WO2022155595A1 - Enhanced active time power saving for user equipment devices - Google Patents

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to adapting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring time of user equipment. A user equipment device detect downlink control information (DCI) received from a radio node B device during an active time for the user equipment device to monitor the PDCCH for a downlink transmission; determine, based on a field included in the DCI, that the user equipment device is to monitor the PDCCH during a first time period during the active time; determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to reduce monitoring of the PDCCH during a second time period during the active time; detect a downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI received using the PDCCH during the first time period based on the monitoring; and reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period.

Description

ENHANCED ACTIVE TIME POWER SAVING FOR USER EQUIPMENT DEVICES

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/138,709, filed January 18, 2021, and of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/139,659, filed January 20, 2021, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference as set forth in full.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wireless communications and, more particularly, to user equipment power saving in 5^th Generation (5G) and 6^th Generation (6G) communications.

BACKGROUND

Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasingly using wireless channels. The 3^rd Generation Partnership Program (3 GPP) is developing one or more standards for wireless communications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example process for active time power saving, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process for active time power saving, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a wireless network, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating components, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithm, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims. For cellular telecommunications, the 3^rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) define communication techniques, including for saving power of user equipment (UE) devices. The 3GPP standards define an active time when a UE may monitor for a possible physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission from a network (e.g., from a 5^th or 6^th Generation radio node B (gNB)). In particular, when a UE is configured with a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode, the UE may monitor for a PDCCH transmission discontinuously (e.g., active and inactive times) based on a DRX cycle (e.g., as defined by Section 5.7 of TS 38.321).

A PDCCH may carry control information for a UE. The control information may include, for example, the time and frequency at which to identify and decode other downlink transmissions, such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, and time and frequency at which to encode and send uplink transmissions, such as a physical uplink shared control channel (PUSCH) transmission. The UE may identify the control information by monitoring a control resource set (CORESET) during a designated monitoring occasion (e.g., an active time for PDCCH monitoring). For example, the UE may use blind decoding in a candidate set of a configured search space (SS). An SS set may include multiple PDCCH candidates (e.g., candidate sets), and a PDCCH candidate may include one or more control channel elements (CCEs) that the UE may map to one or more resource element groups (REGs), which correspond to particular symbols.

A UE may be configured to receive a wake up signal (WUS) in a PDCCH outside of an active time when the UE is operating in DRX mode. The WUS may indicate whether to start a drx-onDurationTimer for the next DRX cycle (e.g., whether the UE should wake up for the next DRX cycle, as not every DRX cycle may include a PDCCH transmission for the UE to receive). In this manner, the drx-onDurationTimer may represent an example of active time (e.g., a time during a DRX cycle when the UE monitors for a possible PDCCH transmission). In general, active time may refer to the time during which the UE may be scheduled by the network to receive a PDCCH transmission.

A UE may monitor for a PDCCH transmission outside of an active time, but such a time period may not be scheduled and therefore is not considered active time. WUS signalling outside of active time, or scheduling DCI (e.g., a DCI used to schedule uplink transmissions from one or more UEs) during active time, received in one serving cell such as a primary cell (PCell - the cell of the UE operating in the primary frequency), may indicate to the UE to transition from a dormancy state to a non-dormancy state, or vice versa, for one or more of the other activated carrier or serving sells (e.g., secondary cells - SCells - the cells of the UE operating in one or more secondary frequencies). Dormancy may imply that the UE sparsely monitors or does not monitor PDCCH in a given SCell, and may sparsely monitor reference signals for measurements. A dormant bandwidth part (BWP) may refer to a BWP where a UE follows such activity in an SCell.

Energy efficiency is of paramount importance for operation of 5G/NR (New Release) UEs, which may have a diverse range of supported applications compared to LTE devices. In particular, energy consumption should be low when no data is expected/received by the UE. Traffic patterns in many 5G use cases can be bursty and served in short durations. A dynamic UE transition between PDCCH monitoring state and sleep state may be implemented when a UE skips PDCCH monitoring, or reduced PDCCH monitoring may facilitate improved UE power consumption. In particular, control channel monitoring in RRC_connected (radio resource control) mode that does not result in any data transmission may contribute to a significant portion of UE power consumption. Therefore, some network assistance mechanisms can be used to reduce unnecessary PDCCH monitoring operations and trigger the UE to sleep or reduce PDCCH monitoring whenever possible.

UE devices may conserve more power using enhanced power saving during active time monitoring for a PDCCH.

In one or more embodiments, the present disclosure may provide control channel signaling techniques in which a UE is instructed to transition from frequent PDCCH monitoring activity to reduced, sparse, and/or no PDCCH monitoring activity. In particular, the present disclosure may provide mechanisms for PDCCH monitoring reduction in a connected mode during active time, such as search space (SS) set group switching and PDCCH skipping, indicated by different downlink control information (DCI) formats. The present disclosure also may provide techniques for how such an indication may be considered jointly with SCell dormancy indications (e.g., indications of when SCells are dormant - inactive).

In one or more embodiments, the present disclosure may assume use of an RRC connected mode UE (e.g., a UE may be receiving transmissions from one or more cells). Unless otherwise mentioned, the present disclosure can be applicable to frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), flexible duplex, licensed or unlicensed spectrum, below or above 6GHz bands, operation in a BWP based on a given numerology. Any duration or period assumed here can be expressed in one or more symbols, one or more slots, or a combination thereof. A slot may include 14 symbols, although other lengths are possible too, such as 7 symbols. A sub-slot or mini-slot may include a number of symbols less than a slot, such as 2, 4, or 7 symbols. The numerology of the BWP in which a UE is operating can be one of ƒ_n = ƒ₀ * 2ⁿ, where n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 etc. and ƒ₀ can be 15kHz. A resource block (RB) may include 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain, for example.

In one or more embodiments, when a DRX mode is configured for a UE, the active time may include a time while: (1) drx-onDurationTimer, drx-InactivityTimer (e.g., when a scheduling DCI, or grant, is received from the network to schedule a PDCCH transmission, the UE may start this timer), drx-RetransmissionTimerDL, drx-RetransmissionTimerUL, or ra- ContentionResolutionTimer is running, (2) a scheduling request is sent on PUCCH and is pending, or (3) a PDCCH indicating a new transmission addressed to the cell radio network temporary identity (C-RNTI) of the medium access control (MAC) entity has not been received after successful reception of a random access response from the random access preamble not selected by the MAC entity among the contention-based random access preamble.

