CN113228728B

CN113228728B - Method, apparatus and system for saving energy in wireless communication

Info

Publication number: CN113228728B
Application number: CN201880098168.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 梁亚超; 郝鹏; 刘星; 李剑; 魏兴光
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2018-09-27
Filing date: 2018-09-27
Publication date: 2023-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 2038-09-27
Also published as: CN113228728A; WO2020034322A1

Abstract

Methods, devices, and systems for saving energy in wireless communications are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication node is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: configuring a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle for the wireless communication device; configuring a bandwidth portion BWP adapted to the wireless communication device; and determining a relationship between a timer associated with the BWP adaptive handover and a phase of the DRX cycle of the wireless communication device.

Description

Method, apparatus and system for saving energy in wireless communication

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly, to methods, devices, and systems for saving energy in wireless communications.

Background

With the development of wireless communication technology and the increasing demand for communication, in order to meet the demands for higher and faster, updated communication, the fifth generation mobile communication technology (Fifth Generation Mobile System, abbreviated as 5G) has become a trend of network development in the future. The 5G system will support enhanced mobile broadband, ultra high reliability, ultra low latency transmission and large scale connections. In addition, the terminal increases power consumption while supporting these functions. To solve the power consumption problem, an adaptive discontinuous reception (Discontinuous Reception, abbreviated as DRX) cycle and a bandwidth part (BWP) are supported in the 5G system.

The data services of a User Equipment (UE) do not occur regularly. The data transmission may be only performed for a period of time and no data transmission is performed for the next period of time. When there is no data transmission, the UE may turn off its corresponding receiver and enter a low power mode to save energy. This is called discontinuous reception DRX cycle. In the DRX cycle, a period of data transmission or a period of time during which the UE continuously monitors a physical downlink control channel (Physical Downlink ControlCHannel, abbreviated as PDCCH) is referred to as an ON duration period; and a period during which there is no data transmission or a period during which the UE does not monitor the PDCCH or a period during which a part of functions of a receiver of the UE are turned OFF is referred to as an OFF duration period. The ON duration and the OFF duration adjacent to each other form a DRX cycle, the specific time length of which can be configured by higher layer signaling. The UE switches between ON and OFF durations based ON higher layer signaling or Wake Up Signal (WUS) or first layer (Floor 1, L1) signals.

In order to more flexibly allocate frequency domain resources and reduce power consumption, a bandwidth part BWP is introduced in 5G. BWP comprises a number of consecutive physical resource blocks (Physical Resource Block, abbreviated PRBs) in the frequency domain. Different BWP may be allocated according to different transmission requirements. When the traffic is low, the UE may switch to a BWP with smaller bandwidth; when the traffic is high, the UE may switch to a BWP with a larger bandwidth. Each BWP may take different configurations, such as subcarrier spacing, cyclic shift, etc. The system can select different BWPs according to different service requirements, so that the flexibility of the system is improved. BWP carrying data transmission is called active BWP, which is configured by higher layer signaling. The base station may configure up to four active BWP per service in uplink and downlink services for each UE. The base station informs the UE which active BWP to use for transmission according to the transmission requirements. Typically, active BWP is large and contains a large number of PRBs. When there is no transmission requirement, operating on active BWP will bring unnecessary power consumption to the UE. Thus, when the UE does not perform data transmission on the active BWP for a certain time, the UE will switch from the active BWP to a smaller BWP called a default BWP. The handoff from active BWP to default BWP is referred to as the timing mechanism of BWP adaptive handoff (BA).

According to existing communication protocols, the BA timing mechanism and the DRX cycle mechanism operate independently of each other. When the UE enters the OFF duration phase according to the periodic configuration or the indication of the WUS or L1 signal, the BA timer may not be expired at this time at the UE so that the UE is still operating on active BWP. The BA timer continues to run despite entering the OFF duration phase. After expiration of the BA timer, the UE switches from active BWP to default BWP. In another case, the BA timer has expired before entering the OFF duration and the UE has switched to the default BWP during the ON duration phase. Independent operation of the BA timing mechanism and the DRX cycle mechanism will bring flexibility for BWP handover and affect the power saving effect of the UE. Thus, existing systems and methods for power saving at a UE are not entirely satisfactory.

Disclosure of Invention

The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are directed to solving problems associated with one or more of the problems set forth in the prior art, and will provide additional features that are readily appreciated by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. According to various embodiments, exemplary systems, methods, apparatus, and computer program products are disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that these embodiments are given by way of example and not limitation, and that various modifications of the disclosed embodiments may be made apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

In one embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication node is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: configuring a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle for the wireless communication device; configuring a bandwidth portion BWP adapted to the wireless communication device; and determining a relationship between a timer associated with the BWP adaptive handover and a phase of the DRX cycle of the wireless communication device.

In another embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication node is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: transmitting configuration information related to an initial uplink UL bandwidth part BWP and an initial downlink DL BWP to the wireless communication device, wherein the initial UL BWP and the initial DL BWP are applicable at the same time; and performing a random access procedure for the wireless communication device to complete access to the wireless communication node based on both the initial UL BWP and the initial DL BWP.

In yet another embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication device is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: determining a configuration for discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle and a configuration adapted to a bandwidth portion, BWP, of the wireless communication device; and determining a relationship between a timer associated with the BWP adaptive handover and a phase of the DRX cycle of the wireless communication device.

In yet another embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication device is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: receiving configuration information about an initial uplink UL bandwidth part BWP and an initial downlink DL BWP from the wireless communication node; and based on the configuration information, simultaneously initiating UL BWP and DL BWP before the completion of the random access procedure for the wireless communication device to complete access to the wireless communication node.

In various embodiments, a wireless communication node configured in some embodiments to perform the disclosed methods is disclosed. In another embodiment, a wireless communication device configured in some embodiments to perform the disclosed methods is disclosed. In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the methods disclosed in some embodiments is disclosed.

Drawings

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings. The drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and depict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure to facilitate the reader's understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings should not be taken as limiting the breadth, scope, or applicability of the present disclosure. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of illustration, the drawings are not necessarily made to scale.

