WO2023163629A1

WO2023163629A1 - Energy-efficient network transmit power adaptation

Info

Publication number: WO2023163629A1
Application number: PCT/SE2023/050114
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ali Nader; Olof Liberg; Sina MALEKI; Andres Reial; Ilmiawan SHUBHI; Ryan PADERNA
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2022-02-22
Filing date: 2023-02-10
Publication date: 2023-08-31

Abstract

Embodiments include methods for a user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a wireless network. Such methods include receiving from the wireless network an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell. The energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink (DL) transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration. Such methods include, based on the indication, transmitting a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell. For example, the indication can be received from and the first request sent to the first base station or a second base station serving a second cell neighboring the first cell. Other embodiments include complementary methods for the first and second base stations, as well as UEs and base stations configured to perform such methods.

Description

ENERGY-EFFICIENT NETWORK TRANSMIT POWER ADAPTATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless networks and more specifically to techniques that facilitate a base station utilize an energy-saving configuration with reduced downlink transmit power except during specific times when user equipment (UEs) require increased downlink transmit power to communicate with the base station.

BACKGROUND

Currently the fifth generation (“5G”) of cellular systems, also referred to as New Radio (NR), is being standardized within the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). NR is developed for maximum flexibility to support a variety of different use cases. These include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), machine type communications (MTC), ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), side-link device-to-device (D2D), and several other use cases. 5G/NR was initially standardized by 3GPP in Rel-15 and continues to evolve through subsequent releases.

While the present disclosure relates primarily to 5G/NR, the following description of fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology is provided to introduce various terms, concepts, architectures, etc. that are also used in 5G/NR. LTE is an umbrella term that refers to radio access technologies developed within 3GPP and initially standardized in Release 8 (Rel-8) and Release 9 (Rel-9), also known as Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). LTE is targeted at various licensed frequency bands and is accompanied by improvements to non-radio aspects commonly referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which includes Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE continues to evolve through subsequent releases.

An overall exemplary architecture of a network comprising LTE and SAE is shown in Figure 1. E-UTRAN 100 includes one or more evolved Node B’s (eNB), such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115, and one or more user equipment (UE), such as UE 120. As used within the 3GPP standards, “user equipment” or “UE” means any wireless communication device (e.g., smartphone or computing device) that can with 3 GPP-standard-compliant network equipment, including E- UTRAN as well as UTRAN and/or GERAN, as the third generation (“3G”) and second generation (“2G”) 3 GPP RANs are commonly known.

As specified by 3GPP, E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in uplink (UL, i.e., UE to network) and downlink (DL, i.e., network to UE), as well as security of the communications with the UE. These functions reside in the eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115. Each of the eNBs can serve a i geographic coverage area including one more cells, including cells 106, 111, and 115 served by eNBs 105, 110, and 115, respectively.

The eNBs in the E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the X2 interface, as shown in Figure 1. The eNBs also are responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC 130, specifically the SI interface to the Mobility Management Entities (MME) and the Serving Gateways (SGW) in EPC 130 (not shown in Figure 1). In general, the MME/S-GW handles both the overall control of the UE and data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME processes the signaling (e.g., control plane) protocols between the UE and the EPC, which are known as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The S-GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets (e.g., data or user plane) between the UE and the EPC and serves as the local mobility anchor for the data bearers when the UE moves between eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115.

5G/NR technology shares many similarities with LTE. For example, NR uses CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in the DL and both CP-OFDM and DFT-spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the UL. As another example, in the time domain, NR DL and UL physical resources are organized into equal-sized 1-ms subframes. A subframe is further divided into multiple slots of equal duration, with each slot including multiple OFDM-based symbols. However, time-frequency resources can be configured much more flexibly for an NR cell than for an LTE cell. For example, rather than a fixed 15-kHz OFDM sub-carrier spacing (SCS) as in LTE, NR SCS can range from 15 to 240 kHz, with even greater SCS considered for future NR releases.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary high-level view of the 5G network architecture, consisting of a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 299 and a 5G Core (5GC) 298. NG-RAN 299 can include a set of gNodeB’s (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs 200, 250 connected via interfaces 202, 252, respectively. In addition, the gNBs can be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces, such as Xn interface 240 between gNBs 200 and 250. With respect the NR interface to UEs, each of the gNBs can support frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof.