In one or more embodiments, higher-layer signaling may include RRC signaling, MAC control element (MAC-CE) signaling, and the like (e.g., higher than the physical layer of the communication stack), which may be UE-specific, group-specific, or cell-specific. A sleep state may refer to the state when the UE stops PDCCH monitoring activity, may reduce PDCCH monitoring activity (e.g., sparse PDCCH monitoring), may skip PDCCH monitoring with or without (e.g., relaxed/reduced) monitoring of reference signals for measurements or a dormancy state in the serving cell. The scheduling DCI format may include 0_1, 0_1, 1_0, 1_1, 1_2, 0_2 (e.g., as defined by TS 38.212).

In one or more embodiments, the active time of PDCCH monitoring may be reduced. The enhancements herein also may apply to a situation when a UE is monitoring for scheduling DCIs, but not configured with DRX mode. Unless otherwise stated, the enhancements for PDCCH monitoring reduction may be applied to any UE that supports the enhancements. The UE may report capability signaling in support of the enhancements described herein.

A control resource set (CORESET) is a set of physical resources and parameters used to carry a PDCCH/DCI transmission. A search space is in area within a CORESET for a UE to monitor to detect a PDCCH/DCI transmission. A search space (SS) set group, or SSSG, may include one or more searching spaces. A searching space may include one or more PDCCH monitoring occasions with a same or different periodicities. In this manner, different SSSGs may have different periodicities.

In one or more embodiments, the UE may be provided with a higher-layer parameter, which may enable SS set switching, such as by a scheduling DCI format and/or the scheduling DCI format may include a field to indicate SS set switching in one or more of: PCell, or one or more of activated SCells. SS set switching implies, based on the trigger provided in the DCI, that the UE starts monitoring PDCCH in one or more SS set groups (e.g., after an application delay following the slot where a DCI indication is received), and stops PDCCH monitoring based on one or more SS set groups (e.g., from a next slot after receiving the DCI indication). Two SS set groups may or may not have a common SS set. For example, the SS set groups that the UE starts to monitor, and the SS sets groups that the UE stops monitoring, may have one or more common SS sets depending on network implementation. The scheduling DCI format may or may not schedule data when the scheduling DCI indicates an SS set switching trigger. In this manner, by configuring SS sets using frequent and sparse monitoring occasions, some power savings may be achieved for the UE. For example, when the network determines that the UE may not receive frequent PDCCH scheduling, the network may switch the UE from a SS set with a shorter periodicity to a SS set with a more sparse periodicity (e.g., sparse PDCCH monitoring). A UE may be configured to use up to three SS sets, so a mechanism for indicating to the UE when to switch from one or more SS sets to another SS set may be beneficial.

In one or more embodiments, an SCell dormancy indication field, when present in a scheduling DCI, a scheduling DCI format such as 0_1, 1_1 may be used or extended to include an indication for SS set switching at least in a serving cell such as PCell or in the cell with which the scheduling DCI is received by the UE. The SCell dormancy indication field may be referred to as a power saving indication field, or a dormancy indication field, because the field may include an indication for PCell as well as for one or more activated SCells. In Release 16, the SCell dormancy indication field, if present in the DCI format, may include a bitmap with size equal to a number of groups such as X, where each group may include one or more configured SCells, provided by a higher-layer parameter, and each bit of the bitmap may correspond to a group among the number of groups configured. In one option, at least one bit among the number of bits configured for the dormancy indication field may be used to indicate whether to use a first group of SS sets or a second group of SS sets for PDCCH monitoring (or to switch from one or more SS sets to one or more other SS sets), at least in PCell or in the cell in which the scheduling DCI is received by the UE. For example, one bit may be used to indicate the corresponding PCell or cell in which the scheduling DCI is received, whereas the other bits of the bitmap may be used for the groups including one or more activated SCells. In one or more embodiments, SS set switching may apply only to PCell or to the cell in which the DCI is received, and other activated SCells may follow dormancy to non-dormancy (and vice versa) transitions based on the bitmap (e.g., according to Section 10.3, TS 38213 of Release 16). Alternatively, SS set switching may apply to one or more of the groups of activated SCells along with the PCell or in the cell in which the DCI is received. One or more higher-layer parameters may be provided to the UE to identify whether to assume SS set switching behavior applies to one or more of: PCell or in the cell in which the DCI is received, or one or more of the groups of activated SCells.

In one or more embodiments, one or more of the following UE behavior may be applicable in the PCell or in the cell in which the DCI is received based on the status of the corresponding bit in the field. When indicated by a higher layer, the following may be applied to groups of activated SCells associated with the bitmap: (1) if the UE is not monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, the UE starts monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, and stops monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, on the serving cell at a first slot that is after an application delay after the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the scheduling DCI, if a value of the bit is 0. In one example, when the UE is monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, UE may camp on the non-dormant BWP in the corresponding cell. Alternatively, UE may camp on the dormant BWP in the corresponding cell or may not change BWP from the BWP where the DCI is received. If the UE is not monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, the UE monitors PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, and stops monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, on the serving cell at a first slot following an application delay after the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the scheduling DCI, if a value of the bit is 1. If a timer is configured, UE may set the timer value to the configured value and decrements by 1 after each slot in the active BWP where the PDCCH carrying the scheduling DCI was received. In one example, when the UE is monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, UE may camp on the dormant BWP in the corresponding cell. Alternatively, UE may camp on the nondormant BWP in the corresponding cell or may not change BWP from the BWP where the DCI is received. If the UE monitors PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, the UE starts monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, and stops monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, on the serving cell at the beginning of the first slot following an application delay after a slot where the timer expires. In one example, when the UE is monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, UE may camp on the non-dormant BWP in the corresponding cell. Alternatively, UE may camp on the dormant BWP in the corresponding cell or may not change BWP from the BWP where the DCI is received.

In one or more embodiments, the application delay to identify the slot where switching takes effect can be expressed in P symbols or slots, in a given numerology. Moreover, scheduling DCI format 0_2 and/or 1_2 can also be used for such indication. In one example, first SS Set group maybe the default group where UE performs regular/frequent PDCCH monitoring, whereas second SS Set group may have longer periodicity or may include sparse or optionally no PDCCH monitoring, or vice versa.

