CN112868256B - Energy-saving transmission technology - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless communication method includes a network device determining a first set of transmission moments for transmitting a power saving activation signal and time domain information for the power saving activation signal, and the network device transmitting the power saving activation signal to a communication device at least some of the first set of transmission moments, the power saving activation signal including information to cause the communication device to enter an energy related mode.

Description

Energy-saving transmission technology

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for signal transmission, and in particular, for power saving.

Background

Mobile communication technology is pushing the world to increasingly connected and networked societies. The rapid growth of mobile communication technology and technological advances have resulted in greater demands for capacity and connectivity. Other aspects such as energy consumption, equipment cost, spectral efficiency, and latency are also important to meet the needs of various communication schemes. Various techniques are being discussed including new ways to provide higher quality of service, longer battery life, and improved performance.

Disclosure of Invention

This disclosure describes techniques that may be employed in various embodiments for performing power saving operations in a wireless network.

In one example aspect, a method of wireless communication is provided. The method includes the network device determining a first set of transmission moments for transmitting the energy saving activation signal, and time domain information of the energy saving activation signal, and the network device transmitting the energy saving activation signal to the communication device at least part of the transmission moments in the first set of transmission moments, the energy saving activation signal including information to cause the communication device to enter an energy related mode.

In another example aspect, another method of wireless communication is provided. The method includes the communication device receiving an energy saving activation signal from the network device using at least part of the transmission resources in the first set of transmission resources, the energy saving activation signal comprising information causing the communication device to enter an energy related mode and time domain information, and entering the energy related mode based on the energy saving activation signal.

In another example aspect, another method of wireless communication is provided. The method includes the communication device performing a management procedure to select a spatial filter for communication with the network device after transitioning out of the energy-related mode.

In another exemplary aspect, a wireless communications apparatus is provided that includes a processor configured to perform a method described above.

In another exemplary aspect, the methods described above can be embodied in the form of processor executable code and stored in a program medium readable by a processor.

These and other aspects are described in the present disclosure.

Drawings

Fig. 1A and 1B show diagrams of wake-up signal wake-up physical downlink channel PDCCH (WUS/WUP) time domain positions.

Fig. 2A-2C illustrate examples of the relationship between resources and feedback resources in a WUS/WUP.

Fig. 3A-3B show schematic diagrams of periodic time domain start reference positions when a base station transmits WUS/WUPs in different beams.

Fig. 4A and 4B illustrate examples of WUS/WUP wake and sleep time positions.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of an example of a method of wireless communication.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart of an example of a method of wireless communication.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of an application example of a wireless communication method apparatus.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of an example wireless communication network.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure employs section headings for facilitating easy understanding, without limiting the scope and embodiments of the disclosed technology to the appropriate sections. Thus, the embodiments disclosed in different sections may be employed with each other. Further, the present disclosure employs examples from the 3GPP new generation radio access (NR) network architecture and the 5G protocol only to facilitate understanding, and the disclosed techniques and embodiments may be practiced in other wireless systems employing different communication protocols other than the 3GPP protocol.

Battery life of the user device in both active use mode and standby mode is an aspect of the user experience that affects the overall user satisfaction of the user terminal device and the service. The 4 th generation mobile communication technology (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE), long term evolution (LTE-advanced/LET-a, long term evolution-advanced) and the fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) will support various service types, enhanced mobile bandwidth, ultra-high reliability, ultra-low latency transmission and large number of accesses. These existing terminal power saving mechanisms in current mobile communication systems are mainly based on the concept of Discontinuous Reception (DRX). The main mechanism is that the base station configures the time semi-statically when the user terminal is turned on and off, thereby allowing the user terminal to enter a sleep mode to realize the energy saving function.

However, in the future, the problem of power consumption of user terminals supporting multiple service types will be more prominent. Current semi-static power saving mechanisms have difficulty in accommodating the characteristics of multiple service type transmissions simultaneously. For example, a long-term sleep mode that conserves power is detrimental to the sudden need to transmit high reliability service transmissions, while a short-term sleep mode may be difficult to conserve power. Furthermore, some user devices may be heavily deployed and may be continually deployed, and the battery life so deployed will directly determine whether the services provided by the wireless network are even useful in commercial applications.