NG-RAN 199 is layered into a Radio Network Layer (RNL) and a Transport Network Layer (TNL). The NG-RAN architecture, /.< ., the NG-RAN logical nodes and interfaces between them, is defined as part of the RNL. For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, Fl) the related TNL protocol and the functionality are specified. The TNL provides services for user plane transport and signaling transport.

The NG-RAN logical nodes shown in Figure 1 include a central (or centralized) unit (CU or gNB-CU) and one or more distributed (or decentralized) units (DU or gNB-DU). For example, gNB 100 includes gNB-CU 110 and gNB-DUs 120 and 130. CUs are logical nodes that host higher-layer protocols and perform various gNB functions such controlling the operation of DUs. DUs are logical nodes that host lower-layer protocols and can include, depending on the functional split, various subsets of the gNB functions. As such, each of the CUs and DUs can include various circuitry needed to perform their respective functions, including processing circuitry, transceiver and/or communication interface circuitry, power supply circuitry, etc.

A gNB-CU connects to gNB-DUs over respective Fl logical interfaces, such as interfaces 122 and 132 shown in Figure 1. The gNB-CU and connected gNB-DUs are only visible to other gNBs and the 5GC as a gNB. In other words, the Fl interface is not visible beyond gNB-CU.

In addition to providing coverage via cells as in LTE, NR networks also provide coverage via “beams.” In general, a downlink (DL, i.e., network to UE) “beam” is a coverage area of a network-transmitted reference signal (RS) that may be measured or monitored by a UE. Examples of NR RS include synchronization signal/PBCH block (SSB), channel state information RS (CSI- RS), positioning RS (PRS), demodulation RS (DM-RS), phase-tracking reference signals (PTRS), etc. In general, SSB is available to all UEs regardless of radio resource control (RRC) state, while other RS (e.g., CSI-RS, DM-RS, PTRS) are associated with specific UEs that have a network connection, i.e., in RRC CONNECTED state.

One goal of 3GPP Rel-18 is improving and/or reducing network energy consumption. One general technique that has been discussed is to reduce base station (e.g., gNB) energy consumption with respect to cells and beams that are lightly loaded or serve no traffic. For example, a simple version of this technique is reducing DL transmit power in a cell or a beam serving no traffic.

SUMMARY

However, reducing DL transmit power even in the case of no served traffic can cause various problems, issues, and/or difficulties. For example, UEs perform public land mobile network (PLMN) selection, cell selection, and cell re-selection based on the measurements of SSB transmissions by the base station. Reducing the power level of base station DL transmissions - including SSB - can cause inconsistent and/or unpredictable UE behavior.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide improvements that facilitate predictable UE and network behavior during dynamic changes in base station DL transmit power, such as by providing solutions to the exemplary problems summarized above and described in more detail below.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include methods (e.g., procedures) for a UE (e.g., wireless device, MTC device, NB-IoT device, etc.) configured to operate in a wireless network. These exemplary methods can include receiving, from the wireless network, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell. The energy saving configuration includes a reduced DL transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration. These exemplary methods can also include, based on the indication, transmitting a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell.

In some embodiments, transmitting the first request is further based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how UEs can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell. In some of these embodiments, the configuration includes one or more of the following:

• an indication of areas or portions of the first cell that use the reduced DL transmit power;

• one or more thresholds for UE measurements of DL received signal strength;

• an indication of cell resources that can be used for requesting increases in DL transmit power;

• an indication of a subset of UEs that can request increases in DL transmit power; and

• an indication of how often each UE can request increases in DL transmit power.

In some of these embodiments, the indication of cell resources that can be used identifies one or more of the following:

• one or more random access (RA) resources;

• one or more signals;

• one or more physical uplink channels;

• one or more bits, fields, or information elements in an uplink message; and

• a specific number of repetitions used to transmit a request to increase the DL transmit power.

