In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a radio access method and a radio network for cellular mobile communications (hereinafter, referred to as “Long Term Evolution (LTE)”, or “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA)”) have been studied. In LTE, a base station device is also referred to as evolved NodeB (eNodeB), and a terminal device is also referred to as User Equipment (UE). LTE is a cellular communication system in which an area is divided into multiple cells to form a cellular pattern, the area being served by a base station device. A single base station device may manage a plurality of cells.
In LTE, carrier aggregation in which a terminal device communicates with a base station device through a plurality of carriers (cells) aggregated, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) in which a plurality of layers are spatial-multiplexed, have been introduced. The MIMO has been introduced since LTE Release 8, and the carrier aggregation has been introduced since LTE Release 10 (NPLs 2, 3, and 4).
In LTE, functions of the MIMO and the carrier aggregation have been continuously extended, even after the introduction of the MIMO and the carrier aggregation. A terminal device transmits, to a base station device, capability information indicating the technology of the MIMO and the carrier aggregation supported by the terminal device (NPL 5).
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds