TRANSMIT POWER CONTROL SIGNALING FOR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS USING CARRIER AGGREGATION

摘要

This invention relates to methods for transmitting and receiving transmit power control commands from a base station to a group of mobile terminals in a OFDM based mobile communication system using component carrier aggregation of plural component carriers. Furthermore, the invention also relates to an implementation of these methods in hardware and software. The invention suggests an efficient scheme for signaling transmit power control commands. In one signaling format multiple TPC commands are sent for the uplink component carriers of a mobile terminal in one TPC message. In another signaling format, the TPC commands for the mobile terminal are signaled in respective TPC messages. A further aspect of the invention is the reduction of signaling overhead by signaling carrier group TPC commands that control the transmit power of a group of component carriers. Similarly, an all carrier TPC command is provided to control the transmit power on all uplink component carriers of a mobile terminal.