In some of these embodiments, the indication of how often each UE can request increases includes one of the following:

• a timer value, to be used by the UE to initiate a prohibit timer upon requesting increased DL transmit power; or

• an amount of change in measured DL signal strength needed, after a request for increased DL transmit power, before the UE is allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power.

In some of these embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include measuring DL received signal strength for the first cell. In some variants, the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include first and second thresholds and the first request is transmitted when the measured DL received signal strength is below the first threshold and above the second threshold. In some further variants, the one or more thresholds include a third threshold and these exemplary methods also include transmitting a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible, when the following applies:

• the first base station is using the non-energy saving configuration for the first cell; and

• the measured DL signal strength is above the third threshold.

In some of these embodiments, the configuration is pre-configured in the UE. In other of these embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include receiving the configuration from the first base station or from a second base station serving a second cell neighboring the first cell.

In some embodiments, the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell, only to a tracking area that includes the first cell, or to a PLMN that includes the first cell.

In some embodiments, the indication is received from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell, and the first request is transmitted to the first base station or to the second base station. In some of these embodiments, the first cell is a secondary cell (SCell) for the UE, and the first request is transmitted to the first base station in a primary cell (PCell) for the UE.

In some of these embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include receiving, from the first base station, a message soliciting the UE to request an increase in DL transmit power for the first cell. The first request is transmitted in response to the message.

In some embodiments, the first request indicates a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on one of the following:

• a location and/or an orientation of the UE, when the first request is transmitted to the second base station; or

• the first request is transmitted to the first base station using one or more of the following associated with the coverage area of the first cell: a preamble associated with a DL beam in the coverage area, and a transmission timing.

In some embodiments, the first request can also indicate one or more of the following:

• an amount of increase of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB, or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station; and

• a duration for the requested increase in DL transmit power, based on one of the following: a value in seconds or milliseconds, or an index that corresponds to an entry in a preconfigured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include receiving, from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell, an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell: • a normal DL transmit power used by the first base station in the non-energy saving configuration;

• the reduced DL transmit power; and

• a power offset between the normal DL transmit power and the reduced DL transmit power.

Other embodiments include methods (e.g., procedures) for a first base station (e.g., RAN node, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc., or component thereof) configured to operate in a wireless network. In general, these embodiments are complementary to the UE embodiments summarized above.

These exemplary methods can include can transmitting an indication that the first base station is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced DL transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration. These exemplary methods can also include receiving a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell. These exemplary methods can also include entering a non-energy saving configuration for the first cell in response to the first request, whereby the first base station transmits at least one signal or channel in the first cell using an increased DL transmit power relative to the energy saving configuration.

In various embodiments, the first request can have any of the same contents and characteristics as summarized above for UE embodiments. For example, the first request can be based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how UEs can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell. In various embodiments, the configuration can have any of the same contents and characteristics as summarized above for UE embodiments. For example, the configuration can include first and second thresholds for UE measurements, with the first request being received responsive to a UE’s measured DL received signal strength being below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

As another example, the configuration can include a third threshold for UE measurements and these exemplary methods can also include, when the first base station is using the non-energy saving configuration for at least the first cell, receiving from a UE a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible. The second request is responsive to the UE’s measured DL signal strength being above the third threshold.

In various embodiments, the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell, only to a tracking area that includes the first cell, or to a PLMN that includes the first cell.

In some embodiments, the first request is received from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell. In other embodiments, the first request is received from a UE. In some variants, the first cell is an SCell for the UE and the first request is received from the UE in a PCell for the UE. In some further variants, these exemplary methods can also include sending to the UE a message soliciting the UE to request an increase in DL transmit power for the first cell. The first request is received from the UE in response to the message.

In some embodiments, the first request also indicates a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on one of the following:

• a location and/or an orientation of the UE, when the first request is received from the second base station; or

• the first request is received from the UE based on one or more of the following associated with the coverage area of the first cell: a preamble associated with a DL beam in the coverage area, and a transmission timing.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include exiting the non-energy saving configuration and using the energy saving configuration again for the first cell, based on one or more of the following:

• there is no additional traffic to be served in the first cell; and

• all UEs served by the first cell are within a coverage area associated with the energy saving configuration.