Embodiments described in this disclosure may be used to address the above-described power consumption and battery life issues, among others. Embodiments may, for example, employ multiple energy-related modes for the user terminal, while the network may control the user terminal to transition between different energy-related modes. In some embodiments, a power save signal may be employed. For example, in some embodiments, this signal may be referred to as a wake-up signal (WUS)/wake-up PDCCH (WUP) signal.

Fig. 1A and 1B show a schematic diagram of the WUS/WUP in time domain position (horizontal axis t). The time domain location of the WUS/WUP may be configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC), or the set of configurations may be selected by Downlink Control Information (DCI) through RRC configuration. For example, these mechanisms may be used to configure the period of the WUS/WUP, offset values for the start of the time domain, the length of the time domain, and so on. In some embodiments, the time domain length is optional and the number of time domain symbols occupied by the WUS/WUP may be signaled.

Application example 1

The periodic time domain configuration of WUS/WUP is given in FIG. 1A. Further, as shown in fig. 1B, the WUS/WUP may represent or inform various states, such as for waking up or for entering a sleep state. The WUS/WUP for different state transitions may be configured with different periods.

As shown in fig. 1B, the WUS/WUP may be used to carry a wake-up signal (black filled triangle) or a sleep signal (dashed triangle), thereby signaling the transition of the two states.

In some embodiments, the power save signal may be used to represent N different types of state changes, and to configure M different types of time domain position information for the power save signal, where 1= < M < = N, and M and N are integers. For example, M =1 or M = N may be employed.

The time domain location information includes at least one of: offset value of period, time domain start and time domain length.

The WUS/WUP representation in this disclosure is an energy-related signal or channel, not just a wake-up signal, but also a signal for transitioning to sleep or other energy-saving states.

Further, the WUS/WUP temporal location may relate to a starting position of an ON state of the DRX configuration. In one example, the starting position of the WUS/WUP is the starting position of the DRX configuration 'on'. Optionally, either the temporal location of the WUS/WUP precedes the 'on' start location of DRX.

Further, the WUS/WUP time domain position may relate to a start position of an on state 'off' of the DRX configuration. In one example, the starting position of WUS/WUP is the position of DRX configuration 'off'. Alternatively, either the WUS/WUP temporal position 'off' is before the start position (prior, adjacent temporal position).

Application example 2

In some embodiments, the WUS/WUP may be used as a beam management reference signal, which may be defined as configuring one or more WUS/WUP resource sets, with one or more WUS/WUP resources configured within each resource set. Further, there is a correspondence between WUS/WUP resources and synchronization signal/sequence block (SSB) resources.

In particular, each WUS/WUP resource may be used to configure SSB resources for quasi co-location (QCL).

1) The base station periodically transmits WUS/WUP in a scanning manner. In some embodiments, the WUS/WUP resources are configured with a higher layer representation 'reclose'. The base station then transmits the predefined WUS/WUP resources in different beams, for example using different spatial domain transmit filters.

In some cases, the WUS/WUP is the WUS/WUP of the user terminal group.

When the user terminal detects a WUS/WUP, feedback is sent to the base station. In some embodiments, the feedback includes transmit beam information of the base station.

In some embodiments, the base station transmits a subsequent downlink control channel or downlink data channel using the indicated beam.

In some embodiments, employing WUS/WUP over multi-beam transmission may include at least one of: 1) The base station periodically transmits WUS/WUP in a scanning manner, and optionally WUS/WUP resources are configured to be repeatedly turned on (retransmission on). I.e. the base station transmits the message on the predefined WUS/WUP resources in the same beam, e.g. a beam passing through the same spatial domain transmit filter.

In some cases, the WUS/WUP is a WUS/WUP of a UE group.