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication network in which the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary structure of a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary timing mechanism for bandwidth-portion BWP adaptive switching, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary scenario involving both BWP adaptive handoff and DRX cycles, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a User Equipment (UE) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method performed by a UE for power saving in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a Base Station (BS) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method performed by a BS for power saving in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary relationship between a BWP adaptive handoff (BA) timer and a stage of a DRX cycle according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 illustrates another exemplary relationship between BA timer and stage of DRX cycle according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 illustrates an exemplary relationship between a BA timer and a DRX cycle phase with a wake-up signal (WUS) or LI signal, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 illustrates another exemplary relationship between a BA timer and a DRX cycle phase with WUS/L1 signal according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 illustrates an exemplary scenario in which WUS/L1 operates on a dedicated BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 illustrates another exemplary scenario in which WUS/L1 operates on a dedicated BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 15 illustrates yet another exemplary scenario in which WUS/L1 operates on a dedicated BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 16 illustrates yet another exemplary scenario in which WUS/L1 operates on a dedicated BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 17 still illustrates an exemplary scenario in which WUS/L1 operates on BWP determined based on a BA timer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 18 illustrates an exemplary method for initial uplink and downlink BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 19 illustrates another exemplary method for initializing uplink and downlink BWP according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the drawings to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the disclosure. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading this disclosure that various changes or modifications can be made to the examples described herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the exemplary embodiments and applications described and illustrated herein. In addition, the particular order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed herein is only an exemplary approach. Based on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods or processes disclosed may be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the methods and/or techniques disclosed herein present various steps or acts in an example order, and that the present disclosure is not limited to the particular order or hierarchy presented, unless specifically stated otherwise.

A typical wireless communication network includes one or more Base Stations (BSs) that each provide geographical radio coverage, and one or more wireless User Equipments (UEs) that can transmit and receive data within the radio coverage. In a wireless communication network, a BS and a UE may communicate with each other via a communication link, e.g., via a downlink radio frame from the BS to the UE, or via an uplink radio frame from the UE to the BS.

The present disclosure provides methods and systems for saving energy for data transmission systems. A mutual coupling relationship is given between the DRX cycle and BWP Adaptive (BA) timing. In the OFF duration, unnecessary BWP switching can be avoided by adjusting the BA timing. When the UE enters the ON duration, more energy can be saved.

In one embodiment, when the ON duration and OFF duration of the DRX cycle are configured by higher layer signaling, the BA timer may run or increase only during the ON duration and remain unchanged during the OFF duration. In another embodiment, the BA timer is normally incremented during the ON duration; but increases at a slower rate during the OFF duration, e.g., according to a fixed or higher layer signaling configured reduction factor.

In one embodiment, the ON duration and OFF duration of the DRX cycle are indicated by WUS or L1 signals. If the WUS or L1 signal is operating ON active BWP, the BA timer can only run or increase during the ON duration and remain unchanged during the OFF duration. If the WUS or L1 signal is operating on the default BWP, the BA timer may be forced to expire when the UE enters the OFF duration. The WUS or L1 signal may also operate on dedicated BWP with fewer PRBs than the default BWP.

When the dedicated BWP is not a type of BWP configured for the UE, the BA timer may be run or increased only during the ON duration and remain unchanged during the OFF duration. In one embodiment, the BA timer is normally incremented during the ON duration; but increases at a slower rate during the OFF duration, e.g., according to a fixed or higher layer signaling configured reduction factor. When the dedicated BWP is a BWP configured for the UE, the BA timer may be disabled. When the UE enters the OFF duration, it switches directly to dedicated BWP. When the UE re-enters the ON duration, it will switch to the default BWP.

In one embodiment, the BA timing mechanism is primary. The UE detects WUS/L1 according to the current BWP determined based on the BA timer. The UE entering the OFF duration does not affect BA timing.

In various embodiments, a BS may be referred to as a network-side node, and may include or be implemented as: a next generation Node B (Generation Node B, abbreviated as gNB), an Evolved terrestrial radio Access network (Evolved UTRAN, abbreviated as E-UTRAN) Node B (E-UTRAN Node B, abbreviated as eNB), a transmission receiving Point (Transfer Reception Points, abbreviated as TRP), an Access Point (AP), a Donor Node (Donor Node, abbreviated as DN), a relay Node, a Core Network (CN) Node, a radio Access network (Radio Access Network, abbreviated as RAN) Node, a master Node, an auxiliary Node, a Distributed Unit (DU), a Centralized Unit (CU), and the like. A UE in the present disclosure may be referred to as a terminal and may include or be implemented as a Mobile Station (MS) Station (STA) or the like. BS and UE may be described herein as non-limiting examples of "wireless communication nodes"; and herein, UEs and UEs may be described as non-limiting examples of "wireless communication devices". In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, a BS and a UE may practice the methods disclosed herein and may be capable of wireless and/or wired communication.

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication network 100 in which the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, an exemplary communication network 100 includes a Base Station (BS) 101 and a plurality of UEs, UE 1110, UE 2 120 … UE 3 130, wherein BS 101 may communicate with the UEs according to a wireless protocol.

In one embodiment, after a UE (e.g., UE 1110) successfully accesses BS 101, the UE may perform a DRX cycle to save energy. In the DRX cycle, the UE continuously monitors a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, abbreviated PDCCH) during the ON duration phase; and does not monitor the PDCCH during the OFF duration phase. The ON duration and the OFF duration adjacent to each other form a DRX cycle, the specific time length of which can be configured by higher layer signaling.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary structure of a DRX cycle according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, there are two ways for the UE to enter either the ON duration or the OFF duration. The first way is to use higher layer signaling to configure semi-statically: the start time of the ON duration 211, the length of the ON duration 211, and the length of the DRX cycle 213. Then, according to the structure 210, the OFF duration 212 may be determined according to the length of the DRX cycle 213 and the ON duration 211. The UE switches semi-statically between ON duration and OFF duration according to a higher layer configuration. The second way is based on an activation signal 231, such as a wake-up signal or a first layer signal. According to structure 220, activation signal 231 may dynamically inform the UE to change from an OFF duration to an ON duration, or from an ON duration to an OFF duration. In this case, the length of the DRX cycle 224 is not fixed and cannot be configured by higher layer signaling any more. The UE dynamically switches between ON duration and OFF duration according to WUS signal or L1 signal.

