hardware, as illustrated in <FIG> for UE <NUM>, including modulator/demodulators 254a-r, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, transmit processor <NUM>, and TX MIMO processor <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, a UE configured for CA determines to signal at least one CA combination supported by the UE. For example, UE <NUM> may execute, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, CA capability signaling <NUM>, stored in memory <NUM>. The execution environment of delay CA capability signaling <NUM> provides the procedural steps for determining, by the UE, to signal at least one CA combination supported by the UE. In aspects, the at least one CA combination determined to be signaled by the UE may include a CA combination including a band. The band whose combinations may be determined to be signaled may be either a band, such as second band <NUM>, or may be the superset of the band, such as first band <NUM>. In aspects, either the CA combinations that include first band <NUM> or the CA combinations that include second band <NUM> are determined to be signaled, but not both. Thus, for example, when UE determines to include in the at least one CA combination CA combinations that include the first band, the UE may exclude CA combinations that include the second band from the at least one CA combination. In that sense, first band <NUM> and second band <NUM> may be interchangeable in the signaled CA combination list reported to the network.

<FIG> shows a diagram illustrating an example of a CA capability signaling. In this example, CA capability signaling <NUM> includes a CA combination list <NUM> for CA combinations that include a particular band. In this case, the CA combinations signaled include CA combinations that include the first band (labeled X in this example). It will be appreciated, that in an alternate aspect, CA combination list <NUM> may instead include CA combinations for a second band for which the first band is a superset. In particular, UE <NUM> may support a combination of band X with band a, a combination of band X with B, a combination of band X with c, etc. As noted above, and as will be discussed in more detail below, UE may support band X and band Y, where band Y may be at least partially equal to band X (e.g., band X is a superset of band Y). In some aspects, band X may be at least partially equal to band Y, plus some additional features and/or requirements. In some aspects, the set of bands that a UE supports may be already known by the network.

At block <NUM>, the UE signals the at least one CA combination supported by the UE. For example, UE <NUM>, under control of processor <NUM>, may transmit CA capability signaling <NUM> via antennas 252a-r and wireless radios 800a-r to network entities, such as gNB <NUM>. With reference to <FIG>, at block <NUM>, a base station receives the signal indicating the at least one CA combination supported by the UE. For example, example, gNB <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, receives signals via wireless radios 700a-t and antennas 234a-t. After decoding the signals, gNB <NUM> may determine the signal indicating the at least one CA combination supported by the UE.

At block <NUM>, the base station, determines CA combinations that include the first band and CA combinations that include the second band based on the at least one CA combination. For example, gNB <NUM> may execute, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, CA combination estimator <NUM>, stored in memory <NUM>. The execution environment of CA combination estimator <NUM> provides the procedural steps for determining, by gNB <NUM>, CA combinations that include the first band and CA combinations that include the second band based on the at least one CA combination.

In aspects, the base station may determine CA that include the first band and CA combinations that include the second band based on the at least one CA combination by substituting the band in the reported at least one combination. For example, <FIG> shows a diagram illustrating an example of a CA combination list derived from a received CA combination list. In this example, gNB <NUM> may receive CA capability signaling <NUM>, which may include CA combination list <NUM> that includes CA combinations that include the first band (labeled X in this example). In this case, gNB <NUM> may generate CA combination list <NUM> that lists CA combinations that include the second band (labeled Y in this example) by substituting the first band with the second band. gNB <NUM> performs the substitution based on determination that the first band (X) is a superset of the second band (Y). For example, as UE <NUM> supports a CA combination of the first band (X) with a band a, gNB <NUM> may determine that UE <NUM> may also support a combination of the second band (Y) with band a. The same process may applied to the combinations with b, c, d, etc., to generate a list of CA combinations that include CA combinations of the second band (Y), with each of b, c, d, etc. Similarly, although not shown in the Figures, UE <NUM> may signal CA combinations for the second band (Y) instead of the first band (X). In this case, gNB <NUM> may substitute the instances of the second band in the signaled CA combination list with the first band to generate a CA combination list that includes CA combinations including the first band. In this sense, the first and the second band may be made interchangeable in the CA combination list signaled by the UE. It is noted again that the assumption here is that the first is a superset of the second band.

