# US 12,010,667 B2 · Carrier aggregation capability advertisement > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,010,667 B2 - Document ID: US12010667B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/250,886 - Filed: 2018-09-20 - Published: 2021-12-02 - Granted: 2024-06-11 - Earliest claimed: 2018-09-20 - Assignees: Apple Inc. - Applicants: Apple Inc. - Inventors: Swaminathan Balakrishnan; Haijing Hu; Sreevalsan Vallath; Prateek Sharma; Cesar Perez; Adesh Kumar; Deepankar Bhattacharjee; Vijay Venkataraman - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12010667B2 ## CPC - H04W 8/24: Transfer of terminal data - H04W 72/0453: Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA - H04L 5/001: {the frequencies being arranged in component carriers} - H04L 5/0092: {Indication of how the channel is divided} - H04W 72/51: based on terminal or device properties - H04B 7/0413: MIMO systems - H04L 5/0023: {Time-frequency-space} - H04L 5/0091: {Signalling for the administration of the divided path, e.g. signalling of configuration information} - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04B: TRANSMISSION ## Abstract A user equipment (UE) is configured with a carrier aggregation (CA) functionality and UE connected to a network via a base station that serves as a primary serving cell (PCell) providing a primary component carrier (PCC) to the UE. The UE determines a plurality of bands that are supported by the UE for use in the CA functionality, generates an individual band information element (IE) including band information for the bands, determines at least one representative CA combination having an order, the order indicating a total number of component carriers (CCs), the at least one representative CA combination forming a basis to extrapolate a plurality of CA combinations having the order based on the band information, generates a representative CA combination IE including the at least one representative CA combination and transmits the individual band IE and the representative CA combination IE to the base station. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, comprising: at a user equipment (UE) configured with a carrier aggregation (CA) functionality, the UE connected to a network via a base station that serves as a primary serving cell (PCell) providing a primary component carrier (PCC) to the UE: determining a plurality of bands that are supported by the UE for use in the CA functionality; generating an individual band information element (IE) including band information for the bands; determining at least one representative CA combination having an order, the order indicating a total number of component carriers (CCs), wherein each of the at least one representative CA combination is configured to be used as a basis for the base station to extrapolate a plurality of CA combinations supported by the UE having the order based on the band information; generating a representative CA combination IE including the at least one representative CA combination; and transmitting the individual band IE and the representative CA combination IE to the base station. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the band information further indicates characteristics for the bands. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the characteristics comprise a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) support for each band, a sub-band indication for each band, or a combination thereof, wherein the MIMO support identifies at least one layer of a corresponding band that is supported by the UE, wherein the sub-band indication identifies at least one sub-band of a corresponding band that is supported by the UE. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein one of bands of the representative CA combination has a plurality of sub-bands, the representative CA combination including the band with a highest order one of the sub-bands. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein select ones of the plurality of CA combinations includes the band with a lower order one of the sub-bands. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein each of the CCs in the order corresponds to a respective one of the bands. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the order is greater than two. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further comprising: generating a two CC IE including at least one two CC representative CA combination, the two CC representative CA combination corresponding to the order being two, the CCs of the two CC representative CA combination including a subset of bands included in the representative CA combination. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and the base station is an evolved Node B (eNB). ### Claim 10 A method, comprising: at an evolved Node B (eNB) configured with a carrier aggregation (CA) functionality, the eNB serving as a primary serving cell (PCell) providing a primary component carrier (PCC) to a user equipment (UE): receiving an individual band information element (IE) including band information for a plurality of bands that are supported by the UE for use in the CA functionality; receiving a representative CA combination IE including at least one representative CA combination, the representative CA combination corresponding to an order, the order indicating a total number of component carriers (CCs); and determining a plurality of CA combinations having the order based on the representative CA combination and the band information. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the band information further indicates characteristics for the bands, wherein the characteristics comprise a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) support for each band, a sub-band indication for each band, or a combination thereof, wherein the MIMO support identifies at least one layer of a corresponding band that is supported by the UE, wherein the sub-band indication identifies at least one sub-band of a corresponding band that is supported by the UE. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein each of the CCs in the order corresponds to a respective one of the bands. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the order is greater than two. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving a two CC IE including at least one two CC representative CA combination, the two CC representative CA combination corresponding to the order being two, the CCs of the two CC representative CA combination including a subset of bands included in the representative CA combination; and determining a plurality of two CC CA combinations based on the two CC representative CA combination and the band information. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the order is greater than three. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining a lower order CC CA combination, a further order of the lower order CC CA combination being lower than the order of the representative CA combination, the CCs of the lower order CC CA combination including a subset of bands included in the representative CA combination; and determining a plurality of lower order CA combinations having the lower order based on the representative CA combination and the band information. ### Claim 17 A user equipment (UE), comprising: a transceiver configured with a carrier aggregation (CA) functionality to connect to a network via a first base station that serves as a primary serving cell (PCell) providing a primary component carrier (PCC) and at least one second base station that serves as a secondary serving cell (SCell) providing a secondary component carrier (SCC); and a processor configured to determine a plurality of bands that are supported by the UE for use in the CA functionality, generate an individual band information element (IE) including band information for the bands, determine at least one representative CA combination having an order, the order indicating a total number of component carriers (CCs), the at least one representative CA combination configured to be used as a basis for the base station to extrapolate a plurality of CA combinations supported by the UE having the order based on the band information and generate a representative CA combination IE including the at least one representative CA combination. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The UE of claim 17, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the individual band IE and the representative CA combination IE to the first base station. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The UE of claim 17, wherein, when the order is greater than two, the processor is further configured to generate a two CC IE including at least one two CC representative CA combination, the two CC representative CA combination corresponding to the order being two, the CCs of the two CC representative CA combination including a subset of bands included in the representative CA combination. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The UE of claim 17, wherein the band information further indicates characteristics for the bands, wherein the characteristics comprise a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) support for each band, a sub-band indication for each band, or a combination thereof, wherein the MIMO support identifies at least one layer of a corresponding band that is supported by the UE, wherein the sub-band indication identifies at least one sub-band of a corresponding band that is supported by the UE.