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary timing mechanism 300 for BWP adaptive handoff (BA) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As described above, BWP carrying data transmission is referred to as active BWP 320, which is configured by higher layer signaling. When the UE has no data transmission on the active BWP 320 for a certain period of time, the UE will switch from the active BWP 320 to a smaller BWP called default BWP 330. At this time, the UE may receive some control and indication information about the default BWP 330. If there is a transmission requirement, switch from the default BWP 330 to the active BWP. The UE switches from active BWP to default BWP according to the BA timing mechanism. After the UE completes the initial access and begins to operate on the active BWP 320, the BA timer 340 begins to increase or run. If the PDCCH is detected within BA timer 340, BA timer 340 is reset and resumes operation. The UE may configure parameters related to BA timer 340 through a higher layer parameter bwp inactivity timer.

If the UE does not detect downlink control information (downlink control information, abbreviated DCI) format for PDSCH reception in frequency division duplex (Frequency Division Duplex, abbreviated FDD) or DCI format for PDSCH reception in time division duplex (Time Division Duplex, abbreviated TDD) or PUSCH transmission in TDD within a certain timing interval, the UE increases the timer at 1ms intervals over a first frequency range (first frequency range, abbreviated FR 1) or at 0.5ms intervals over a second frequency range (Second frequency range, abbreviated FR 2). When the BA timer expires, the UE switches from the active BWP to the default BWP.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary scenario 400 involving both BA and DRX cycles, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, when the UE enters the OFF duration phase 412 from the ON duration phase 411 according to a periodic configuration or an indication from the WUS or L1 signal, the BA timer 430 may not have expired at the UE at this time so that the UE is still operating ON the active BWP 421. While OFF duration phase 412 is entered, BA timer 430 continues to run. After expiration of BA timer 430, the UE switches from active BWP 421 to default BWP 422. In another case (not shown in fig. 4), the BA timer 421 has expired before entering the OFF duration 412, and the UE has switched to the default BWP 422 during the ON duration phase 411.

Fig. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a User Equipment (UE) 500, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. UE 500 is an example of a device that may be configured to implement the various methods described herein. As shown in fig. 5, UE 500 includes a housing 540 containing a system clock 502, a processor 504, a memory 506, a transceiver 510 including a transmitter 512 and a receiver 514, a power module 508, a DRX cycle-BA configuration determiner 520, a DRX cycle-BA relationship determiner 522, a bwp activator and switch 524, a BA timer controller 526, an activation signal detector 528, and a DRX cycle phase switch 529.

In this embodiment, the system clock 502 provides a timing signal to the processor 504 for controlling the timing of all operations of the UE 500. The processor 504 controls the overall operation of the UE 500 and may include one or more processing circuits or modules, such as a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, abbreviated as CPU) and/or general purpose microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, abbreviated as DSP), a field programmable gate array (Field Programable Gate Array, abbreviated as FPGA), a programmable logic device (Programmable Logic Device, abbreviated as PLD), a controller, a state machine, gating logic, discrete hardware components, any combination of special-purpose hardware finite state machines, or any other suitable circuit, device, and/or structure that can perform computation or other manipulation of data.

Memory 506, which may include Read Only Memory (ROM) and random access Memory (Random Access Memory RAM), may provide instructions and data to processor 504. A portion of the memory 506 may also include non-volatile random access memory (Non Volatile Random Access Memory, simply NVRAM). The processor 504 typically performs logical and arithmetic operations based on program instructions stored within the memory 506. Instructions (also referred to as software) stored in memory 506 may be executed by processor 504 to perform the methods described herein. Together, processor 504 and memory 506 form a processing system that stores and executes software. As used herein, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, etc., the "software" refers to any type of instructions that can configure a machine or device to perform one or more desired functions or procedures. The instructions may include code (e.g., in a source code format, a binary code format, an executable code format, or any other suitable code format). The instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processing system to perform the various functions described herein.

A transceiver 510 including a transmitter 512 and a receiver 514 allows the UE 500 to transmit data to and receive data from a remote device (e.g., a BS or another UE). The antenna 550 is typically attached to the housing 540 and electrically coupled to the transceiver 510. In various embodiments, the UE 500 includes (not shown) multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, and multiple transceivers. In one embodiment, antenna 550 is replaced by a multi-antenna array 350 (which may form multiple beams, each beam pointing in a different direction). Transmitter 512 may be configured to wirelessly transmit packets having different packet types or functions, such packets being generated by processor 504. Similarly, receiver 514 is configured to receive packets having different packet types or functions and processor 504 is configured to process packets of a plurality of different packet types. For example, the processor 504 may be configured to determine the type of packet and process the packet and/or fields of the packet accordingly.

In a communication system including the UE 500 served by the BS, the BS may configure the DRX cycle mechanism and the BA mechanism for the UE 500 in order to save energy of the UE 500. In one embodiment, DRX cycle-BA configuration determiner 520 may determine the configuration of DRX cycles and the configuration of BAs for UE 500, e.g., based on higher layer signaling from the BS. DRX cycle-BA configuration determiner 520 may analyze the configuration of DRX cycle and BA and send the configuration to DRX cycle-BA relationship determiner 522 to determine the relationship between DRX cycle and BA.

As used herein, the term "layer" refers to an abstraction layer of a layered model, such as the open system interconnection (Open System Interconnection, abbreviated OSI) model that partitions a communication system into abstraction layers. One layer acts as the next higher layer above it and is provided by the next lower layer below it.

In this example, DRX cycle-BA relationship determiner 522 may determine a relationship between a BA-related timer and a stage of the DRX cycle of UE 500, e.g., based on a configuration from DRX cycle-BA configuration determiner 520, based on higher layer signaling from the BS, and/or based on an agreement reached between the BS and UE 500.

In this example, BWP activator and switch 524 may cause UE 500 to switch from active BWP to default BWP in response to expiration of the timer and based on higher layer signaling. In one embodiment, the DRX cycle includes an ON duration phase and an OFF duration phase based ON a higher layer signaling indication from the BS. The BA timer controller 526 may control the BA timer to run or to pause or expire under various conditions. In one case, BA timer controller 526 may control BA timer operation during the ON duration phase, pause during the OFF duration phase, and continue operation during the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle according to the relationship until the timer expires. In another case, BA timer controller 526 may control BA timer to run during both the ON duration phase and the OFF duration phase until the timer expires, wherein the BA timer runs slower during the OFF duration phase than during the ON duration phase according to the relationship. For example, the first operating speed of the BA timer during the ON duration phase is a multiple of the second operating speed of the BA timer during the OFF duration phase, with the multiple indicated based ON higher layer signaling.

