Wireless terminals, nodes of wireless communication networks, and methods of operating the same

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a method may be provided to operate a wireless terminal in communication with a wireless communication network. A first bit map having a first bit map size is received with bits of the first bit map corresponding to respective component carriers of a first group of component carriers and indicating a status of the respective component carriers of the first group. A second bit map having a second bit map size is received with bits of the second bit map corresponding to respective component carriers of a second group of component carriers and indicating a status of the respective component carriers of the second group. Moreover, the first bit map size of the first bit map is different than the second bit map size of the second bit map.

1 . A method of operating a wireless terminal in communication with a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
 configuring a first group of component carriers for a communication link between the wireless terminal and the communication network;   while configured with the first group of component carriers, communicating a first Medium Access Control, MAC, Control Element, CE, wherein the first MAC CE includes a first bit map corresponding to respective component carriers of the first group of component carriers;   configuring a second group of component carriers for the communication link between the wireless terminal and the communication network wherein the first group of component carriers is different than the second group of component carriers;   responsive to configuring the second group of component carriers delaying communicating any subsequent MAC CEs including a second MAC CE until a delay period has passed and/or until a number of radio frames has passed, wherein the second MAC CE includes a second bit map corresponding to respective component carriers of the second group of component carriers,   wherein the configuring the first group of component carriers comprises configuring the first group of component carriers responsive to receiving a first reconfiguration message from the wireless communication network, and   wherein the configuring the second group of component carriers comprises configuring the second group of component carriers responsive to receiving a second reconfiguration message from the from the wireless communication network.