In one or more embodiments, a UE may switch only between two SS Set groups. In order to have more flexibility to allow the options of multiple SS Set groups, in one option, more than one bit (e.g., either indicated via one or multiple fields in the DCI) can be considered for indication for the PCell or the cell where DCI was received to identify which SS Set group to use subsequent to receiving the DCI providing the indication. In an example, a dormancy indication field in the DCI may indicate a SS Set switching trigger (e.g., indicates the UE whether to change current SS Set group), and the index of the SS Set group that UE would switch to is provided by another field in the DCI, such as another existing field, can be reinterpreted or repurposed to identify the SS Set group ID. For example, a BWP indicator field in the DCI can be reinterpreted to identify SS Set group ID for subsequent PDCCH monitoring. In an option, a mapping can be considered depending on which SS Set group UE is currently monitoring, where the mapping can be provided by higher layer signaling. Table 1 below shows an example for 2-bit indication for SS Set switching, where the 2 bits can be indicated via one or multiple fields.

Table 1: Identification of SS Set Group Index Based on Bit-Field Indication and Current Group Index:

In one or more embodiments, an N-bit field can be separately configured for indication of SS Set switching in the PCell or in the cell where the scheduling DCI is received from the SCell dormancy indication field. The UE may camp on the indicated downlink (DL) BWP for monitoring PDCCH according to the indicated SS Set group. For example, if N = 1 bit, the UE behavior that can be applied in the PCell or in the cell where the scheduling DCI is received based on the status of the bit can be same as described above in the example where indication is provided via dormancy indication field. If N > 1 bits, then the possible options are: (1) an N-bit bitmap can be used where the size corresponds to the number of SS Set groups configured. Each bit may correspond to one SS Set group, including one or more SS Sets where the mapping is configured by a higher layer. A bit status "1" may imply that the UE may subsequently (e.g., possibly after an application delay as discussed above) monitor PDCCH based on the corresponding SS Set group, and bit status "0" may imply that the UE may stop monitoring PDCCH based on the corresponding SS Set group if it has been monitoring that SS Set group when the scheduling DCI is received. In this option, UE can actively monitor PDCCH according to multiple SS Set groups; or (2) an N-bit field is used where each DCI code point may point to one of the possible/up to 2^N SS Set groups that can be configured/mapped to each code point or combination of bits. In this option, UE can only monitor PDCCH based on one SS Set group that the code point in the bit field corresponds to. In Table 1, an example is shown for N = 2.

In one or more embodiments, a group-common (GC) DCI format such as DCI format 2_6 can be monitored during active time where in a N-bit UE specific field, SS Set switching trigger can be provided. The description of the example of N-bit field indication in a scheduling DCI stated above can also be applicable here (e.g., an N-bit indication can be provided either in a GC-DCI or a scheduling DCI format).

In one or more embodiments, one or more of the existing fields in the scheduling DCI can be reinterpreted or repurposed to indicate SS Set switching trigger for PCell or the cell where the DCI is received and/or one or more of activated SCells. For example, a combination of some bit values in one or more fields may indicate the DCI is providing SS Set switching trigger in at least PCell or the cell where the DCI was received and/or in one or more of the activated SCells, with or without scheduling data. In one option of the example, if a UE is provided search space sets to monitor PDCCH for detection of DCI format 1_1, and if (1) the CRC of DCI format 1_1 is scrambled by a C-RNTI or a modulation coding scheme (MCS)-C- RNTI, and if (2) resourceAllocation = resourceAllocationTypeO and all bits of the frequency domain resource assignment field in DCI format 1 1 are equal to 0, or (3) resourceAllocation = resourceAllocationTypel and all bits of the frequency domain resource assignment field in DCI format 1_1 are equal to 1, or (4) resourceAllocation = dynamicSwitch and all bits of the frequency domain resource assignment field in DCI format 1_1 are equal to 0 or 1, the UE considers the DCI format 1_1 as indicating one of: 1) SS Set switching at least in PCell or in the cell where the DCI is received and/or dormancy for the activated SCells, 2) SS Set switching at least in PCell or in the cell where the DCI is received as well as in one or more of activated SCells and if for one or more of the activated SCells, SS Set switching does not apply it is assumed that dormancy indication applies in those Cells according to Rel-16 SCell dormancy indication (e.g., Section 10, TS 38.213), and not scheduling a PDSCH reception or indicating a SPS PDSCH release, and for transport block 1 interprets the sequence of fields of MCS, new data indicator, redundancy version, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number, antenna port(s), and demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence initialization as providing a bitmap to PCell or the cell where DCI is received and the each configured SCell, in an ascending order of the SCell index.

In one or more embodiments, the following applies if SS Set switching is applied to the corresponding cell: if the UE is not monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, the UE starts monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, and stops monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, on the serving cell at a first slot that is after an application delay after the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the scheduling DCI, if a value of the bit is 0. In one example, when the UE is monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, UE may camp on the nondormant BWP in the corresponding cell. Alternatively, the UE may camp on the dormant BWP in the corresponding cell or may not change BWP from the BWP where the DCI is received.

In one or more embodiments, the following applies if SS Set switching is applied to the corresponding cell: if the UE is not monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, the UE monitors PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, and stops monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, on the serving cell at a first slot following an application delay after the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the scheduling DCI, if a value of the bit is 1. If a timer is configured, the UE may set the timer value to the configured value and decrements by 1 after each slot in the active BWP where the PDCCH carrying the scheduling DCI was received. In one example, when the UE is monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, the UE may camp on the dormant BWP in the corresponding cell. Alternatively, UE may camp on the non-dormant BWP in the corresponding cell or may not change BWP from the BWP where the DCI is received.

In one or more embodiments, the following applies if SS Set switching is applied to the corresponding cell: if the UE monitors PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, the UE starts monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, and stops monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with second group, on the serving cell at the beginning of the first slot following an application delay after a slot where the timer expires. In one example, when the UE is monitoring PDCCH according to SS sets associated with first group, UE may camp on the non-dormant BWP in the corresponding cell. Alternatively, UE may camp on the dormant BWP in the corresponding cell or may not change BWP from the BWP where the DCI is received.

In one or more embodiments, the following applies if SS Set switching is applied to the corresponding cell: the application delay to identify the slot where switching takes effect can be expressed in P symbols or slots, in a given numerology.