When the UE detects a WUS/WUP, it may also attempt to receive the WUS/WUP using a different receive beam so that an optimal receive beam may be selected. And the base station sends a subsequent downlink control channel or a subsequent downlink data channel. In some embodiments, the UE employs the optimal receive beam to receive subsequent information.

In some embodiments, the use of multiple beam transmission and WUS/WUP may include features of at least one of:

1) The base station transmits the beam management reference signal in a scanning manner before transmitting at least one WUS/WUP. 2) The UE transmits the beam feedback information to the base station. Optionally, the feedback information includes informing the base station of an optimal transmission beam. Further, this feedback procedure is optional, and if the UE does not transmit this feedback procedure, the optimal transmit beam of the base station remains unchanged, the same as the last transmission. The feedback may be a sequence, PUCCH (physical uplink control channel), or other reference signal corresponding to a beam management reference signal. 3) The base station transmits WUS/WUP in a beam. The reference signal resource of beam management corresponds to WUS/WUP resource.

Further, the beam management reference signals are configured in sets of resources, each set is configured in a plurality of resources, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between the resources within the set and the resources configured to the set of WUS/WUP resources.

Further, there may be a relationship between the feedback resources and the corresponding WUS/WUPs. One possible way is that there is a one-to-one correspondence between WUS/WUP resources and feedback resources in fig. 2A. As shown in fig. 2A, different WUS/WUP resources correspond to different feedback resources. In other words, when one is known, the other can be determined. In some embodiments, the UE transmits the sequence on a corresponding feedback resource, and the selectable sequence is a random access sequence.

For example, if the UE transmits a sequence on the second feedback resource, it indicates that the beam used by the corresponding second WUS/WUP resource is the beam selected by the UE, and is generally the optimal beam.

In fig. 2B, each WUS/WUP resource corresponds to a set of feedback resources. The set of feedback resources in the example described in fig. 2B includes 2 feedback resources, but other numbers may also be used in various embodiments. The feedback resources within each group may be transmitted using different transmit beams.

In some embodiments, PUCCH transmissions are transmitted on each feedback resource. The power save signal transmitted on each WUS/WUP resource may represent N states, and the N states may have a correspondence of bits carried by the PUCCH. For example, when WUS transmission is employed, different WUS sequences may be used to represent N different power saving states, such as awake, power saving state 1, power saving state 2, sleep, and so forth. For example, when PUCCH employs PUCCH format 0, the corresponding example relationship is given in table 1. Optionally, the sequence used to transmit the puch format 0 is the same as the sequence used by the user to detect WUS.

Table 1 shows an example of the relationship between different power saving states and the information carried by the PUCCH.

TABLE 1

In some embodiments, all WUS/WUP resources may correspond to a set of feedback resources, as shown in fig. 2C. The set of feedback resources for all WUS/WUP resources, as depicted in fig. 2C, contains 2 feedback resources. Further, PUCCH may be transmitted on each feedback resource. Alternatively, bit information carried by the PUCCH is used to indicate WUS/WUP resources, or PUCCH bit information is used to indicate which beam is the optimal beam. Further, optionally, bit information carried by the PUCCH is also used to indicate the current power saving state.

Table 2 shows an example of the relationship between PUCCH bits and different power states and WUS/WUP resources.

TABLE 2

In some embodiments, the feedback resources are statically configured, or at least implicitly determined by the WUS/WUP resources.

For example, WUS/WUPs are configured in a set of resources that is implicitly obtained based on the minimum Resource Block (RB) index of the resource in which the subcarrier is located.

In some embodiments, when the power save signal is sent via a serial signal, as WUS, then the feedback resources may be semi-statically configured.

In some embodiments, when the power save signal is sent over a physical channel, such as WUP, then the feedback resources may be obtained from at least one of: a semi-statically configured feedback resource set, downlink control channel feedback resources representing information, and a minimum Control Channel Element (CCE) index for a downlink control channel.