In another embodiment, BWP activator and switch 524 may cause UE 500 to switch from active BWP to default BWP in response to expiration of the BA timer, wherein the DRX cycle includes an ON duration phase and an OFF duration phase indicated based ON the activation signal. The activation signal may be a WUS or L1 signal from the BS. In this embodiment, BA timer controller 526 may control the BA timer to run or to pause or expire under various conditions. In one case, BA timer controller 526 may control BA timer operation during the ON duration phase, pause during the OFF duration phase, and continue operation during the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle according to the relationship until the timer expires. In this case, the activation signal detector 528 may detect an activation signal on the active BWP via the receiver 514 during the OFF duration phase; also, the DRX cycle phase switcher 529 may cause the UE 500 to switch from the OFF duration phase to the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle based ON the activation signal.

In another case, BA timer controller 526 may control BA timer to run during the ON duration phase and be forced to expire in response to a switch of UE 500 from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase according to the relationship. In this case, the activation signal detector 528 may detect an activation signal on the default BWP via the receiver 514 during the OFF duration phase; also, the DRX cycle phase switcher 529 may cause the UE 500 to switch from the OFF duration phase to the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle based ON the activation signal.

In another case, BWP activator and switch 524 may cause UE 500 to switch from active BWP to dedicated BWP based ON the relationship in response to the switching of UE 500 from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase. The dedicated BWP contains fewer resource blocks than the default BWP. In this case, the activation signal detector 528 may detect the activation signal on the dedicated BWP via the receiver 514 during the OFF duration phase; also, the DRX cycle phase switcher 529 may cause the UE 500 to switch from the OFF duration phase to the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle based ON the activation signal. In one embodiment, BA timer controller 526 may control BA timer to run during the ON duration phase and continue to run during the OFF duration phase. Then, the UE 500 may be ON the default BWP at the beginning of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle in response to expiration of the timer during the OFF duration phase; or may be ON active BWP at the beginning of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle when the timer has not expired during the OFF duration phase. In another embodiment, the BA timer controller 526 may force the BA timer to expire in response to the UE 500 switching from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase. Then, the UE 500 may be ON the default BWP at the beginning of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle, and the timer is restarted from the beginning of the first active BWP of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle.

In another case, the activation signal detector 528 may detect the activation signal during the OFF duration phase based on the relationship based on the active BWP before the timer expires and the default BWP after the timer expires. The BA timer controller 526 may control the BA timer to run during the ON duration phase.

In one embodiment, the BWP activator and switch 524 may receive configuration information about an initial uplink (Up Link, abbreviated as UL) BWP and an initial downlink (Down Link, abbreviated as DL) BWP from the BS via the receiver 514. Then, the BWP activator and switcher 524 may perform both initial UL BWP and initial DL BWP before the random access procedure for the UE 500 based on the configuration information to complete access to the BS.

The power module 508 may include a power source, such as one or more batteries, and a power regulator to provide regulated power to each of the above-described modules in fig. 5. In some embodiments, if the UE 500 is coupled to a dedicated external power source (e.g., a wall outlet), the power module 508 may include a transformer and a power regulator.

The various modules discussed above are coupled together by a bus system 530. For example, bus system 530 may include a data bus, such as a power bus, a control signal bus, and/or a status signal bus in addition to the data bus. It should be appreciated that the modules of the UE 500 may be operatively coupled to each other using any suitable techniques and media.

Although a number of separate modules or components are shown in fig. 5, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that one or more of the modules may be implemented in combination or jointly. For example, the processor 504 may implement not only the functionality described above with respect to the processor 504, but also the functionality described above with respect to the DRX cycle-BA relationship determiner 522. Rather, each of the modules shown in FIG. 5 may be implemented using a plurality of separate components or elements.

Fig. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a method 600 for saving energy performed by a UE (e.g., UE 500 in fig. 5) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In operation 610, the UE determines a configuration of a DRX cycle for the UE. In operation 620, the UE determines a configuration of a BA for the UE. In operation 630, the UE determines a relationship between a timer related to the BA and a phase of the DRX cycle of the UE. In operation 640, the ue controls a timer to run during an ON duration phase of the DRX cycle and to be suspended during an OFF duration phase according to the relationship. In operation 650, the UE switches from the active BWP to the default BWP in response to expiration of the timer.

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a Base Station (BS) 700, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. BS 700 is an example of a node that may be configured to implement the various methods described herein. As shown in fig. 7, BS 700 includes a housing 740 containing a system clock 702, a processor 704, a memory 706, a transceiver 710 including a transmitter 712 and a receiver 714, a power module 708, a drx cycle configurator 720, a BA configurator 722, a drx cycle-BA relationship determiner 724, and an activation signal generator 726.

In this embodiment, the system clock 702, the processor 704, the memory 706, the transceiver 710, and the power module 708 operate similarly to the system clock 502, the processor 504, the memory 506, the transceiver 510, and the power module 508 in the UE 500. The antenna 750 or multiple antenna arrays 750 are typically attached to the housing 740 and electrically coupled to the transceiver 710.

In a communication system, the BS 700 may configure a DRX cycle mechanism and a BA mechanism for UEs served by the BS 700. In one embodiment, DRX cycle configurator 720 may generate and transmit (via a transmitter to the UE) configuration information related to the DRX cycle for the UE; BA configurator 720 may generate and transmit (via a transmitter to the UE) BA-related configuration information for the UE. DRX cycle configurator 720 and BA configurator 722 may send configuration information to DRX cycle-BA relationship determiner 724 for determining the relationship between DRX cycle and BA.

In this example, DRX cycle-BA relationship determiner 724 may determine a relationship between a timer related to BA and a stage of the DRX cycle of the UE. In one embodiment, the DRX cycle includes an ON duration phase and an OFF duration phase based ON a higher layer signaling indication.