In one or more embodiments, the following applies if SCell dormancy is applied to the corresponding cell: (1) a '0' value for a bit of the bitmap indicates an active DL BWP, provided by dormant-BWP, for the UE for a corresponding activated SCell; (2) a '1' value for a bit of the bitmap indicates: (a) an active DL BWP, provided by first-non-dormant-BWP-ID-for-DCI- inside-active-time, for the UE for a corresponding activated SCell, if a current active DL BWP is the dormant DL BWP; (b) a current active DL BWP, for the UE for a corresponding activated SCell, if the current active DL BWP is not the dormant DL BWP; and (3) the UE sets the active DL BWP to the indicated active DL BWP.

In one or more embodiments, more than one bit may be considered for an indication of the PCell or the cell in which the DCI is received.

In one or more embodiments, a scheduling or GC-DCI format may not only indicate SS Set switching trigger, but may also include a duration, where the duration indicates for how long the UE would monitor based on the indicated SS Set group. In one example, after the duration ends, UE may fall back to the SS Set group that the UE was monitoring when the UE received the DCI. For example, an N-bit field can be considered for providing SS Set switching trigger with dynamic indication of a duration. In Rel-16, a semi-static timer was considered, however, a dynamic indication of duration maybe more flexible in terms of adaptation to different traffic types. For example, the indication may apply to one or more of: PCell or the cell where DCI is received, one or more of the activated SCells or SCell groups. In one option, for each PCell or SCell or SCell groups, Kbit can be considered, K ≥ 1. As an example, if indication is for PCell or the cell where DCI is received, N = K = 2 bit can be considered, where 1 bit is used to provide SS Set group indication, and the other bit can be used for dynamic duration indication. The duration may not be same as the duration that can be configured as part of the SS Set definition (e.g., TS 38.213). Here, duration may potentially include multiple periodic occasions. In an example, the duration indication may be configured for both or one of the SS set groups. After the indicated duration for a SS set group, the UE may be expected to fall back to the other (e.g., effectively the default) SS set group. Depending on traffic profile, the SS set group with the duration indication could be either for the "sparse monitoring group" or the "frequent monitoring group", and this mechanism can avoid need for switching commands both ways (SS set group 1 to 2 and vice versa). The values of durations for dynamic selection via DCI can be configured by higher layer signaling or captured in specification. For example, duration maybe indicated when UE switches to a SS Set group comprising sparse PDCCH monitoring or longer periodicity, and upon expiry of the duration, UE switches back to default SS Set group where UE performs regular/frequent PDCCH monitoring. In one example, when the UE receives SS Set switching trigger by DCI to switch to default SS Set group from SS Set group with longer periodicity, the duration indication may not apply and UE stays in default SS set group until another SS Set switching trigger by DCI is received. In one example, indication for duration and indication for SS Set switching may be conveyed in same or via multiple fields in the DCI, where new field(s) can be considered and/or one or more of the existing fields can be repurposed or reinterpreted for identifying duration and/or SS Set switching information. TS 38.212 describes the list of fields in UE specific such as scheduling DCI formats 0_1/1_1/0_2/1_2 and Group common DCI formats such as 2_0, which are assumed to be included here as examples of possible fields that can be reinterpreted or repurposed for the indication(s).

In one or more embodiments, an SCell dormancy indication field (a feature that was introduced in Rel-16), if present, in a scheduling DCI format such as 0_1, 1_1 can be used or extended to include an indication for PDCCH skipping at least in serving cell such as PCell or in the Cell where the scheduling DCI is received. In this case, the field maybe referred to as power saving indication field or just dormancy indication field, since the field may include indication for PCell as well as for one or more activated SCells. In Rel-16, the SCell dormancy indication field, if present in the DCI format, includes a bitmap with size equal to a number of groups such as X, where each group includes one or more configured SCells, provided by a higher layer parameter and each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a group among the number of groups configured. As one option of the example, at least one bit among the number of bits configured for the dormancy indication field can be used to indicate PDCCH skipping duration at least in PCell or in the Cell where the scheduling DCI is received. Such as 1 bit can be used for indication of two possible skipping duration, configured by higher layer signaling, for the PCell or for the Cell where the scheduling DCI is received whereas the other bits can be used for the groups comprising one or more activated SCells. In one example, another field can be used or reinterpreted to identify whether the scheduling DCI is indicating PDCCH skipping in PCell or in the serving Cell. If PDCCH skipping is indicated, then in the same field or via the extension of SCell dormancy indication field, PDCCH skipping duration can be indicated. For example, BWP indicator field can be used to identify whether the scheduling DCI is indicating PDCCH skipping or not. If a configured BWP ID such as a dormant BWP in the serving cell or PCell is indicated, then a UE would identify that it would perform PDCCH skipping. Then, another field such as SCell dormancy indication field or same field can be used to indicate skipping duration. Alternatively, dormancy indication field can be used to indicate whether to perform PDCCH skipping in the PCell or serving cell (e.g., if 1 is indicated), UE would perform PDCCH skipping and if 0 is indicated, UE would continue to monitor PDCCH as before, or vice versa. Another field in the scheduling DCI may be used or reinterpreted to indicate PDCCH skipping duration, such as BWP indication field can be used or reinterpreted for identifying PDCCH skipping duration. In such a case once the UE identifies that PDCCH skipping is triggered, UE may disregard the BWP indication for identifying new BWP, instead use this field for identifying PDCCH skipping duration. In such as case, PDCCH skipping only applies to current active DL BWP. A UE may expect that the scheduling DCI would not change active DL BWP if the DCI includes an assignment for PDSCH.

In one or more embodiments, PDCCH skipping may apply only to PCell or in the cell where the DCI is received and other activated SCells follow dormancy to non-dormancy (and vice versa) transitions based on the bitmap, according to Rel-16 procedures (e.g., Section 10.3, TS 38.213). Alternatively, PDCCH skipping may apply to one or more of the groups of activated SCells along with the PCell or in the cell where the DCI is received. One or more higher layer parameters can be provided to the UE to identify whether to assume PDCCH skipping behavior applies to one or more of: PCell or in the cell where the DCI is received, or one or more of the groups of activated SCells. In one or more embodiments, if a UE is operating with DRX mode and if the UE receives SS Set switching trigger in a DCI and indicated to switch to a SS Set group comprising long periodicity or sparse PDCCH monitoring UE may monitor PDCCH according to the indicated SS Set group until the end of active time in the current DRX cycle.

