US Patent 10925009 Dynamic processing resource allocation across multiple carriers

A communication device includes a controller configured to identify a plurality of carriers for carrier aggregation; and an estimation processor configured to determine, for a first device processing resource of the communication device, throughput gain values that estimate an increase in throughput from using the device processing resource with the plurality of carriers. The controller further is configured to determine efficiency metrics for the first device processing resource based on the throughput gain values and power penalty values that estimate a power penalty from using the first device processing resource with the plurality of carriers, and select, based on the efficiency metrics, a first carrier of the plurality of carriers to which to assign the first device processing resource.