Control signaling for carrier aggregation

A user equipment for a radio access network, the user equipment being one of configured and configurable for carrier aggregation operation, a carrier aggregation comprising a set of component carriers, the user equipment comprising processing circuitry being one of configured and configurable to:

• receive a component indication indicating at least one of a first component carrier to be used for uplink communications according to a scheduling grant and a second component carrier to be used for downlink communications according to a scheduling assignment, in which:
• when an indicated component carrier is in a deactivated state, activating the component carrier for subsequent communication;
• and
• when the indicated component carrier is in an activated state, interpreting the component carrier indication as a selection of the indicated component carrier for communication on scheduling resources indicated in a control information message in response to the one of the subsequent scheduling grant and the subsequent scheduling assignment.

A method of operating a network node in a radio access network, the method comprising:

• transmitting, to a user equipment, a control information message, the control information message including a component indication indicating at least one of a first component carrier, to be used for uplink communications according to a scheduling grant and a second component carrier to be used for downlink communications according to a scheduling assignment;
• when an indicated component carrier is in a deactivated state, configuring the component indication to indicate activation of the indicated component carrier for subsequent communication in response to one of a subsequent scheduling grant and a subsequent scheduling assignment received from the network node;
• and
• when the indicated component carrier is an activated state, configuring the component indication to indicate a selection of the indicated component carrier for communication on scheduling resources indicated in the control information message in response to the one of the subsequent scheduling grant and the subsequent scheduling assignment.

A non-transitory computer storage medium storing an executable computer program comprising instructions configured to cause processing circuitry to at least one of control and perform a method of operating a user equipment in a radio access network, the method comprising:

• receiving a component indication indicating at least one of a first component carrier to be used for uplink communications according to a scheduling grant and a second component carrier to be used for downlink communications according to a scheduling assignment;
• when an indicated component carrier is in a deactivated state, activating the component carrier for subsequent communication in response to one of a subsequent scheduling grant and a subsequent scheduling assignment received from the network node;
• and
• when the indicated component carrier is in an activated state, interpreting the component carrier indication as a selection of the indicated component carrier for communication on scheduling resources indicated in a control information message in response to the one of the subsequent scheduling grant and the subsequent scheduling assignment.