Reporting a number of effective frequencies for radio resource management purposes

An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:

• an interface to radio frequency (RF) circuitry;
• and
• one or more processors to:
• match a carrier combination supported by a Radio Access Network (RAN) node to a plurality of frequency bands used by the RAN node, the carrier combination including a plurality of component carriers;
• identify a measurement gap status for each component carrier of the plurality of component carriers;
• determine two or more frequency bands, of the plurality of frequency bands, that the UE can measure in parallel;
• determine a number of effective frequency bands, based on a total number of the plurality of frequency bands, where the two or more frequency bands that UE can measure in parallel are considered, in determining the number of effective frequency bands, as a single frequency band;
• and
• communicate, via the interface to the RF circuitry and to the RAN node, the number of effective frequency bands and the measurement gap status for each component carrier of the plurality of component carriers.

An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:

• an interface to radio frequency (RF) circuitry;
• and
• one or more processors to:
• receive, via the interface to the RF circuitry and from a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, a plurality of carrier combinations supported by the RAN node and a plurality of frequency bands used by the RAN node, each carrier combination including a plurality of component carriers;
• determine a measurement gap status for each component carrier of each possible combination of a carrier combination, of the plurality of carrier combinations, and at least one frequency band of the plurality of frequency bands;
• determine a number of effective frequency bands for each possible combination, where frequency bands that UE can measure in parallel are considered as being only one frequency band for purposes of determining the number of effective frequency bands;
• communicate, via the interface to the RF circuitry and to the RAN node, the number of effective frequency bands and the measurement gap status of each possible combination;
• receive, via the interface to the RF circuitry and from the RAN node, instructions for using a particular carrier combination, of the plurality of carrier combinations, to communicate with the RAN node and for periodically measuring one or more radio frequencies of the plurality of radio frequencies.

A computer-readable medium containing program instructions for causing one or more processors, associated with a User Equipment (UE), to:

• match a carrier combination supported by a Radio Access Network (RAN) node to a plurality of frequency bands used by the RAN node, the carrier combination including a plurality of component carriers;
• identify a measurement gap status for each component carrier of the plurality of component carriers;
• determine two or more frequency bands, of the plurality of frequency bands, that the UE can measure in parallel;
• determine a number of effective frequency bands, based on a total number of the plurality of frequency bands, where the two or more frequency bands that UE can measure in parallel are considered, in determining the number of effective frequency bands, as a single frequency band;
• and
• communicate, to the RAN node, the number of effective frequency bands and the measurement gap status for each component carrier of the plurality of component carriers.

A method, performed by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

• matching a carrier combination supported by a Radio Access Network (RAN) node to a plurality of frequency bands used by the RAN node, the carrier combination including a plurality of component carriers;
• identifying a measurement gap status for each component carrier of the plurality of component carriers;
• determining two or more frequency bands, of the plurality of frequency bands, that the UE can measure in parallel;
• determining a number of effective frequency bands, based on a total number of the plurality of frequency bands, where the two or more frequency bands that UE can measure in parallel are considered, in determining the number of effective frequency bands, as a single frequency band;
• and
• communicating, to the RAN node, the number of effective frequency bands and the measurement gap status for each component carrier of the plurality of component carriers.

An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:

• means for matching a carrier combination supported by a Radio Access Network (RAN) node to a plurality of frequency bands used by the RAN node, the carrier combination including a plurality of component carriers;
• means for identifying a measurement gap status for each component carrier of the plurality of component carriers;
• means for determining two or more frequency bands, of the plurality of frequency bands, that the UE can measure in parallel;
• means for determining a number of effective frequency bands, based on a total number of the plurality of frequency bands, where the two or more frequency bands that UE can measure in parallel are considered, in determining the number of effective frequency bands, as a single frequency band;
• and
• means for communicating, to the RAN node, the number of effective frequency bands and the measurement gap status for each component carrier of the plurality of component carriers.