In one or more embodiments, if a field in the DL scheduling DCI such as 1_1 indicates PDCCH skipping or SS Set switching, and if the scheduling DCI format includes an assignment, then UE may camp on the indicated DL BWP provided by the DCI, if BWP indication field exists. In such as case, the PDCCH skipping or switched SS Set group will be monitored in the new BWP. Alternatively, if the DCI indicates PDCCH skipping or SS Set switching, a UE may ignore the BWP indication field and stay in a current active DL BWP, or expects the network would not change active DL BWP. In this case, a UE would not expect network to switch BWP as part of the scheduling assignment when PDCCH skipping or SS Set switching trigger is provided. The latter may be applicable if PDCCH skipping or SS Set switching trigger is only applicable to a current active DL BWP. In an option, different SS Set groups or different PDCCH skipping durations or configurations are provided per a DL BWP.

The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., may exist, some of which are described in greater detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example process 100 for active time power saving, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, the process 100 may include a gNB 102 communicating with a UE 104. The gNB 102 may generate and send DCI 106 (e.g., a scheduling DCI) to the UE 104 during an active time 110 during which the UE 104 is to monitor a PDCCH (e.g., for a downlink transmission). During the active time 110, the UE 104 is to monitor a PDCCH continuously for a downlink transmission. In this manner, the active time 110 may represent a time period that includes transmission and reception of the DCI 106. The DCI 106 may include a new field - a PDCCH skipping indication field 108 (e.g., a field that is added to or repurposed from existing fields of the DCI as defined by TS 38.212) - which may indicate a portion of the active time 110 when the UE 104 is to reduce its PDCCH monitoring (e.g., to sparse or none), and/or when the UE 104 is to switch monitoring from one SS set to another SS set. In particular, SS set switching implies, based on the PDCCH skipping indication field 108 provided in the DCI 106, that the UE 104 starts monitoring the PDCCH in one or more SS set groups, and stops PDCCH monitoring based on one or more SS set groups (e.g., from a next slot after receiving the PDCCH skipping indication field 108). As shown, the PDCCH skipping indication field 108 may include an indication of a duration of PDCCH monitoring time 112 (e.g., during which the UE 104 is to continue to monitor during the active time 110 for a PDSCH transmission 116 subsequent to the DCI 106 and/or for another downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI 106) and/or an indication of PDCCH skipping and/or SS switching 114 (e.g., representing a time during the active time 110 when the UE 104 is to stop PDCCH monitoring - PDCCH skipping - and/or when the UE 104 is to stop monitoring one or more SS sets and begin monitoring one or more other SS sets - continue monitoring the PDCCH, but using different parameters). The time delay between the DCI 106 and the indication of PDCCH skipping and/or SS switching 114 may represent the time prior to the UE 104 reducing its PDCCH monitoring. In this manner, the PDCCH skipping indication field 108 may provide a portion of the active time 110 - the scheduled time for the UE 104 to monitor a PDCCH for a downlink transmission - when the UE 104 may monitor less frequently and/or may switch its monitoring from one or more SS sets being monitored (e.g., during the PDCCH monitoring time 112) to one or more SS sets not being monitored. For example, Table 1 shows example SS switching that may be indicated by the PDCCH skipping indication field 108.

Still referring to FIG. 1, the DCI 106 also may include, optionally, an SCell dormancy indication field 120. When the SCell dormancy indication field 120 is present in the DCI 106, a scheduling DCI format such as 0_1, 1_1 may be used or extended to include an indication to the UE 104 for SS set switching at least in a serving cell such as PCell or in the cell with which the DCI 106 is received by the UE 104. The SCell dormancy indication field 120 may be referred to as a power saving indication field, or a dormancy indication field, because the field may include an indication for PCell as well as for one or more activated SCells. The SCell dormancy indication field 120, if present in the DCI format, may include a bitmap with size equal to a number of groups such as X, where each group may include one or more configured SCells, provided by a higher-layer parameter, and each bit of the bitmap may correspond to a group among the number of groups configured. In one option, at least one bit among the number of bits configured for the dormancy indication field may be used to indicate whether to use a first group of SS sets or a second group of SS sets for PDCCH monitoring, at least in PCell or in the cell in which the scheduling DCI is received by the UE 104. For example, one bit may be used to indicate the corresponding PCell or cell in which the scheduling DCI is received, whereas the other bits of the bitmap may be used for the groups including one or more activated SCells.

Any of the gNB 102 and the UE 104 of FIG. 1 may include one or more communications antennas. The one or more communications antennas may be any suitable type of antennas corresponding to the communications protocols used by the gNB 102 and the UE 104. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas include 3GPP antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, or the like. The one or more communications antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radio component to transmit and/or receive signals, such as communications signals to and/or from the gNB 102 and the UE 104.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process 200 for active time power saving, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

At block 202, a UE device (e.g., the UE 104 of FIG. 1, the UE 302 of FIG. 3) may detect DCI (e.g., the DCI 106 of FIG. 1) received from a gNB (e.g., the gNB 102 of FIG. 1). The gNB may generate (e.g., encode) and send the DCI to the UE during the UE’s active time (e.g., part of a DRX cycle). The DCI may include uplink scheduling information for at least the UE device. The DCI also may include an indication of an active time (e.g., the active time 110 for PDCCH monitoring of FIG. 1) during which the UE device is to monitor the PDCCH for a subsequent DL transmission (e.g., the PDSCH 116 of FIG. 1). To reduce the time when the UE device is to monitor for the PDCCH transmission during the active time, the DCI also may include a field with a one-bit or two-bit indication (e.g., a code point indication) that indicates one or more time periods during the active time when the UE device may reduce PDCCH monitoring (e.g., stop monitoring the PDCCH or monitor the PDCCH more intermittently). The field may indicate one or more SS set groups to stop monitoring and one or more SS set groups to begin monitoring during the one or more time periods. In this manner, the PDCCH monitoring may be reduced, saving power at the UE.