In some of these embodiments, exiting the non-energy saving configuration and using the energy saving configuration is further based on one or more of the following:

• that the non-energy saving configuration has been used in the first cell for at least a duration, which is pre-configured or indicated in the first request; and

• receiving from a UE a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible.

Other embodiments include methods (e.g., procedures) for a second base station (e.g., RAN node, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc., or component thereof) configured to operate in a wireless network. In general, these embodiments are complementary to the UE and first base station embodiments summarized above.

These exemplary methods can include transmitting, in a second cell served by the second base station, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell. The energy saving configuration includes a reduced DL transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration. These exemplary methods can also include receiving, from a UE via the second cell, a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell. These exemplary methods can also include sending the first request to the first base station.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include transmitting in the second cell an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell:

• a normal DL transmit power used by the first base station in the non-energy saving configuration;

• the reduced DL transmit power; and

Other embodiments include UEs (e.g., wireless devices, MTC devices, NB-IoT devices, or components thereof, such as a modem) and base stations (e.g., RAN nodes, eNBs, gNBs, ng- eNBs, etc., or components thereof) configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein. Other embodiments include non-transitory, computer- readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, configure such UEs or base stations to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein.

These and other embodiments described herein can provide novel, flexible, and efficient signaling and procedures to support dynamic adaptation of base station DL transmit power in certain cells and/or beams. These techniques facilitate predictable and/or correct UE and network behavior when a base station dynamically adapts DL transmit power to reduce base station energy consumption. Thus, embodiments facilitate improved energy efficiency of wireless networks while maintaining predictable and/or correct UE behavior.

These and other objects, features, benefits, and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent upon reading the following Detailed Description in view of the Drawings briefly described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure l is a high-level block diagram of an exemplary LTE network architecture.

Figure 2 is a high-level block diagram of an exemplary 5G/NR network architecture.

Figure 3 shows a signaling diagram for an exemplary Resource Status Reporting Initiation procedure for NG-RAN. Figure 4 shows a signaling diagram for an exemplary Resource Status Reporting Initiation procedure for NG-RAN.

Figure 5 illustrates how dynamically reducing a base station’s DL transmit power can impact cell coverage and cell selection by UEs.

Figures 6-7 show two exemplary network arrangements that illustrate various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 8 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a UE (e.g., wireless device), according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 9 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a first base station (e.g., eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.), according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 10 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a second base station (e.g., eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.), according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 11 shows a communication system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 12 shows a UE according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 13 shows a network node according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 14 shows host computing system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 15 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments of the present disclosure may be virtualized.

Figure 16 illustrates communication between a host computing system, a network node, and a UE via multiple connections, at least one of which is wireless, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments summarized above will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

Furthermore, the following terms are used throughout the description given below:

• Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” (or equivalently “radio network node,” “radio access network node,” or “RAN node”) can be any node in a radio access network (RAN) that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., gNB in a 3 GPP 5G/NR network or an enhanced or eNB in a 3GPP LTE network), base station distributed components (e.g., CU and DU), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., micro, pico, femto, or home base station, or the like), an integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, a transmission point (TP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a remote radio unit (RRU or RRH), and a relay node.

• Core Network Node: As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a serving gateway (SGW), a PDN Gateway (P-GW), a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a user plane function (UPF), a Charging Function (CHF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a location management function (LMF), or the like.

• Wireless Device: As used herein, a “wireless device” (or “WD” for short) is any type of device that is capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Communicating wirelessly can involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. Unless otherwise noted, the term “wireless device” is used interchangeably herein with the term “user equipment” (or “UE” for short), with both of these terms having a different meaning than the term “network node”. • Radio Node: As used herein, a “radio node” can be either a “radio access node” (or equivalent term) or a “wireless device.”

• Network Node: As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the radio access network (e.g, a radio access node or equivalent term) or of the core network (e.g, a core network node discussed above) of a cellular communications network. Functionally, a network node is equipment capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the cellular communications network, to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device, and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the cellular communications network.