In some embodiments, the UE feeds back ACK when the UE correctly detects WUS/WUP, and otherwise does not provide feedback.

Further, defining ACK feedback resources for all beam resources; further, multiple state ACKs are defined to represent different power-saving states of the WUS/WUP signal. Optionally, there is only DTX (discontinuous transmission) feedback for WUS/WUP, and when the UE does not detect WUS/WUP, the UE feeds back DTX, otherwise no feedback is provided. Further, DTX feedback resources may be defined for all beam resources.

Further, multiple states of DTX may be defined to represent different energy-saving states of the WUS/WUP signal. Optionally, the UE feeds back DTX/NACK when the UE does not detect WUS/WUP, otherwise no feedback is provided. Further, DTX/NACK feedback resources may be defined for all beam resources.

In some embodiments, multiple states of DTX/NACKs may be defined to represent the WUS/WUP signals for different power states.

In some embodiments, the UE selects one or more reference signals for radio connection monitoring (RLM). In some embodiments, the UE selects a power saving signal, or a beam management reference signal with the best measurement result or with a measurement result above a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is a predefined value or configured by the network.

In some embodiments, the network sends information of the RLM management reference signal to the UE. In some embodiments, the information of the RLM management reference signal depends on feedback information from the UE.

Further, it is useful to define a starting reference position of the WUS/WUP activation time when the base station performs multi-beam transmission. For example, the detected WUS location or the location of the last WUS resource in the set of WUS resources for the last beam location/configuration determines the reference temporal location of the WUS/WUP start. Fig. 3A and 3B show an example of a base station in which WUS/WUP is transmitted using 4 different beams. In fig. 3A, the reference temporal position of T0 is the starting point of the WUS/WUP period, given at the time of beam transmission and reception.

Fig. 3B shows a time line, where after T1 reception the UE will give feedback and the base station receives at time T2 (T2 = T1+ offset value). This is defined as the start of a WUS/WUP period referenced to a temporal location.

Example 3

Example 3-1

After determining the temporal location of the transmitting WUS/WUP and determining the starting temporal location of the WUS/WUP cycle based on information such as the beam, it is useful to further define the duration of the WUS/WUP cycles for different states.

In some embodiments, a parameter set profile may be represented with different WUS sequences or M bit sequences within a WUP, each profile being included in at least one of, but not limited to:

- { starting wake-up after the nth _ offset time unit from the start of the WUS/WUP cycle, the number of time units included in the wake-up time period, the number of time units included in the sleep cycle, or the end of the time unit at the end of the sleep }, where the time units may be slots or time domain symbols, and n _ offset is an integer.

-or { wake up starts after the nth _ offset time unit from the start of a WUS/WUP period, the number of time units included in the wake-up period }, where a time unit may be a slot or a time domain symbol, and n _ offset is an integer. Fig. 4A depicts the use of such information along a time axis.

Or, a profile containing a plurality of discontinuous wake and sleep cycles. It is then necessary to indicate the start and end positions of the different wake and sleep cycles, or to indicate the start positions and durations of the different wake and sleep cycles. Fig. 4B shows the use of such information along the time axis.

In some embodiments, there may be multiple states in a WUS/WUP cycle, such as awake, sleep, N power save states. Or sleep is one of N energy saving states. The time domain position and length of the different states are represented in each profile.

Examples 3 to 2

Another way to implement WUS/WUP wake and sleep times is to define a first timer. For example, when the UE detects WUSWUP in time unit N, a first timer is started in time unit N + k, and the first timer may be restarted if a new PDCCH is detected before timeout. If no new PDCCH is detected when the first timer expires, the UE automatically goes to sleep.

In some embodiments, the first timer may restart if a WUS/WUP is detected before a timeout.

Optionally, the second timer is as follows.

When a timer is started when the Transport Block (TB) decoding of the downlink transmission procedure fails, the UE may assume that there is no retransmission for at least one appropriate period, and thus the UE may skip detecting the PDCCH or other downlink information before timing out.