As used herein, the term "layer" refers to an abstraction layer of a layered model, such as the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model that partitions a communication system into abstraction layers. One layer acts as the next higher layer above it and is provided by the next lower layer below it.

In one embodiment, a timer is configured for the wireless communication device and switches from an active BWP to a default BWP in response to expiration of the timer and based on higher layer signaling. In one case, the timer runs during the ON duration phase; pausing during the OFF duration phase according to the relationship; and continues to run during the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle until the timer expires. In another case, the timer runs during both the ON duration phase and the OFF duration phase until the timer expires; and according to the relationship, the speed of operation during the OFF duration phase is slower than the speed of operation during the ON duration phase. For example, the first operating speed of the timer during the ON duration phase is a multiple of the second operating speed of the timer during the OFF duration phase. The multiple may be indicated based on higher layer signaling from BS 700.

In one embodiment, the DRX cycle includes an ON duration phase and an OFF duration phase indicated based ON the activation signal. The activation signal may be a WUS and/or L1 signal. The timer may be configured for the UE to switch from the active BWP to the default BWP in response to expiration of the timer.

In one case, the timer runs during the ON duration phase; pausing during the OFF duration phase according to the relationship; and continues to run during the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle until the timer expires. The wireless communication device is informed to switch from the OFF duration phase to the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle in case the wireless communication device detects the activation signal ON an active BWP during the OFF duration phase.

In another case, the timer runs during the ON duration phase; and is forced to expire in response to a handover of the UE from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase according to the relationship. In case the UE detects an activation signal ON the default BWP during the OFF duration period, the UE is informed to switch from the OFF duration period to the ON duration period of the next DRX cycle.

In yet another case, the timer runs during an ON duration phase and the relationship informs the UE to switch from active BWP to dedicated BWP in response to the UE switching from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase. The dedicated BWP contains fewer resource blocks than the default BWP.

In one example, in case the UE detects an activation signal ON the dedicated BWP during the OFF duration phase, the UE is informed to switch from the OFF duration phase to the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle. In this example, the timer continues to run during the OFF duration phase. UE 500 may be ON the default BWP at the beginning of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle in response to expiration of the timer during the OFF duration phase; and may be ON active BWP at the beginning of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle when the timer has not expired during the OFF duration phase.

In another example, the timer is forced to expire in response to a handover of the UE from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase. At the beginning of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle, the UE may be in default BWP; and restarting the timer from the beginning of the first active BWP of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle.

In one embodiment, the timer runs during the ON duration phase. The relationship informs the UE to detect an activation signal on the active BWP before expiration of the timer and on the default BWP after expiration of the timer during the OFF duration phase.

In one embodiment, BA configurator 722 may send configuration information regarding initial uplink ULBWP and initial downlink DLBWP to the UE via transmitter 712. Based on the initial UL BWP and the initial DL BWP, the BS 700 may perform a random access procedure for the UE to complete access to the BS 700.

The various modules discussed above are coupled together by a bus system 730. For example, bus system 730 may include a data bus, and a power bus, control signal bus, and/or status signal bus that is separate from the data bus. It should be understood that the modules of BS 700 may be operatively coupled to each other using any suitable techniques and media.

Although a number of separate modules or components are shown in fig. 7, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that one or more of the modules may be implemented in combination or jointly. For example, the processor 704 may implement not only the functionality described above with respect to the processor 704, but also the functionality described above with respect to the DRX cycle-BA relationship determiner 724. Rather, each of the modules shown in FIG. 7 may be implemented using a plurality of separate components or elements.

Fig. 8 illustrates a flow chart of a method 800 performed by a BS (e.g., BS 700 in fig. 7) for saving energy, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In operation 810, the bs configures a DRX cycle for the UE. In operation 820, the bs configures a BA for the UE. In operation 830, the bs determines a relationship between a timer related to the BA and a stage of the DRX cycle of the UE. In operation 840, the bs optionally transmits an activation signal, e.g., WUS or L1 signal, to the UE to switch phases of the DRX cycle.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail below. Note that features of the embodiments and examples in this disclosure may be combined with each other in any manner without conflict.

The present teachings disclose methods for generating relationships and links between DRX cycles and BA timing mechanisms to avoid unnecessary operation of the UE and enhance power saving effects.

In the first embodiment, the ON duration and the OFF duration of the DRX cycle are switched according to a higher layer configuration. Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary relationship 900 between a BWP adaptive handoff (BA) timer and the phases of a DRX cycle according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 9, when the UE is in OFF duration 912, its receiver is in an OFF state. At this time, the UE does not perform data transmission and thus does not have energy consumption for data transmission. Thus, the UE operating on the active BWP 921 is hardly different in energy consumption from the UE operating on the default BWP 922. Accordingly, the UE may achieve the same energy saving effect as switching to the default BWP 922 without actually switching to the default BWP 922 in the OFF duration 912. Further, when the UE remains ON the active BWP 921 during the OFF duration 912, the UE may directly work ON the active BWP 921 when the UE next enters the ON duration 913, eliminating the time and energy consumption of switching from the default BWP 922 to the active BWP 921. Thus, during the OFF duration, BA timer 930 is suspended and remains unchanged, and BA timer 930 is run or increased only during

ON durations

911, 913, which may reduce unnecessary BWP switching and achieve better energy conservation effects.

In a second embodiment, the ON duration and OFF duration of the DRX cycle are switched according to a higher layer configuration. Fig. 10 illustrates another exemplary relationship 1000 between BA timer and stage of DRX cycle according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 10, when the UE is in OFF duration 1012, its receiver is in an OFF state. At this time, the UE does not perform data transmission and thus does not have energy consumption for data transmission. Thus, UEs operating on the

active BWP

1021, 1031 are hardly different in energy consumption from UEs operating on the

default BWP

1022, 1032. When the UE is in the ON duration, the energy consumed by the UE to operate ON the

active BWP

1021, 1031 will be much greater than the energy consumed ON the

default BWP

1022, 1032. The original purpose of the BA timing mechanism is to prevent the UE from operating on active BWP when there is no transmission requirement and to reduce power consumption by switching to default BWP. For example, the UE increases the BA timer over a first frequency range (first frequency range, abbreviated FR 1) at 1ms intervals, or increases the BA timer over a second frequency range (Second frequency range, abbreviated FR 2) at 0.5ms intervals.

