Uplink power control mechanism for dual connectivity networks

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a processing system comprising a processor of a first network element, capability information for a user equipment (UE) communicating on a network that includes the first network element, the first network element using a first inter-radio access technology (IRAT), the capability information indicating that the UE supports communication using the first IRAT and a second IRAT;
• providing, by the processing system to the UE, a first uplink power configuration for first data transmissions between the UE and the first network element;
• sending, by the processing system, the capability information to a second network element using the second IRAT;
• providing, by the processing system to the UE, a second uplink power configuration for second data transmissions between the UE and the second network element;
• obtaining, by the processing system, uplink performance information comprising UE demand for each of the first IRAT and the second IRAT and an estimate of a remaining UE uplink transmission power for each of the first IRAT and the second IRAT;
• and
• adjusting, by the processing system based on the uplink performance information, a first transmit power control (TPC) value for the first data transmissions and a second TPC value for the second data transmissions to allocate the remaining UE uplink transmission power between the first IRAT and the second IRAT.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor of a first network element, facilitate performance of operations, the first network element using a first inter-radio access technology (IRAT), the operations comprising:

• receiving capability information for a user equipment (UE) communicating on a network that includes the first network element, the capability information indicating that the UE supports communication using the first IRAT and a second IRAT;
• providing to the UE a first uplink power configuration for first data transmissions between the UE and the first network element;
• sending the capability information to a second network element using the second IRAT;
• providing to the UE a second uplink power configuration for second data transmissions between the UE and the second network element;
• and
• performing a closed loop control procedure comprising:
• obtaining uplink performance information comprising UE demand for each of the first IRAT and the second IRAT and an estimate of a remaining UE uplink transmission power for each of the first IRAT and the second IRAT, and
• adjusting, based on the uplink performance information, a first transmit power control (TPC) value for the first data transmissions and a second TPC value for the second data transmissions to allocate the remaining UE uplink transmission power between the first IRAT and the second IRAT, wherein a total power allocated by the adjusting does not exceed a predetermined maximum power for the UE.