• Base station: As used herein, a “base station” may comprise a physical or a logical node transmitting or controlling the transmission of radio signals, e.g., eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, en- gNB, centralized unit (CU)/distributed unit (DU), transmitting radio network node, transmission point (TP), transmission reception point (TRP), remote radio head (RRH), remote radio unit (RRU), Distributed Antenna System (DAS), relay, etc.

• Node: As used herein, the term “node” (without prefix) can be any type of node that can in or with a wireless network (including RAN and/or core network), including a radio access node (or equivalent term), core network node, or wireless device. However, the term “node” may be limited to a particular type (e.g., radio access node) based on its specific characteristics in any given context.

Note that the description herein focuses on a 3 GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system. Furthermore, although the term “cell” is used herein, it should be understood that (particularly with respect to 5G NR) beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, concepts described herein apply equally to both cells and beams.

As mentioned above, one goal of 3GPP Rel-18 is improving and/or reducing network energy consumption. One general technique that has been discussed is to reduce base station (e.g., gNB) energy consumption with respect to cells and beams that are lightly loaded or serve no traffic. For example, a simple version of this technique is reducing DL transmit power in a cell or a beam serving no traffic.

Mobile network operators provides services via a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN). A UE performs PLMN selection according to rules defined in 3GPP TS 23.122 (vl6.11.0) and 3GPP TS 38.304 (vl6.6.0). For example, a UE selects from among PLMNs that meet a high- quality criterion that requires the UE to measure reference signal received power (RSRP) of at least -110 dBm for a cell belonging to a selected PLMN.

PLMNs typically include many cells and a UE operating in a non-connected state (e.g., RRC IDLE, RRC INACTIVE, etc.) performs cell selection among PLMN cells that exceed a minimum signal strength threshold (Qrxievmm) and a minimum signal quality threshold (Qquaimeas') specified in 3GPP TS 38.304. A UE measures cell signal strength based on Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and cell signal quality based on Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ). RSRP is measured on resource elements (REs) carrying a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) that is part of SSB, with RSRP measurements being averaged over time. RSRQ is equal to RSRP divided by Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), which is a linear average of the total received power measured over the REs within a configured time-frequency allocation.

When the non-connected UE moves between cells it performs cell reselection based on measurements on neighbor cells operating on the same frequency and/or different frequencies as the cell on which the UE is currently camping (e.g., in the non-connected state). These are referred to as intra-frequency and inter-frequency measurements, respectively.

Abase station typically broadcasts RSRP/RSRQ intra- and inter-frequency measurement thresholds in system information block 2 (SIB2). When a UE’ s intra-frequency RSRP and RSRQ measurements are above the corresponding thresholds, the UE is not required to perform interfrequency measurements. When the UE’s inter-frequency RSRP and RSRQ measurements on certain higher-priority frequencies (e.g., indicated in SIB2) are above the corresponding thresholds, the UE is not required to perform inter-frequency measurements for lower/equal priority frequencies. The UE is required to measure RSRP/RSRQ for the higher priority frequencies every 60 seconds. If the RSRP inter-frequency measurement threshold is not configured, the UE assumes that it is required to measure lower/equal priority frequencies continuously.

There are some exceptions to these measurement requirements, particularly for UEs that are assumed be located far from a border of their current cells. The base station can broadcast in SIB2 some radio resource management (RRM) relaxation criteria criterion pertaining to low mobility and/or not-at-cell-edge conditions. When the UE meets these criteria, it is allowed to further reduce intra-frequent and/or inter-frequency RRM measurements. 3GPP TS 38.304 provides further details of this arrangement.

During early development of NR, 3 GPP defined a network energy saving function in which two network nodes (e.g., gNBs) serving cells with overlapping coverage can inform each other (e.g., via network internal interfaces) about entering an energy saving state and invoke (or wake) each other from the energy saving state. 3 GPP has also defined procedures for X2AP and XnAP interfaces by which a first network node can send a Resource Status Update message informing a second network node about resources of the first network node. For example, 3GPP TS 36.423 (vl6.3.0) defines relevant X2AP procedures including Resource Status Reporting Initiation, Resource Status Reporting, EN-DC Resource Status Reporting Initiation, and EN-DC Resource Status Reporting. Likewise, 3GPP TS 38.423 (vl6.3.0) defines relevant XnAP procedures including Resource Status Reporting Initiation and Resource Status Reporting.