Optionally, a third timer is further defined. Its command starts at the expected downlink retransmission time and needs to be continuously monitored.

Example 4

In order to more flexibly indicate different energy-related states, such as entering a sleep state, the present embodiment may add N bits to the PDCCH to indicate whether the current PDCCH time (occasion) is the last PDCCH detection location. In particular, if it is 1 bit, then an embodiment may use a '0' to indicate that it is not the last, and a '1' is the last detection location.

In some embodiments, the method of determining a sleep cycle may be defined as: when the UE detects '1' at time index N, then starts sleeping at time unit N + K; or '1' is detected at time index N, the scheduled PDSCH/PUSCH may be transmitted on time unit N + K, and the UE starts sleeping from slot N + K + M. The specific sleep time may be RRC configuration, or some fields of PDCCH are reinterpreted, and DCI dynamically represents one of the configuration sets.

In some embodiments, a DRX timer may be introduced. When the UE detects '1' in time unit N, the first timer is activated, and PDCCH detection is performed before the timer has not expired. If a new PDCCH is detected before the timeout, the first timer is activated again. Otherwise, when the timer is overtime, the system goes to sleep.

Similarly, other DRX timers may be introduced. The above also applies to triggering a UE to go to sleep using WUS.

Further, in some embodiments, the method defines n >1 bits, and defines different profiles using RRC signaling, and the different profiles contain different parameters, including { maximum number of transceiving antennas x, maximum bandwidth y, maximum number of supported carriers z \8230; }. If profile is configured as { x =0, y =0, z =0}, then sleep is entered. The switching of the different energy related modes may be performed according to PDCCH order. For example, if '01' is detected, it means a power saving state. In some embodiments, when the UE detects '01' in slot N, the power saving state profile is adopted in slot N + K.

Further, after the UE enters the sleep mode, the UE automatically wakes up at a sleep end position, or the UE periodically detects WUS/WUP at a predefined periodic position in the sleep duration, and actively wakes up if WUS/WUP is detected.

Further, the PDCCH loss detection problem may be solved in some embodiments as follows. If the PDCCH indicates '0' loss, the UE will still detect the subsequent PDCCH/PDSCH without problems. However, when the UE loses the PDCCH indicating '1', the UE continues to detect for the sleep duration, resulting in energy consumption. The enhanced mechanism is that when the base station wants to sleep the UE, the base station will continue to send N times the PDCCH representing '1'. At this time, when the PDCCH indicating '1' is detected, the UE needs to detect the PDCCH at least once. Or, for example, PDDCH with a higher aggregation level may be employed to schedule UEs to go to sleep to solve the loss detection problem.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method 500. The method 500 may be applied by a network device (e.g., a base station) operating in a wireless system. The method 500 includes:

step 502, the network device determines a first set of transmission moments for transmitting energy saving activation signals and time domain information for the energy saving activation signals;

at step 504, the network device transmits an energy saving activation signal to the communication device at least a portion of the first set of transmission times, the energy saving activation signal including information to cause the communication device to enter an energy related mode.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart of a method 600 of wireless communication.

The method 600 comprises:

in step 602, the communication device receives a power saving activation signal from the network device using at least part of the transmission resources in the first set of transmission resources, the power saving activation signal including information for causing the communication device to enter an energy related mode and time domain information.

The method 600 comprises:

and step 604, entering an energy-related mode based on the energy-saving activation signal. In some embodiments, the communication device may be a UE (user equipment). In various implementations, the communication device may be a mobile phone, a tablet, a notebook, an internet of things device, or a wireless communication hardware platform.

The methods 600, 700 may further have one or more subsequent features.

In some embodiments, the energy related mode comprises a wake-up mode.

In some embodiments, the energy related mode comprises entering a sleep mode.

In some embodiments, the energy-related modes include one or more energy-saving modes. For example, one power saving mode may be a "receive only no transmit" mode, while other transmission modes may include using Discontinuous Transmission (DTX). Another power saving mode may employ DRX transmission. In methods 600 and 700, the transmission resources may refer to Resource Elements (REs) comprising time and frequency domain resources, as employed in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems.