At block 204, the UE device may detect the portion of the active time (e.g., a first time period) when the UE device may actively monitor the PDCCH for a downlink transmission from the gNB. At block 206, the UE device may detect the portion of the active time (e.g., a second time period, as indicated by the field described at block 202) when the UE device may reduce PDCCH monitoring. Blocks 204 and 206 may be implemented in any order (e.g., the PDCCH monitoring time 112 and the PDCCH skipping/SS switching 114 of FIG. 1 may be in any order), and there may be multiple interspersed times of more active and less active PDCCH monitoring during the active time to allow for at least a portion of the active time to use reduced PDCCH monitoring, resulting in UE power saving.

At block 208, the UE device may detect the downlink transmission (e.g., the PDSCH 116 of FIG. 1) subsequent to the DCI during the first time when the UE device is to be monitoring the PDCCH at the non-reduced rate indicated by the DCI. The gNB may send the downlink transmission to the UE during the portion of time during the active time as indicated by the DCI.

At block 210, the UE device may initiate the reduced PDCCH monitoring during the second time period based on the data in the DCI. Blocks 206 and 210 may occur in any order based on the more active and reduced PDCCH monitoring provided by the DCI.

The examples herein are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network 300 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 300 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like.

The network 300 may include a UE 302, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 304 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 302 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 304 by a Uu interface. The UE 302 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine -type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

In some embodiments, the network 300 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc. In some embodiments, the UE 302 may additionally communicate with an AP 306 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 306 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 304. The connection between the UE 302 and the AP 306 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 306 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 302, RAN 304, and AP 306 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 302 being configured by the RAN 304 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

The RAN 304 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 308. AN 308 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 302 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and LI protocols. In this manner, the AN 308 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 320 and the UE 302. In some embodiments, the AN 308 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 308 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 308 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In embodiments in which the RAN 304 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 304 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 304 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

The ANs of the RAN 304 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 302 with an air interface for network access. The UE 302 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 304. For example, the UE 302 and RAN 304 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 302 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc. The RAN 304 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells/Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

In V2X scenarios the UE 302 or AN 308 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU"; an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU"; a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU"; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

In some embodiments, the RAN 304 may be an LTE RAN 310 with eNBs, for example, eNB 312. The LTE RAN 310 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSL RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands.

In some embodiments, the RAN 304 may be an NG-RAN 314 with gNBs, for example, gNB 316, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 318. The gNB 316 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 316 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 318 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 316 and the ng-eNB 318 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.

In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 314 and a UPF 348 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN314 and an AMF 344 (e.g., N2 interface).

The NG-RAN 314 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G- NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH.

In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 302 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 302, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 302 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 302 and in some cases at the gNB 316. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.

The RAN 304 is communicatively coupled to CN 320 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (for example, users of UE 302). The components of the CN 320 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 320 onto physical compute/storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 320 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 320 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. In some embodiments, the CN 320 may be an LTE CN 322, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 322 may include MME 324, SGW 326, SGSN 328, HSS 330, PGW 332, and PCRF 334 coupled with one another over interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 322 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The MME 324 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 302 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

The SGW 326 may terminate an SI interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 322. The SGW 326 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter- RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3 GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

The SGSN 328 may track a location of the UE 302 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 328 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 324; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 324 and the SGSN 328 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle/active states.

The HSS 330 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions. The HSS 330 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 330 and the MME 324 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 320.

The PGW 332 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 336 that may include an application/content server 338. The PGW 332 may route data packets between the LTE CN 322 and the data network 336. The PGW 332 may be coupled with the SGW 326 by an S 5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 332 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 332 and the data network 3 36 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 332 may be coupled with a PCRF 334 via a Gx reference point. The PCRF 334 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 322. The PCRF 334 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 338 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 332 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.

In some embodiments, the CN 320 may be a 5 GC 340. The 5GC 340 may include an AUSF 342, AMF 344, SMF 346, UPF 348, NSSF 350, NEF 352, NRF 354, PCF 356, UDM 358, and AF 360 coupled with one another over interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 340 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The AUSF 342 may store data for authentication of UE 302 and handle authentication- related functionality. The AUSF 342 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 340 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 342 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.

The AMF 344 may allow other functions of the 5GC 340 to communicate with the UE 302 and the RAN 304 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 302. The AMF 344 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 302), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 344 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 302 and the SMF 346, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 344 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 302 and an SMSF. AMF 344 may interact with the AUSF 342 and the UE 302 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 344 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 304 and the AMF 344; and the AMF 344 may be a termination point of NAS (Nl) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 344 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 302 over an N3 IWF interface.

The SMF 346 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 348 and AN 308); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 348 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 344 over N2 to AN 308; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 302 and the data network 336.

The UPF 348 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 336, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 348 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF-to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 348 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.

The NSSF 350 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 302. The NSSF 350 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 350 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 302, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 354. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 302 may be triggered by the AMF 344 with which the UE 302 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 350, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 350 may interact with the AMF 344 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 350 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

The NEF 352 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 360), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 352 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 352 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 360 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 352 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 352 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 352 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 352 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 352 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface. The NRF 354 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 354 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiation," and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an "instance" may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 354 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 356 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 356 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 358. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 356 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

The UDM 358 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 302. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 358 and the AMF 344. The UDM 358 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 358 and the PCF 356, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 302) for the NEF 352. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 358, PCF 356, and NEF 352 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 358 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

The AF 360 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

In some embodiments, the 5GC 340 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 302 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 340 may select a UPF 348 close to the UE 302 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 348 to data network 336 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 360. In this way, the AF 360 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 360 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 360 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 360 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.

The data network 336 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 338.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a wireless network 400 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 400 may include a UE 402 in wireless communication with an AN 404. The UE 402 and AN 404 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein.

The UE 402 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 404 via connection 406. The connection 406 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies.

The UE 402 may include a host platform 408 coupled with a modem platform 410. The host platform 408 may include application processing circuitry 412, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 414 of the modem platform 410. The application processing circuitry 412 may run various applications for the UE 402 that source/sink application data. The application processing circuitry 412 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations

The protocol processing circuitry 414 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 406. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 414 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.

The modem platform 410 may further include digital baseband circuitry 416 that may implement one or more layer operations that are "below" layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 414 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

The modem platform 410 may further include transmit circuitry 418, receive circuitry 420, RF circuitry 422, and RF front end (RFFE) 424, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 426. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 418 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 420 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 422 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 424 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 418, receive circuitry 420, RF circuitry 422, RFFE 424, and antenna panels 426 (referred generically as "transmit/receive components") may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc.

