Methods and arrangements for downlink multi-carrier power control in a wireless communications system

A radio base station of a multi-carrier wireless communication system, wherein the radio base station is configured to transmit on N downlink carriers and receive on M uplink carriers in communication with at least one user equipment, and wherein N and M are integers and the sum of N and M is equal to or larger than three, said radio base station comprising a programmed processor executing software instructions, wherein when the processor executes the software instructions, the radio base station is caused to perform the following:

• receive at least one transmit power control (TPC) command on at least one of the M uplink carriers from the at least one user equipment, the number of received TPC commands being equal to N;
• and
• adjust a transmit power of a fractional downlink control channel (F-DPCH) on the N downlink carriers based on the received at least one TPC command;
• wherein the radio base station is configured to:
• receive both a first and at least a second of said N TPC commands on a first uplink carrier and to receive each of the remaining TPC commands on separate, subsequent uplink carriers from the at least one user equipment, when M is smaller than N;
• and
• receive the N TPC commands on separate uplink carriers from the at least one user equipment, when M is larger than or equal to N.

A radio base station of a multi-carrier wireless communication system, wherein the radio base station is arranged to transmit on N downlink carriers and receive on M uplink carriers in communication with at least one user equipment, and wherein N and M are integers and the sum of N and M is equal to or larger than three, said radio base station comprising:

• a programmed processor executing software instructions, wherein when the processor executes the software instructions, the radio base station is caused to perform the following steps:
• receiving a common transmit power control (TPC) command on a first and a second one of the M uplink carriers from the at least one user equipment;
• and
• adjusting the transmit power of the fractional downlink control channel, F-DPCH, on the N downlink carriers based on the received common TPC command.

A method of downlink transmit power control in a multi-carrier wireless communication system, wherein a user equipment, UE, receives on N downlink carriers and transmits on M uplink carriers in communication with a radio base station, wherein N and M are integers and the sum of N and M is equal to or larger than three, said method comprising the steps of:

• defining by the UE, at least one transmit power control (TPC) command to be used by the radio base station for adjusting a transmit power of a fractional downlink physical control channel (F-DPCH) on the N downlink carriers, the number of defined TPC commands being equal to N;
• transmitting by the UE, the N TPC commands on at least one of the M uplink carriers, the transmitting step comprising the sub steps of:
• transmitting both a first and at least a second of said N TPC commands on a first uplink carrier and each of the remaining TPC commands on separate subsequent uplink carriers, in order to fit all N TPC commands onto the M uplink carriers when M is smaller than N;
• and
• transmitting each of said N TPC commands on separate uplink carriers when M is larger than or equal to N;
• receiving by the base station, the N TPC commands on at least one of the M uplink carriers from the UE, the receiving step comprising the sub steps of:
• receiving both the first and at least the second of the N TPC commands on a first uplink carrier while receiving each of the remaining TPC commands on separate subsequent uplink carriers from the UE, when M is smaller than N;
• and
• receiving the N TPC commands on separate uplink carriers from the UE, when M is larger than or equal to N;
• and
• adjusting by the base station, the transmit power of the F-DPCH on the N downlink carriers based on the received at least one TPC command.

A method of downlink transmit power control in a multi-carrier wireless communication system, wherein a user equipment (UE) receives on N downlink carriers and transmits on M uplink carriers in communication with a radio base station, wherein N and M are integers and the sum of N and M is equal to or larger than three, said method comprising the steps of:

• defining by the UE, a common transmit power control (TPC) command to be used by the radio base station for adjusting a transmit power of a fractional downlink physical control channel (F-DPCH) on the N downlink carriers;
• transmitting by the UE, the common TPC command on a first and a second one of the M uplink carriers;
• receiving by the base station, the common TPC command on the first and second M uplink carriers from the UE;
• and
• adjusting by the base station, the transmit power of the F-DPCH on the N downlink carriers based on the received common TPC command.