However, when the UE is in the OFF duration, the energy consumption between the active BWP and the default BWP is not much different. The desire or requirement for the UE to save energy by switching to the default BWP is less strong than the UE in ON duration. The rate of increase or running speed of the BA timer may be slowed down appropriately during the OFF duration to make the UE on the active BWP 1021 longer. For example, the UE increases the timer at intervals of n×1ms on FR1, or at intervals of n×0.5ms on FR2, where the value of N may be configured or fixed by higher layer signaling as a constant, as shown in fig. 10.

When the UE enters the ON duration 1013 after the OFF duration 1012, the UE may directly operate ON the active BWP 1021, as compared to the BA timer 1031 with the normal speed increase. This may save time and energy consumption in switching from the default BWP to the active BWP. At the same time, this avoids the case where the OFF duration is configured too long for the UE to enter the default BWP for a long time. Thus, slowing the rate of increase of the BA timer at the OFF duration may provide a better energy saving effect.

In the third embodiment, when the UE enters the ON duration at a fixed time according to a period configured by higher layer signaling, there is not necessarily a transmission requirement for the ON duration. In this case, the UE entering ON duration will result in unnecessary energy consumption. When the transmission requirement of the UE occurs during the OFF duration, the transmission requirement is missed, thereby affecting traffic transmission. The introduction of WUS or L1 signaling can solve the above problems well. In this embodiment, the UE enters the ON duration only after receiving WUS or L1 signaling. This prevents the UE from entering the ON duration when there is no transmission requirement and avoids the situation that the ON duration cannot be entered when there is a transmission requirement for the UE. In a third embodiment, the ON duration and the OFF duration of the DRX cycle are switched according to the indication of the WUS or L1 signal.

In order to make the ON duration configuration more flexible in response to burst transmission requirements, the moment at which the UE enters the ON duration will no longer be determined by the period of the semi-static configuration only. If either the WUS or L1 signal is received for the OFF duration, the UE will also enter the ON duration. The WUS or L1 signal may operate in an active BWP, a default BWP, a dedicated BWP, or may be controlled by a BA timing mechanism, as will be discussed in detail below.

In the first case, the WUS or L1 signal acts on the active BWP. Fig. 11 illustrates an exemplary relationship 1100 between a BA timer and a DRX cycle phase with a wake-up signal, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 11, the UE needs to monitor for the presence of WUS or L1 signals on the active BWP 1121 over the OFF duration 1112. If a WUS or L1 signal is detected, the UE will enter an ON duration 1113. If not, the UE is still operating on OFF duration 1112. In this case, the UE needs to be always on the active BWP 1121 during the OFF duration 1112 and cannot switch to the default BWP 1122. Therefore, BA timing needs to be limited. Because the UE consumes less energy ON the active BWP 1121 during the OFF duration 1112, the BA timer 1130 only increases or runs ON the

ON durations

1111, 1113 and does not increase or run ON the OFF duration 1112.

In the second case, the WUS or L1 signal operates on the default BWP. Fig. 12 illustrates another exemplary relationship 1200 between a BA timer and a DRX cycle phase with WUS according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 12, the UE needs to monitor for the presence of WUS or L1 signals on the default BWP1222 over the OFF duration 1212. If a WUS or L1 signal is detected, the UE will enter ON duration 1213. If not, the UE is still operating on OFF duration 1212. In this case, the UE must always be in the default BWP1222 during the OFF duration 1212, whether or not the BA timer expires. Thus, when the UE enters the OFF duration 1212, the BA timer 1230 is forced to expire at the beginning of the OFF duration 1212 instead of at the scheduled time by the BA timer 1230. The UE then advances to default BWP1222 as shown in fig. 12.

In the third case, the WUS or L1 signal operates on a dedicated BWP. Since the WUS or L1 signal only provides an indication of the duration of the ON, the resources required to detect the WUS or L1 signal are very small. For example, a BWP of 1 to 2 Resource Blocks (RBs) is sufficient. But this BWP can only be used to transmit or receive WUS or L1 signals. In order for the UE to receive WUS or L1 signals on the dedicated BWP, the UE may switch to the dedicated BWP during the OFF duration.

In the first scenario, the dedicated BWP is not a type of BWP configured for the UE. Fig. 13 illustrates an exemplary scenario 1300 in which WUS/L1 operates on a dedicated BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 13, UEs operating on the dedicated BWP do not affect UEs operating in the default BWP or the active BWP. The UE switches to

dedicated BWP

1322, 1332 during OFF duration 1312. At this time,

BA timers

1330, 1340 are working properly because

dedicated BWPs

1322, 1332 do not affect the timing of default BWPs and active BWPs. If a WUS or L1 signal is received for the UE to enter ON duration 1313 and BA timer 1330 has not expired, then the UE is directly operating ON active BWP 1323 for the next ON duration 1313; if BA timer 1340 has expired before receipt of the WUS or L1 signal, the UE first operates ON default BWP 1333 for the next ON duration 1313 and then switches from default BWP 1333 to active BWP 1334 as shown in FIG. 13.

Fig. 14 illustrates another exemplary scenario 1400 in which WUS/L1 operates on a dedicated BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Alternatively, BA timer 1430 remains unchanged during OFF duration 1412 and is incremented or run only ON

durations

1411, 1413. If the UE is operating ON active BWP 1421 before entering OFF duration 1412, the UE switches directly from dedicated BWP 1422 to active BWP 1423 when the UE enters the next ON duration 1413, as shown in fig. 14.

Fig. 15 illustrates yet another exemplary scenario 1500 in which WUS/L1 operates on a dedicated BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Alternatively, the rate of increase or the speed of operation of the BA timer may be slowed appropriately when the BA timer is at the OFF duration 1512. For example, the UE increases the timer at intervals of n×1ms on FR1 or at intervals of n×0.5ms on FR 2. As shown in fig. 15, the value of N may be configured by higher layer signaling or may be fixed as a constant.