Figure 3 shows a signaling diagram for an exemplary Resource Status Reporting Initiation procedure for NG-RAN. In this procedure, a first NG-RAN node can request a one-time or periodic reporting of load measurements by a second NG-RAN node. The first NG-RAN node initiates the procedure by sending a RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message via Xn-AP to the second NG-RAN node, requesting to start, stop, or add cells to a measurement report. The RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message also indicates the type of load metrics the second NG- RAN node should measure and report. Depending on the contents of the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, the RESOURCE STATUS RESPONSE message by the second NG-RAN node can include one or more of the following:

• Load information on a per SSB coverage area granularity, such as radio resource status per SSB coverage area and composite available capacity per SSB coverage area;

• Load information on a per network slice granularity, such as slice available capacity per network slice; and

• Load information on a per cell granularity, such as TNL capacity indication, number of active UEs, number of RRC connections, etc.

After a successful Resource Status Reporting Initiation procedure, the second NG-RAN node reports the results of the requested (and admitted/agreed) measurements once or periodically via the Resource Status Reporting procedure. Figure 4 shows a signaling diagram for an exemplary Resource Status Reporting Initiation procedure for NG-RAN. In this procedure, the second NG- RAN node reports the results of the measurements in a RESOURCE STATUS UPDATE message via Xn-AP.

As mentioned above, the UE performs the various measurements for PLMN selection, cell selection, and cell reselection on RS transmitted by the base station, such as SSB transmitted by a gNB. When the base station enters an energy saving configuration by reducing DL transmit power in a low-traffic cell or beam, this reduction also applies to SSB transmitted in the cell or beam. This can cause inconsistent UE behavior for PLMN/cell selection and cell reselection, as well as increased load on base stations serving neighboring cells.

Figure 5 illustrates how dynamically reducing a base station’s DL transmit power can impact cell coverage and cell selection by UEs. Base station 1 (510, also referred to as first base station) provides cell 1 and dynamically switches between a normal configuration that includes a normal DL TX power and an energy saving configuration that includes a reduced DL TX power. The nominal coverage of cell 1 changes according to the DL TX power used by base station 1. Base station 2 (520, also referred to as second base station) provides cell 2 based on a normal configuration that includes a normal DL TX power. UE B (540) camps in cell 2 while in a nonconnected state.

UE A (530) is positioned relatively near the edge of cell l’s coverage with normal DL TX power, and camps in cell 1 when base station 1 uses the normal configuration. When base station 1 switches to the energy saving configuration with reduced DL TX power, UE A measures higher RSRP/RSRQ for cell 2 than for cell 1. This can cause UE A to reselect from cell 1 to cell 2, provided that the UE’s measurements for cell 2 meets relevant thresholds. If base station 2 is of a different PLMN than base station 1, UE A will also select this different PLMN.

Base station 1 may switch to the energy saving configuration, for example, when certain beams comprising cell 1 have no UEs in RRC CONNECTED state. As another example, base station 1 may switch to the energy saving configuration even when there is UE traffic (e.g., in RRC CONNECTED state) so long as UEs reporting the weakest DL measurements are well inside cell l’s coverage area for normal DL TX power.

By switching to the energy saving configuration that includes a reduced DL TX power, base station 1 has effectively reduced the UE traffic that it can serve and pushed this unserved UE traffic to neighboring cells and base stations. Moreover, since certain UEs are forced to reselect different cells with lower RSRP/RSRQ measurements, this switching reduces the quality of service (QoS) experienced by these UEs. Thus, the network operator is forced to choose between two undesirable alternatives: excessive network energy consumption and poor QoS to certain UEs.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide novel, flexible, and efficient signaling and procedures to support dynamic adaptation of a base station’s DL TX power in a cell and/or a beam to a level (optionally including a margin) needed to provide adequate coverage to the UEs present in the cell and/or beam, rather than hypothetical levels configured during deployment assuming worst case scenarios. Thus, embodiments promote predictable and/or correct UE behavior when a base station dynamically adapts DL TX power used for a cell and/or beam to reduce base station energy consumption. Embodiments also facilitate improved energy efficiency of wireless networks while maintaining predictable and/or correct UE behavior.