In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 414 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components.

A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 426, RFFE 424, RF circuitry 422, receive circuitry 420, digital baseband circuitry 416, and protocol processing circuitry 414. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 426 may receive a transmission from the AN 404 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 426.

A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 414, digital baseband circuitry 416, transmit circuitry 418, RF circuitry 422, RFFE 424, and antenna panels 426. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 404 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 426.

Similar to the UE 402, the AN 404 may include a host platform 428 coupled with a modem platform 430. The host platform 428 may include application processing circuitry 432 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 434 of the modem platform 430. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 436, transmit circuitry 438, receive circuitry 440, RF circuitry 442, RFFE circuitry 444, and antenna panels 446. The components of the AN 404 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 402. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of the AN 408 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 5 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 500 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 510, one or more memory/storage devices 520, and one or more communication resources 530, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 540 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 502 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 500.

The processors 510 may include, for example, a processor 512 and a processor 514. The processors 510 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 520 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 520 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 530 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 504 or one or more databases 506 or other network elements via a network 508. For example, the communication resources 530 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

Instructions 550 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 510 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 550 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 510 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 520, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 550 may be transferred to the hardware resources 500 from any combination of the peripheral devices 504 or the databases 506. Accordingly, the memory of processors 510, the memory/storage devices 520, the peripheral devices 504, and the databases 506 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The terms "computing device," "user device," "communication station," "station," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device" and "user equipment" (UE) as used herein refers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be either mobile or stationary.

As used within this document, the term "communicate" is intended to include transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving. This may be particularly useful in claims when describing the organization of data that is being transmitted by one device and received by another, but only the functionality of one of those devices is required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchange of data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive during the exchange) may be described as "communicating," when only the functionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term "communicating" as used herein with respect to a wireless communication signal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/or receiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wireless communication unit, which is capable of communicating a wireless communication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit the wireless communication signal to at least one other wireless communication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receive the wireless communication signal from at least one other wireless communication unit.

As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives "first," "second," "third," etc., to describe a common object, merely indicates that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

The term "access point" (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on- board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non- vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio- video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a personal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a multiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi- standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, a wireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems following one or more wireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi- tone (DMT), Bluetooth®, global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra- wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3 GPP, long term evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and/or networks.

Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed in the attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device and a computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attached claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any combination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims. The subject- matter which can be claimed comprises not only the combinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also any other combination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature or combination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of the embodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of the attached claims.

The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Example 1 may be an apparatus of a user equipment device for adapting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring time, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to: detect downlink control information (DCI) received from a radio node B device during an active time when the user equipment device is monitoring the PDCCH for a downlink transmission; determine, based on a field included in the DCI, that the user equipment device is to continue monitoring the PDCCH during a first time period during the active time; determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to reduce monitoring of the PDCCH during a second time period during the active time; detect a downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI received using the PDCCH during the first time period based on the monitoring; and reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period.

Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period comprises to stop monitoring a first search space of a first group of search spaces during the second time period, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to initiate a second monitoring of a second search space of a second group of search spaces during the second time period; and initiate the second monitoring during the second time period.

Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 2 and/or some other example herein, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period further comprises to stop monitoring a third search space of a third search space group during the second time period.

Example 4 may include the apparatus of examples 2 or 3 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a zero value or a one value, and wherein to determine that the user equipment device is to initiate the second monitoring is based on the one bit indication.

Example 5 may include the apparatus of examples 2 or 3 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication, and wherein to determine that the user equipment device is to initiate the second monitoring is based on the two-bit code point indication.

Example 6 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period comprises to stop monitoring the PDCCH during the second time period.

Example 7 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the second time period is configured by a radio resource control protocol..

Example 8 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a one value, and wherein the one value indicates the second time period.

Example 9 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication of 00, 01, 10, or 11, wherein the 01 indicates a first PDCCH skipping time period, wherein the 10 indicates a second PDCCH skipping time period, wherein the 11 indicates a third PDCCH skipping time period, and wherein the second time period is one of the first PDCCH skipping time period, the second PDCCH skipping time period, or the third PDCCH skipping time period.

Example 10 may include a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause processing circuitry of a user equipment device, upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: detect downlink control information (DCI) received from a radio node B device during an active time for the user equipment device to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a downlink transmission; determine, based on a field included in the DCI, that the user equipment device is to continue monitoring the PDCCH during a first time period during the active time; determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to reduce monitoring of the PDCCH during a second time period during the active time; detect a downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI received using the PDCCH during the first time period based on the monitoring; and reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period.

Example 11 may include the computer-readable medium of example 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period comprises to stop monitoring a first search space of a first group of search spaces during the second time period, and wherein execution of the instruction further causes the processing circuitry to: determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to initiate a second monitoring of a second search space of a second group of search spaces during the second time period; and initiate the second monitoring during the second time period.

Example 12 may include the computer-readable medium of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period further comprises to stop monitoring a third search space of a third search space group during the second time period.

Example 13 may include the computer-readable medium of examples 11 or 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a zero value or a one value, and wherein to determine that the user equipment device is to initiate the second monitoring is based on the one bit indication.

Example 14 may include the computer-readable medium of examples 11 or 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication, and wherein to determine that the user equipment device is to initiate the second monitoring is based on the two-bit code point indication.

Example 15 may include the computer-readable medium of example 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period comprises to stop monitoring the PDCCH during the second time period.

Example 16 may include the computer-readable medium of example 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein the second time period is configured by a radio resource control protocol.

Example 17 may include the computer-readable medium of example 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a one value, and wherein the one value indicates the second time period.

Example 18 may include the computer-readable medium of example 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication of 00, 01, 10, or 11, wherein the 01 indicates a first PDCCH skipping time period, wherein the 10 indicates a second PDCCH skipping time period, wherein the 11 indicates a third PDCCH skipping time period, and wherein the second time period is one of the first PDCCH skipping time period, the second PDCCH skipping time period, or the third PDCCH skipping time period.

Example 19 may include a method for adapting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring time, the method comprising: encoding, by processing circuitry of a radio node B device, downlink control information (DCI) to be sent during an active time for a user equipment device to monitor the PDCCH for a downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI, the DCI comprising a field indicating that the user equipment device is to reduce monitoring of the PDCCH during a first time period during the active time; causing to send, by the processing circuitry, the DCI to the user equipment device during the active time; and causing to send, by the processing circuitry, the downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI using the PDCCH during a second time period during the active time.

