Dynamic control of uplink carrier aggregation in a wireless communication system based on UE operational circumstances

Non-transitory data storage storing instructions executable by a processing unit to cause an access node to carry out operations,

• wherein the access node comprises a wireless communication interface including an antenna structure through which to provide wireless service on a plurality of carriers and a backhaul communication interface through which to communicate on a core network,
• wherein the operations include controlling service of a user equipment device (UE) when the UE is served by the access node with uplink carrier-aggregation over a connection encompassing multiple uplink channels including a primary uplink channel (uplink PCell) and a secondary uplink channel (uplink SCell),
• wherein the operations further include dynamically setting a channel-quality threshold applicable to control when to deconfigure the uplink SCell from service of the UE, wherein the dynamically setting the channel-quality threshold comprises:
• (i) determining a type of communication in which the UE engages, including determining whether the type of communication is uplink-heavy or rather uplink-light, and
• (ii) using the determined type of communication to set the channel-quality threshold applicable to control when to deconfigure the uplink SCell from service of the UE, including (a) if the determined type of communication is uplink-heavy, then setting the channel-quality threshold to a first threshold value, and (b) if the determined type of communication is uplink-light, then setting the channel-quality threshold to a second threshold value higher than the first threshold value, and
• wherein the operations further include applying the dynamically set channel-quality threshold to control when to deconfigure the uplink SCell from service of the UE.

A method for controlling wireless service of a user equipment device (UE) by an access node, the method comprising:

• serving, by the access node, the UE with uplink carrier-aggregation over a connection encompassing multiple uplink channels including a primary uplink channel (uplink PCell) and a secondary uplink channel (uplink SCell);
• dynamically setting, by the access node, a channel-quality threshold applicable to control when to deconfigure the uplink SCell from service of the UE, wherein dynamically setting the channel-quality threshold comprises setting the channel-quality threshold to a value selected based on one or more operational circumstances of the UE, wherein setting the channel-quality threshold to the value selected based on the one or more operational circumstances of the UE comprises setting the channel-quality threshold to a value selected based on a type of communication in which the UE engages, including (i) making a determination of whether the type of communication is uplink-heavy or rather uplink-light, (ii) if the determination is that the type of communication is uplink-heavy rather than uplink-light, then, based on the determination, selecting as the channel-quality threshold a first channel-quality threshold rather than a second channel-quality threshold based on the first channel-quality threshold being lower than the second channel-quality threshold, and (iii) if the determination is that the type of communication is uplink-light rather than uplink-heavy, then, based on the determination, selecting as the channel-quality threshold the second channel-quality threshold rather than the first channel-quality threshold based on the second channel-quality threshold being higher than the first channel-quality threshold;
• and
• applying, by the access node, the dynamically set channel-quality threshold to control when to deconfigure the uplink SCell from service of the UE.