At a high level, embodiments involve signaling between a UE and a base station for controlling the base station output power. The UE requests the base station - currently in an energy saving configured with reduced DL transmit power - to increase its DL transmit power. The signaling between the UE and base station may be performed in any RRC state, including RRC CONNECTED, RRC IDLE, and RRC_INACTIVE. In some embodiments, UEs may request the base station to increase its DL transmit power only when the base station has allowed UEs to request such power increases.

Some embodiments also involve signaling between base stations to inform about entering/exiting energy saving configurations with reduced DL transmit power. In some embodiments, the signaling can include an amount of DL transmit power reduction being used. In some embodiments, a base station may request another base station to exit an energy saving configuration and/or increase its DL transmit power, optionally including the requested amount of increase.

Embodiments can be summarized as follows. In some embodiments, a first base station broadcasts an indication that it is operating in an energy saving configuration, e.g., with reduced DL transmit power in at least one cell served by the first base station. In some embodiments, the indication also includes an amount by which the DL transmit power is reduced. Even so, UEs can request the first base station to exit the energy saving configuration and/or increase DL transmit power.

In some embodiments, where and/or how UEs can request the first base station to exit the energy saving configuration and/or increased DL transmit power is pre-configured and/or specified, e.g., in 3GPP specification(s). In other embodiments, the first base station can broadcast a configuration of where and/or how UEs can request the first base station to exit the energy saving configuration and/or increased DL transmit power.

In some embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) of where the UE is allowed to request is based on areas of cell(s) with reduced DL transmit power. For example, such areas can be defined by specific allowed beams (e.g., associated with SSBs) or specific non-allowed beams.

In other embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) of where the UE is allowed to request is based on one or more thresholds. For example, a UE is only allowed to request increased DL transmit power when its measured receive signal level (Rxlev) is below a first threshold and above a second threshold. In some embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) of how the UE is allowed to request is based on and/or specified by one or more of the following:

• specific RA resources, e.g., preamble, sequence, cyclic shift, time/frequency location, channel, etc.;

• specific signal, e.g., specific Zadoff Chu sequence, a transmission with a specific DMRS pattern, etc.;

• specific physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource;

• specific bit, field, or IE in UCI, a MAC message, or an RRC message; and

• specific number of repetitions (e.g., of a RA preamble) to ensure that the request reaches the intended recipient (e.g., first base station).

In some embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) of how the UE is allowed to request can also include an indication of how often the UE is allowed to increase DL transmit power. This indication can include one or more of the following:

• a timer value, to be used by the UE to initiate a prohibit timer upon requesting increased DL transmit power, such that the UE is not allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power until expiration of the prohibit timer; and

• an Rxlev delta (e.g., RSRP threshold), such that the UE is not allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power until its Rxlev measurements have decreased by at least the Rxlev delta.

In some embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) of how the UE is allowed to request can also include an indication of whether the UE can request a second base station (e.g., serving a cell in which the UE is camping) for an increased DL transmit power in a neighboring cell served by the first base station.

In some embodiments, upon receiving from a UE (either directly or indirectly) a request for increased DL transmit power in a cell, a first base station can exit the energy savings configuration (at least for the cell) and increase the DL transmit power in the cell. In some cases, after some duration (e.g., pre-configured), the first base station can re-enter the energy savings configuration (at least for the cell) with reduced DL transmit power in the cell.

In some embodiments, the cell with reduced DL transmit power can be a UE’s SCell, and the UE transmits the request for increased DL transmit power (i.e., for the SCell) in the UE’s PCell. In such embodiments, the first base station may be operating in a non-energy saving configuration for the PCell.

In some embodiments, a second base station can broadcast an indication that the first (e.g., neighboring) base station is operating in an energy saving configuration, e.g., with reduced DL transmit power in at least one cell. In some embodiments, the second base station can broadcast a configuration of where and/or how UEs can request the first base station to exit the energy saving configuration and/or increase DL transmit power. In general, the configuration broadcast by the second base station can have any of the same contents and/or characteristics as the configuration broadcast by the first base station, summarized above.