The method 600 may further include the network device determining a first set of transmission resources for one or more of the first set of transmission instants for transmitting the power saving activation signal.

In some embodiments, method 600 further includes transmitting a power save activation signal over the set of transmit resources using one or more spatial domain transmit filters.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving feedback from the communication device, wherein the feedback is transmitted employing one or more feedback resources for transmission, the one or more feedback resources being associated with the first set of transmission resources.

In some embodiments, the one or more feedback resources comprise a number of feedback resources equal to the number of the first set of transmission resources.

In some embodiments, each transmission resource corresponds to a set of feedback resources.

In some embodiments, the feedback comprises a sequence transmission or a control channel transmission comprising bits indicating different energy related modes.

In some embodiments, the control channel comprises a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

In some embodiments, all transmission resources correspond to a set of feedback resources, and uplink control channel transmissions are transmitted on each feedback resource.

In some embodiments, the control channel sends an indication of the optimal spatial filter for sending the power-save activation signal.

In some embodiments, for each energy-related mode, there is a predefined mapping between transmission resources and bits transmitted on the control channel.

In some embodiments, the one or more feedback resources are semi-statically predetermined.

In some embodiments, the network device communicates with the one or more feedback resources using a downlink control channel.

In some embodiments, the energy saving activation signal comprises a plurality of bit sequences such that each bit sequence corresponds to an energy related pattern.

In some embodiments, the energy-related time information includes a start time representation for changing the energy-related mode.

In some embodiments, the energy-related time information includes a duration of the energy-related pattern.

In some embodiments, the first set of transmission time instants comprises a control channel transmission, and wherein the control channel transmission comprises one or more bits indicating that the power saving activation signal is the last signal detected by the communication device before changing the current energy related mode of operation.

Further features of the methods 600 and 700 are disclosed by the disclosure, including the exemplary embodiments.

In some embodiments, a method of wireless communication includes performing a management procedure when a communication device transitions out of an energy-related mode to select a spatial filter for communication with a network device.

In some embodiments, the communication device enters the energy related mode in response to receiving the energy saving activation signal with the first set of transmission times. In some embodiments, the management process further sends the feedback from the communication device to the network device.

In some embodiments, the feedback employs one or more feedback resources for transmission, wherein the one or more feedback resources are associated with the first set of transmission resources. In some embodiments, the one or more feedback resources comprise a number of feedback resources equal to a number of the first set of transmission resources. In some embodiments, each transmission resource corresponds to a set of feedback resources. In some embodiments, the feedback comprises a sequence transmission or a control channel transmission comprising bits indicating different energy related modes. In some embodiments, the control channel comprises a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). In some embodiments, all transmission resources correspond to a set of feedback resources, and uplink control channel transmissions are transmitted on each feedback resource. In some embodiments, the control channel transmits a spatial filter indicating an optimum for transmitting the power-saving activation signal. Various other features and aspects of this method are described throughout this disclosure.

Fig. 7 depicts a block diagram representing a portion of a radio station 1005. A radio station 1005, such as a base station or a wireless device (or UE), may include a processor circuit 1010, such as a microprocessor, that applies one or more of the wireless technologies presented in this disclosure. Radio station 1005 may include transceiver circuitry 1015 to transmit and/or receive wireless signals over one or more communication interfaces, such as antenna 1020. The radio station 1005 may include other communication interfaces for transmitting and receiving data. The radio station 1005 may include one or more memories (not explicitly shown) configured to store information such as data and/or instructions. In some applications, the processor circuit 1010 may include at least a portion of the transceiver circuit 1015. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the disclosed techniques (e.g., methods 600 and 700), modules, or functions are implemented using a radio station 1005.