In aspects, the substitution of the signaled band in the CA combination may be based on various approaches. For example, in aspects, UE <NUM> may signal support for CA combinations that include the first band (X), and may signal the list of CA combinations that include the first band(X)), including CA combinations of the first band (X) with at least one other band. UE <NUM> may also signal support for the second band (Y). In this case, gNB (and/or any other network entity receiving the signaling), may determine that UE also supports CA combinations that include Y, including CA combinations of the second band (X) with the at least one other band. In this case, the UE also support for CA combinations that include the second band (Y) may be derived from the signaled CA combinations that include the first band (X), and from the determination that the UE also supports the second band (Y) as a separate band.

In aspects, an interchangeability CA capability may be signaled. The interchangeability CA capability may indicate that the first band (X) and the second band (Y) may be interchangeable in the supported CA combinations. In this case, UE <NUM> may signal the CA combinations, and may also signal, e.g., in a message such as at least one bit, that the first band (X) may be substituted with the second band (Y), or that the second band (Y) may be substituted with the first band (X).

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that signaling, by the UE, a single set of CA combinations (e.g., for either the first band or the second band), is sufficient for the base station to derive and determine the CA combinations supported by the UE including the first band and CA combinations including the second band.

In aspects, the at least one CA combination signaled by the UE explicitly excludes CA combinations for one of the bands. For example, when the UE determines to include CA combinations that include the second band in the at least one CA combination, the UE may exclude CA combinations that include the first band from the at least one CA combination signaled. Conversely, when the UE determines to include CA combinations that include the first band in the at least one CA combination, the UE may exclude CA combinations that include the second band from the at least one CA combination signaled. Again, this example assumes that the first band is a superset of the second band.

It will be appreciated, as noted above, that although the discussion herein focuses on a first and second band, the first band being a superset of the second band, this is done for illustrative purposes and not by way of limitation. As such, the functionality described herein is also applicable for instances where more than a single set of CA combinations is signaled by a UE. For example, a UE may signal CA combinations for a plurality of bands. In this example, each band in the plurality of band may be associated with a respective band (either by being a superset of the respective band, or by the respective band being a superset of the band). In this case, CA combinations for each of the respective bands may be determined by a base station based on the received plurality of CA combinations.

In aspects, CA combinations that include the first band may support a first set of features. The set of features supported in a particular CA combination may be specific to the first band, or to another band in the particular CA combination, or to a subset of the bands in the CA combination. For example, particular features (e.g., defined by some special UE capability) may be supported when the first band is used in a CA combination. Similarly, CA combinations that include the second band may support a second set of features. In this case, the first set may include at least one additional feature that is not included in the second features. In other words, the first band and the second band may be different in that the first band includes at least one additional supported feature. In aspects, as the first features set and the second feature set differ only by some additional features, a UE may signal support for CA combinations that include the second band, and may also signal support for the additional features. In this case, the network (e.g., gNB <NUM>, and/or any other network entity) may determine that the UE also supports the same signaled CA combinations but with the first band, as described above. In some aspects, the additional feature(s) may be a mandatory feature for CA combinations that use the first band. In this case, the UE may not signal the additional features. Nonetheless, the base station may determine that the difference between the first band and the second band is the additional mandatory feature for the first band, and may still be able to derive the CA combinations for the first band, based on the signaled CA combinations for the second band and based on a determination that the difference between the first band and the second band is the mandatory feature.

In aspects, as noted above, the optimization features discussed herein may also facilitate simplification of the 3GPP and other relevant standards. For example, a condition may be included in applicable standards that any CA combination with a particular band is also defined as a CA combination for a second band, where the first band is a superset of the second band. In this case, the requirements for both bands may be defined as the same, thereby simplifying the standard definitions and requirements.

The functional blocks and modules in <FIG> and <FIG> may comprise processors, electronics devices, hardware devices, electronics components, logical circuits, memories, software codes, firmware codes, etc., or any combination thereof.

Claim 1:
A method of wireless communication, comprising:
determining (<NUM>), at a user equipment, UE, capable of carrier aggregation, CA, to signal at least one CA combination supported by the UE, the at least one CA combination including a band, wherein the band is one of: a first band, wherein the first band is a superset of a second band, or a second band, wherein a first band is a superset of the second band; and
signaling (<NUM>), by the UE, the at least one CA combination supported by the UE;
characterized in that:
when the signaled at least one CA combination includes the first band combined with another band, the signaled at least one CA combination is used by a network entity to determine a CA combination including the second band combined with the other band; or
when the signaled at least one CA combination includes the second band combined with the other band, the signaled at least one CA combination is used by the network entity to determine a CA combination including the first band combined with the other band.