In the second case, the dedicated BWP is a type of BWP configured for the UE. In this case, UEs operating on dedicated BWP will affect UEs operating in default BWP or active BWP. Fig. 16 illustrates yet another exemplary scenario 1600 in which WUS/L1 operates on a dedicated BWP according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. When the UE enters OFF duration 1612, the UE switches to dedicated BWP 1622, at which time the BA timer becomes invalid because BA timing is applied to switch from active BWP to default BWP. In this case, if the BA timer has not expired by then, the BA timer is forced to expire at the beginning of the OFF duration 1612, but the UE switches from active BWP 1621 to dedicated BWP 1622 during the OFF duration 1612 instead of the default BWP. If the BA timer has expired during the ON duration, the UE switches from the active BWP 1631 to the default BWP 1632 in response to expiration of the BA timer and then switches from the default BWP 1632 to the dedicated BWP 1633 at the beginning of the OFF duration 1612. In either case, as shown in fig. 16, when the UE enters the next ON duration 1613, the UE switches from

dedicated BWP

1622, 1633 to default BWP 1623, 1634 and then from default BWP 1623, 1634 to active BWP 1624, 1635 and restarts the BA timer.

In the fourth case, the BA timing mechanism dominates the relationship between the DRX cycle and BA. Fig. 17 still illustrates an exemplary scenario 1700 in which WUS/L1 operates on BWP determined based on a BA timer, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. When dominated by the BA timing mechanism, the UE will detect WUS or L1 signals only on the currently operating BWP. When the UE enters the OFF duration 1712, if the BA timer 1730 has not expired, the UE operates on the active BWP 1721 and the UE receives the WUS or L1 signal on the active BWP 1721. If BA timer 1730 has expired when the UE enters OFF duration 1712, the UE operates on default BWP 1722. At this time, the UE receives WUS or L1 signals on default BWP 1722. As shown in fig. 17, BWP of WUS or L1 operating on OFF duration 1712 is determined by BWP in the BA timing mechanism.

In a fourth embodiment, a method for initial uplink and downlink BWP is presented. In an NR TDD system, downlink DLBWP and uplink ULBWP are required to form a pairing relationship. That is, each DL BWP has a corresponding UL BWP. The center frequencies of DL BWP and UL BWP must coincide. The NR system delivers configuration information (remaining minimum system information) of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP in RMSI. The resource management system (Resource Management System, abbreviated RMSI) message is also referred to as system information block 1 (System Information Block, abbreviated SIB 1). The initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP may have different sizes, but must have the same center frequency. The UE receives the configuration information of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP through RMSI, immediately, the initial UL BWP, and transmits a corresponding random access message on the initial UL BWP. But the initial DL BWP is activated after the UE completes the random access, i.e., after Msg4 of the random access procedure. The downlink scheduling of the UE occurs within a bandwidth corresponding to a control resource set (CORESET) #0 before the initial DL BWP. That is, the initially accessed Msg1 and Msg3 messages are sent on the initial UL BWP, and the initially accessed Msg2 and Msg4 messages are sent on the bandwidth corresponding to CORESET # 0.

Fig. 18 illustrates an exemplary method 1800 for initiating uplink and downlink BWP according to some embodiments of the disclosure. In order to meet the pairing requirement of DL BWP and UL BWP in the TDD system, the base station needs to make the center frequency (f 0) of CORESET #0 coincide with the center frequency (simply referred to as f 1) of initial UL BWP before the initial DL BWP can be used. After Msg4, it must also be ensured that the center frequency (f 2) of the initial DL BWP coincides with the center frequency (f 1) of the initial UL BWP. As shown in fig. 18, all the center frequency points f0, f1, and f2 are identical. This will impose a greater limitation on the configuration flexibility of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP, since the center frequencies of both the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP are limited by the center frequency of the Core (CORESET) # 0. A fourth embodiment is proposed to solve this problem.

Fig. 19 illustrates another exemplary method 1900 for initializing uplink and downlink BWP according to some embodiments of the disclosure. The UE receives configuration information of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP through RMSI, and immediately the UE initiates the UL/DL BWP pair. That is, the UE simultaneously initiates UL BWP and initial DL BWP before the random access procedure. At this time, the base station only needs to ensure that the center frequency of the initial UL BWP coincides with the center frequency of the initial DL BWP. The center frequencies of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP are no longer limited by the location of the CORESET #0 center frequency. The flexibility of the initial BWP configuration will be greatly improved. As shown in fig. 19, the initial UL BWP and the initial DL BWP are simultaneously performed before the random access procedure.

According to existing protocols, the UE receives DCI on a common search space (Common Search Space, abbreviated CSS). The size of the DCI is determined by CORESET#0. The RB position corresponding to the initial count of frequency domain resource allocations is the lowest RB position of CORESET # 0. Thus, when the initial UL BWP and the initial DL BWP are simultaneously performed, the original information transmission occurring on the bandwidth corresponding to CORESET #0 will not be affected.

While various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Likewise, the various figures may depict example architectures or configurations provided to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the example features and functions of the disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure is not limited to the example architectures or configurations shown, but may be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. In addition, one or more features of one embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.

It should also be appreciated that any reference herein to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. generally does not limit the number or order of those elements. Rather, these designations may be used herein as a convenient means of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, reference to first and second elements does not mean that only two elements can be employed, or that the first element must somehow precede the second element.

In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, and symbols, for example, that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will further appreciate that any of the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, devices, circuits, methods, and functions described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented with electronic hardware (e.g., digital, analog, or a combination of both), firmware, various forms of program or design code containing instructions (which may be referred to herein as "software" or "software modules" for convenience) or any combination of these techniques.

To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware, or software, or a combination of such techniques depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure. According to various embodiments, processors, devices, components, circuits, structures, machines, modules, etc. may be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein. The term "configured to" or "configured for" as used herein with respect to a particular operation or function refers to a processor, device, component, circuit, structure, machine, module, etc. that is physically constructed, programmed and/or arranged to perform the specified operation or function.

Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, devices, components, and circuits described herein may be implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (Integrated Circuit, abbreviated as IC), a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, abbreviated as DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, abbreviated as ASIC), a field programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array, abbreviated as FPGA), or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof, that includes a general purpose processor. The logic, modules, and circuitry may further include an antenna and/or transceiver to communicate with various components within the network or within the device. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suitable configuration to perform the functions described herein.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Thus, the steps of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented as software stored on a computer readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that enables transmission of a computer program or code from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise random access Memory (Random Access Memory, simply RAM), read Only Memory (ROM), electrically-charged erasable programmable Read Only Memory (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, simply EPROM), compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, and any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

As used herein, the term "module" refers to software, firmware, hardware, and any combination of these elements to perform the relevant functions described herein. In addition, for purposes of discussion, the various modules are described as discrete modules; however, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that two or more modules may be combined to form a single module that performs the relevant functions in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

Additionally, memory or other storage and communication components may be employed in embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated that for clarity, the above description has described embodiments of the disclosure with reference to different functional units and processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different functional units, processing logic elements or domains may be used without detracting from the disclosure. For example, functions illustrated as being performed by separate processing logic elements or controllers may be performed by the same processing logic elements or controllers. Thus, references to specific functional units are only references to suitable devices for providing the described functionality rather than indicative of a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

Various modifications to the embodiments described in this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the novel features and principles as disclosed herein, as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. A method performed by a wireless communication node, the method comprising:

configuring discontinuous reception, DRX, for a wireless communication device;

a bandwidth portion BWP adaptive handoff configured for the wireless communication device; and

determining a relationship between a timer associated with the BWP adaptive handover and a phase of a DRX cycle of the wireless communication device;

wherein the DRX cycle includes an ON duration phase and an OFF duration phase based ON a higher layer signaling indication; and the timer is configured based on higher layer signaling and the timer is configured for the wireless communication device and the wireless communication device switches from active BWP to default BWP in response to expiration of the timer;

wherein the timer runs during an ON duration phase; the timer pauses during the OFF duration phase according to the relationship; and the timer continues to run during the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle until the timer expires.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the timer runs during both the ON duration phase and the OFF duration phase until the timer expires; and

The timer operates slower during the OFF duration period than during the ON duration period according to the relationship.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

the first operating speed of the timer during the ON duration phase is a multiple of the second operating speed of the timer during the OFF duration phase, wherein the multiple is indicated based ON higher layer signaling.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the DRX cycle includes an ON duration phase and an OFF duration phase indicated based ON an activation signal, wherein the activation signal includes at least one of: a wake-up signal WUS and a first layer L1 signal; and

the timer is configured for the wireless communication device and the wireless communication device switches from an active BWP to a default BWP in response to expiration of the timer.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein:

the timer is run during an ON duration phase;

the timer pauses during the OFF duration phase according to the relationship; and

the timer continues to run during the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle until the timer expires.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein:

the wireless communication device is informed to switch from the OFF duration phase to the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle in case the wireless communication device detects the activation signal ON an active BWP during the OFF duration phase.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein:

the timer is run during the ON duration phase; and

according to the relationship, the timer is forced to expire in response to a switch of the wireless communication device from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

in case the wireless communication device detects the activation signal ON a default BWP during the OFF duration phase, the wireless communication device is informed to switch from the OFF duration phase to the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle.

9. The method according to claim 4, wherein:

the timer is run during the ON duration phase;

responsive to a switch of the wireless communication device from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase, notifying the wireless communication device of a switch from the active BWP to a dedicated BWP according to the relationship; and

The dedicated BWP contains fewer resource blocks than the default BWP.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein:

in case the wireless communication device detects the activation signal ON a dedicated BWP during the OFF duration phase, the wireless communication device is informed to switch from the OFF duration phase to an ON duration phase of a next DRX cycle.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein:

the timer continues to run during the OFF duration phase;

at the beginning of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle, the wireless communication device is ON a default BWP in response to expiration of the timer of the OFF duration phase; and

when starting during the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle, the wireless communication device is ON active BWP when the timer has not expired during the OFF duration phase.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein:

the timer is forced to expire in response to the switching of the wireless communication device from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein:

at the beginning of the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle, the wireless communication device is ON a default BWP; and

the timer will restart from the active BWP first in the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle.

14. The method according to claim 4, wherein:

the timer is run during the ON duration phase; and

informing the wireless communication device to detect the activation signal on an active BWP before expiration of the timer and to detect the activation signal on a default BWP after expiration of the timer during the OFF duration phase according to the relation.

15. A method performed by a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

determining, for the wireless communication device, a configuration for discontinuous reception, DRX, and a configuration adapted to a bandwidth portion, BWP, of the wireless communication device; and

wherein, in response to expiration of the timer, and switching from an active BWP to a default BWP based ON higher layer signaling, wherein the DRX cycle comprises an ON duration phase and an OFF duration phase based ON higher layer signaling indications from the wireless communication node;

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein:

the timer operates slower during the OFF duration phase than during the ON duration phase according to the relationship.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein:

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

switching from an active BWP to a default BWP in response to expiration of the timer, wherein the DRX cycle comprises an ON duration phase and an OFF duration phase indicated based ON an activation signal, wherein the activation signal comprises at least one of: a wake-up signal WUS and a first layer L1 signal from a wireless communication node.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein:

the timer is run during an ON duration phase;

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

detecting the activation signal on active BWP during the OFF duration phase; and

based ON the activation signal, switching from the OFF duration phase to the ON duration phase of the next DRX cycle.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein:

the timer is run during the ON duration phase; and

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein:

during the OFF duration phase, detecting the activation signal on a default BWP; and

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

based ON the relationship, in response to a switch of the wireless communication device from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase, switch from an active BWP to a dedicated BWP, wherein the dedicated BWP comprises fewer resource blocks than the resource blocks comprised in the default BWP.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

detecting the activation signal on the dedicated BWP during the OFF duration phase; and

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein:

the timer is run during the ON duration phase;

the timer continues to run during the OFF duration phase;

26. The method according to claim 23, wherein:

the timer is forced to expire in response to a switching of the wireless communication device from the ON duration phase to the OFF duration phase.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein:

28. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

based ON the relationship, the activation signal during the OFF duration phase is detected by an active BWP before expiration of the timer and a default BWP after expiration of the timer, wherein the timer runs during the ON duration phase.

29. A wireless communication node comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory has stored therein a computer program, the processor being arranged to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 14 by means of the computer program.

30. A wireless communication device comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory has stored therein a computer program, the processor being arranged to perform the method of any of claims 15 to 28 by means of the computer program.

31. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 28.