Fig. 8 shows an example of a wireless communication network 1100. The network 1100 comprises a base station BS 1102 and a plurality of user equipments 1106, which are able to communicate with each other over a transmission medium 1104. Transmissions from BS 1102 to apparatus 1106 are typically referred to as downlink or downstream transmissions. Transmissions from device 1106 to BS 1102 are commonly referred to as uplink or upstream transmissions. The transmission medium 1104 is typically a wireless (air) medium. BS 1102 can also communicate with other base stations or devices on the processing network via a backhaul or access network connection 1112. The base station 1102 may apply the functionality of the network node described herein.

It is noted that in order to determine the time-frequency location of a transmitting WUS/WUP (see, e.g., the disclosure of embodiment 1), focus is on one of the method's subsequent aspects:

the power-saving signal can be used to represent N state transition signals, and M time-domain position information are configured for the power-saving signal, where 1= < M < = N. Here, M =1 or M = N are two examples, meaning that all signals are at the same time domain location, or have their own separate time domain locations.

It should be further noted that the time domain location information includes at least one of: offset value of period, time domain start and time domain duration.

It should be further noted that methods of transmitting WUS/WUPs are disclosed (see, e.g., example 2). Subsequent features may be included in the method: the WUS/WUP may transmit on multiple beams, and the method may include providing WUS/WUP feedback; and may define a relationship between the beam direction and the starting time-domain index of the WUS period.

It should further be noted that techniques are defined for temporal position definition using different state transitions (start, duration, end), see e.g. embodiment 3.

It should further be noted that techniques are described with which a UE may perform an enter-sleep state change or other energy-related state change based on different WUS sequences or N PDCCH bits, see e.g. embodiment 4.

Other embodiments, modules, and functional operations disclosed and described in this disclosure may be applied to digital electronic circuitry, or to computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the architectures disclosed in this disclosure and their equivalents, or combinations of one or more of them. Other embodiments disclosed and described may be implemented as one or more computer program products, such as one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a computer-readable medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus. The computer readable medium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter effecting a machine-readable transmission of a signal, or a combination of one or more of them. The term "data processing apparatus" encompasses all apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers. The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code for creating an execution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or a combination of one or more of them. The transmission signal is an artificially generated signal, e.g., a machine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal, that is generated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiver apparatus.

A computer program (also known as a program, software application, script, or code) can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup language publication), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this disclosure can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more programs to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performed by, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, by way of example, both general and special purpose processors, and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will also include, or be operative to process, data received from, or to transmit or to receive data to, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g., magnetic, magneto-optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computer need not have such a device. Computer-readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory, media and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks or removable disks; a magneto-optical disk; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory may be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

Since this patent document contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any invention or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions. Suitable features that are described in the text of different embodiments in the present document can also be applied in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be applied to multiple, discrete embodiments, or in any suitable subcombination. Furthermore, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, the operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, which should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. Moreover, the discontinuities in the system components in the embodiments described in this patent document are not to be understood as requiring such discontinuities in all embodiments.

Only a few applications and examples have been described and other applications, enhancements and variations can be made based on the description and illustrations of the present patent disclosure.

Claims (48)

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

a network device determines a first set of transmission moments for transmitting an energy saving activation signal, and time domain information of the energy saving activation signal; and is

The network device transmits the energy saving activation signal to a communication device at least part of the first set of transmission times, the energy saving activation signal comprising information to cause the communication device to enter an energy related mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the energy-related mode comprises a wake-up mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the energy-related mode comprises entering a sleep mode.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the energy-related modes include one or more energy-saving modes.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising,

the network device determines a first set of transmission resources for one or more of the first set of transmission instants for transmitting the energy-saving activation signal.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

transmitting the power save activation signal on the first set of transmission resources with one or more spatial domain transmit filters.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving feedback from the communication device, wherein the feedback is transmitted using one or more feedback resources; and is

Wherein one or more of the feedback resources are associated with the first set of transmission resources.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein one or more of the feedback resources comprise a number of feedback resources equal to a number of the first set of transmission resources.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein each transmission resource corresponds to a set of feedback resources.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the feedback comprises a sequence transmission or a control channel transmission comprising bits indicating different energy-related modes.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the control channel comprises a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

