Transmit power control apparatus and method in multi-rat dual connectivity based on overlap of master and secondary node transmissions

An electronic device, comprising:

• a housing;
• at least one radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) arranged in the housing and configured to support a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT;
• a first communication processor electrically or functionally connected to the at least one RFIC;
• a second communication processor electrically or functionally connected to the at least one RFIC and the first communication processor;
• and
• a memory,
• wherein instructions in the memory are executed, while the electronic device is connected to a master node in a multi-RAT dual connectivity (MR-DC) environment, the first communication processor configured to:
• store a first uplink maximum transmit power value allowed for transmission to the master node in the memory from the master node,
• generate and transmit electronic device capability information in response to an electronic device capability information inquiry received from the master node, the electronic device capability information comprising information indicating whether the electronic device supports MR-DC and information indicating whether the electronic device supports dynamic power sharing in the MR-DC environment,
• receive a secondary node addition command message from the master node in a state of being connected to the master node,
• instruct the second communication processor to establish a connection to a secondary node via the second RAT upon receipt of the secondary node addition command message,
• determine a first transmit power value of the at least one RFIC in association with the first RAT based on the first uplink maximum transmit power, and
• provide the first transmit power value of the at least one RFIC that is determined in association with the first RAT to the second communicating processor, and
• the second communication processor configured to:
• receive a second uplink maximum transmit power value allowed for transmission to the secondary node from the secondary node and store the second uplink maximum transmit power value in the memory, and
• establish a connection to the secondary node in response to the secondary node addition command message from the master node,
• in a case of transmitting uplink data to the secondary node, the second communication processor further configured to:
• determine a first transmit power for transmission over the second uplink based on the second uplink maximum transmit power value in a first time period which a duration for uplink data transmission to the master node and a duration for uplink data transmission to the secondary node are not overlapped, and
• determine a second transmit power for transmission over the second uplink based on the second uplink maximum transmit power value in a second time period which at least part of the duration for uplink data transmission to the master node and the duration for uplink data transmission to the secondary node are overlapped, in case that a sum of the first and second uplink maximum transmit power values is equal to or less than a maximum allowed uplink transmit power value of the electronic device.

A method for a base station as a master node of an electronic device in an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) new radio (NR) dual connectivity (EN-DC) environment to communicate with the electronic device via a first radio access technology (RAT) in a first band, the method comprising:

• performing a random access procedure with the electronic device;
• inquiring about and receiving electronic device capability information from the electronic device;
• determining whether to add a secondary node supporting communication with the electronic device via a second RAT in a second band that is different from the first band;
• and
• transmitting an updated power allocation value to the electronic device along with a secondary node addition command based on the electronic device capability information indicating that the electronic device does not support dynamic power sharing, the updated power allocation value being set based on the electronic device capability information and uplink power information for transmission to the second node.