Example 20 may include the method of example 19 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field further indicates that the user equipment device is to stop monitoring a first search space of a first group of search spaces during the second time period and is to initiate a second monitoring of a second search space of a second group of search spaces during the second time period.

Example 21 may include the method of example 19 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a zero value or a one value, and wherein the second time period is based on the one value.

Example 22 may include the method of example 19 and/or some other example herein, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication, and wherein the second time period is based on the two-bit code point indication.

Example 23 may include the method of any of examples 19-22 and/or some other example herein, wherein the second time period is configured by a radio resource control protocol.

Example 24 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 25 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 27 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions thereof.

Example 29 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 30 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 31 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 32 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 33 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions thereof.

Example 34 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions thereof.

Example 35 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example 36 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. Example 37 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Example 38 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference to block and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or computer program products according to various implementations. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flow diagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, according to some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a special-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage media produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certain implementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising a computer- readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code or program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as, among others, "can," "could," "might," or "may," unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations could include, while other implementations do not include, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or more implementations or that one or more implementations necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to be performed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

The term "circuitry" as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuitry" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term "processor circuitry" as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms "application circuitry" and/or "baseband circuitry" may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, "processor circuitry."

The term "interface circuitry" as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuitry" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like.

The term "user equipment" or "UE" as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

The term "network element" as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term "computer system" as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" and/or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term "computer system" and/or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term "appliance," "computer appliance," or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource.

The term "resource" as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A "hardware resource" may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A "virtualized resource" may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term "network resource" or "communication resource" may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term "channel" as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term "channel" may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to "communications channel," "data communications channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radiofrequency carrier," and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms "instantiate," "instantiation," and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An "instance" also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.

The terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term "coupled" may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term "communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, and/or the like.

The term "information element" refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term "field" refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content.

Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 vl6.0.0 (2019-06) and/or any other 3 GPP standard. For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations (shown in Table 2) may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein. Table 2: Abbreviations

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of a user equipment device for adapting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring time, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to: detect downlink control information (DCI) received from a radio node B device during an active time when the user equipment device is monitoring the PDCCH for a downlink transmission; determine, based on a field included in the DCI, that the user equipment device is to continue monitoring the PDCCH during a first time period during the active time; determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to reduce monitoring of the PDCCH during a second time period during the active time; detect a downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI received using the PDCCH during the first time period based on the monitoring; and reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period comprises to stop monitoring a first search space of a first group of search spaces during the second time period, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to initiate a second monitoring of a second search space of a second group of search spaces during the second time period; and initiate the second monitoring during the second time period.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period further comprises to stop monitoring a third search space of a third search space group during the second time period.

4. The apparatus of any of claims 2 or 3, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a zero value or a one value, and wherein to determine that the user equipment device is to initiate the second monitoring is based on the one bit indication.

5. The apparatus of any of claims 2 or 3, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication, and wherein to determine that the user equipment device is to initiate the second monitoring is based on the two-bit code point indication.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period comprises to stop monitoring the PDCCH during the second time period.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second time period is configured by a radio resource control protocol.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a one value, and wherein the one value indicates the second time period.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication of 00, 01, 10, or 11, wherein the 01 indicates a first PDCCH skipping time period, wherein the 10 indicates a second PDCCH skipping time period, wherein the 11 indicates a third PDCCH skipping time period, and wherein the second time period is one of the first PDCCH skipping time period, the second PDCCH skipping time period, or the third PDCCH skipping time period.

10. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause processing circuitry of a user equipment device, upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: detect downlink control information (DCI) received from a radio node B device during an active time for the user equipment device to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a downlink transmission; determine, based on a field included in the DCI, that the user equipment device is to continue monitoring the PDCCH during a first time period during the active time; determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to reduce monitoring of the PDCCH during a second time period during the active time; detect a downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI received using the PDCCH during the first time period based on the monitoring; and reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period comprises to stop monitoring a first search space of a first group of search spaces during the second time period, and wherein execution of the instruction further causes the processing circuitry to: determine, based on the field, that the user equipment device is to initiate a second monitoring of a second search space of a second group of search spaces during the second time period; and initiate the second monitoring during the second time period.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period further comprises to stop monitoring a third search space of a third search space group during the second time period.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of any of claims 11 or 12, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a zero value or a one value, and wherein to determine that the user equipment device is to initiate the second monitoring is based on the one bit indication.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of any of claims 11 or 12, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication, and wherein to determine that the user equipment device is to initiate the second monitoring is based on the two-bit code point indication.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein to reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH during the second time period comprises to stop monitoring the PDCCH during the second time period.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the second time period is configured by a radio resource control protocol.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a one value, and wherein the one value indicates the second time period.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication of 00, 01, 10, or 11, wherein the 01 indicates a first PDCCH skipping time period, wherein the 10 indicates a second PDCCH skipping time period, wherein the 11 indicates a third PDCCH skipping time period, and wherein the second time period is one of the first PDCCH skipping time period, the second PDCCH skipping time period, or the third PDCCH skipping time period.

19. A method for adapting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring time, the method comprising: encoding, by processing circuitry of a radio node B device, downlink control information (DCI) to be sent during an active time for a user equipment device to monitor the PDCCH for a downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI, the DCI comprising a field indicating that the user equipment device is to reduce monitoring of the PDCCH during a first time period during the active time; causing to send, by the processing circuitry, the DCI to the user equipment device during the active time; and causing to send, by the processing circuitry, the downlink transmission subsequent to the DCI using the PDCCH during a second time period during the active time.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the field further indicates that the user equipment device is to stop monitoring a first search space of a first group of search spaces during the second time period and is to initiate a second monitoring of a second search space of a second group of search spaces during the second time period.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the field comprises a one-bit indication of a zero value or a one value, and wherein the second time period is based on the one value.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the field comprises a two-bit code point indication, and wherein the second time period is based on the two-bit code point indication.

23. The method of any of claims 19-22, wherein the second time period is configured by a radio resource control protocol.

24. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to perform the method of any of claims 19-22.

25. An apparatus comprising means for performing any of the methods of claims 19-22.