12. The method of claim 7, wherein all the transmission resources correspond to a set of feedback resources, and wherein sequence transmission or uplink control channel transmission is transmitted on each feedback resource.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the control channel sends an indication of an optimal spatial filter for sending the power-saving activation signal.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein for each energy-related mode, there is a predefined mapping between the transmission resources and the bits transmitted on the control channel.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more feedback resources are semi-statically predetermined.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the power-saving activation signal comprises a plurality of bit sequences, such that each bit sequence corresponds to an energy-related pattern.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the time domain information includes an indication for changing a start time of the energy related mode.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the time domain information comprises a duration of an energy-related pattern.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the time domain information comprises using a downlink control channel comprising one or more bits for indicating a last signal/location detected by the communication device before changing a current energy related state of operation or for indicating that the communication device enters a power saving mode.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the last signal is the power saving activation signal or the downlink control channel.

21. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

a communication device receiving an energy saving activation signal from a network device using at least part of transmission resources in a first set of transmission resources, the energy saving activation signal comprising information causing the communication device to enter an energy related mode and time domain information; and is

Entering the energy-related mode based on the energy-saving activation signal.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the energy-related mode comprises a wake-up mode.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the energy-related mode comprises entering a sleep mode.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the energy-related modes include one or more energy-saving modes.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein one or more spatial domain transmit filters are employed to receive the power saving activation signal on the first set of transmit resources.

26. The method of any one of claims 21 to 25, further comprising:

providing feedback to the network apparatus, wherein the feedback is transmitted using one or more feedback resources to determine the first set of transmission resources from among the one or more feedback resources.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein one or more of the feedback resources comprise a number of feedback resources equal to a number of the first set of transmission resources.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein each transmission resource corresponds to a set of feedback resources.

29. The method according to any of claims 27 to 28, wherein the feedback comprises a sequence transmission or a control channel transmission comprising bits indicating different energy related patterns.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the control channel comprises a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

31. The method of claim 26, wherein all of the transmission resources correspond to a set of feedback resources, and wherein uplink control channel transmissions are transmitted on each feedback resource.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the control channel sends an indication of an optimal spatial filter for transmitting the power-save activation signal.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein for each energy-related mode, there is a predefined mapping between the transmission resources and the bits transmitted on the control channel.

34. The method of claim 26, wherein the one or more feedback resources are semi-statically predetermined.

35. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving information indicative of the one or more feedback resources via a downlink control channel.

36. The method of claim 21, wherein the power-saving activation signal comprises a plurality of bit sequences, such that each bit sequence corresponds to an energy-related pattern.

37. The method according to claim 21, wherein the energy-related time information comprises a representation of a start time for changing the energy-related pattern.

38. The method of claim 21, wherein the energy-related time-domain information comprises a duration of an energy-related pattern.

39. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

the communication device performs a management procedure to select a spatial filter for communication with the network device after transitioning out of the energy-related mode, wherein the communication device enters the energy-related mode in response to receiving the energy-saving activation signal with the first set of transmit times.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the managing further comprises:

sending feedback from the communication device to the network device.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the feedback is transmitted using one or more feedback resources associated with the first set of transmission resources.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein one or more of the feedback resources comprise a number of feedback resources equal to a number of the first set of transmission resources.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein each transmission resource corresponds to a set of feedback resources.

44. The method according to any of claims 41 to 43, wherein the feedback comprises a sequence transmission or a control channel transmission comprising bits indicating different energy related patterns.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the control channel comprises a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

46. The method of claim 41, wherein all the transmission resources correspond to a set of feedback resources, and wherein uplink control channel transmissions are sent on each feedback resource.

47. The method according to any of claims 41 to 43, wherein a control channel sends an indication of an optimal spatial filter for sending the energy-saving activation signal.

48. A wireless communication apparatus comprising a processor configured to perform the method recited in one or more of claims 1-47.

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