Patent ID: 8787288

Claim:
A method for managing carrier information in a multi-carrier system, the method comprising: a base station (NodeB) deciding to activate or deactivate 1, 2 or 3 auxiliary carriers based on the service traffic; when a Radio Network Controller (RNC) providing services for a User Equipment (UE) is a Serving Radio Network Controller (SRNC), the NodeB informing the SRNC of the number of the activated carrier(s) of the UE, and then the SRNC re-allocating resources for the UE according to the number of the activated carrier(s) of the UE; when the RNC providing services for the UE includes a SRNC and a Drift Radio Network Controller (DRNC), the NodeB sending the number of the activated carrier(s) of the UE to the SRNC via the DRNC, and then the SRNC re-allocating resources for the UE according to the number of the activated carrier(s) of the UE; wherein, the NodeB triggers the resource re-allocation by sending a radio link parameter update message or a newly created multi cell information update message, wherein either message includes the number of the activated carrier(s) of the UE; wherein, the radio link parameter update message or the multi cell information update message sent by the NodeB comprises at least one kind of the following information: a high speed dedicated physical control change indication cell with a value of 1SF128, 1SF256 or 2SF256, wherein, the value of 1 represents one high speed dedicated physical control channel, the value of 2 represents two high speed dedicated physical control channels, SF128 represents that a spreading factor is 128, and SF256 represents that a spreading factor is 256; a carrier type indication cell with a value of 1C, 2C, 3C or 4C, wherein C represents an activated carrier; when an auxiliary carrier parameter update cell is carried in said radio link parameter update message or multi cell information update message, then the number of auxiliary carriers in the auxiliary carrier parameter update cell takes a value of 1, 2 or 3; when no auxiliary carrier parameter update cell is carried in said radio link parameter update message or multi cell information update message, then it represents that the number of the activated auxiliary carriers is 0; an activated auxiliary carrier number indication cell with a value of 0, 1, 2 or 3; an activated carrier number indication cell with a value of 1, 2, 3 and 4.