In some embodiments, the first base station can inform the second base station that it is operating in the energy saving configuration, optionally including an amount by which it has decreased DL transmit power for the energy saving configuration.

In some embodiments, the second base station can request the first base station to exit the energy saving configuration and/or increased DL transmit power. This request can be based on and/or triggered by internal events or measurements (e.g., detection of excessive load at cell edge) and/or based on request from a UE to the second base station. In some embodiments, the second base station can provide an amount for the requested increase of DL transmit power by the first base station.

In general, UE embodiments correspond and/or are complementary to base station embodiments summarized above. Based on the indication and the configuration (or preconfiguration), a UE can request the first base station (or the second base station) to increase the DL transmit power in a cell. For example, if the configuration includes first and second Rxlev thresholds such as described above, the UE measures Rxlev for the cell (e.g., based on RSRP for broadcast SSB) and requests an increase in DL transmit power only when its measured Rxlev is below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

In some embodiments, a UE can also inform the first base station (directly or indirectly) that it can reduce DL transmit power in a cell. For example, the UE can measure Rxlev for the cell (e.g., based on RSRP for broadcast SSB) and indicate a reduction in DL transmit power for a cell when its measured Rxlev in the cell is above a third threshold. Upon receiving this information, the first base station can reduce the DL transmit power in the cell if no other UEs operating in the cell need the increased DL transmit power.

Embodiments will be described in more detail below. Although embodiments are described in the context of a base station’s energy saving configuration with reduced DL transmit power for a cell, the base station’s energy saving configuration may apply to multiple cells, subsets of a cell coverage area (e.g., one or more beams), all or a subset of carriers used in a cell (e.g., certain carriers, certain bandwidth parts of a carrier, etc.), all or a subset of channels transmitted in a cell, all or a subset of information carried on certain channels transmitted in a cell, etc.

Figure 6 shows an exemplary network arrangement that illustrates some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 6 shows similar entities as Figure 5, i.e., base station 1 (610, also referred to as first base station) serving cell 1 and base station 2 (620, also referred to as second base station) serving cell 2. Cell 1 has a reduced coverage area when base station 1 enters an energy saving configuration (at least for cell 1). Figure 6 shows a single UE (i.e., UE A, 630) that is initially in the coverage of cell 2 but is moving toward the coverage area of cell 1.

For example, the first base station can enter the energy saving configuration for cell 1 (or a portion of resources therein, such as beams) when the base station is not serving any traffic in cell 1. For example, this can occur when there are no RRC CONNECTED UEs operating in cell 1, when there are no unicast or paging DL transmissions needed in cell 1, etc. In the energy saving configuration, the first base station reduces DL transmits power for cell 1 (or a portion of resources therein, such as SSBs).

When the first base station is in the energy saving configuration, the first base station can indicate to one or more UEs (e.g., via broadcast) that it has entered an energy saving configuration with reduced DL TX power in at least cell 1. In some variants, the indication can be transmitted as part of the Master Information Block (MIB), e.g., using a currently reserved bit in MIB. In other variants, the indication can be a specific synchronization sequence in SSB, e.g., a specific PSS or SSS. In other variants, the indication can be transmitted as part of an existing SIB, e.g., SIB1. In other variants, the indication can be transmitted as part of a SIB newly defined to carry such an indication and (optionally) other information related to network energy saving.

In other variants, the indication can be transmitted as part of a signal used for UEs in non-connected states (e.g., RRC IDLE, RRC INACTIVE), such as a specific tracking RS (TRS) sequence, a paging DCI, a paging early indicator (PEI) DCI, etc. In other variants, the indication can be transmitted in a DCI newly defined for the purpose of indicating entry to the energy saving configuration. In other variants, the indication can be included in a unicast RRC release message that indicates a particular UE should enter a non-connected state (e.g., idle or inactive).

In some embodiments, the first base station can also indicate one or more of the following information to one or more UEs (e.g., via broadcast):

• a first DL transmit power level (Pnorm) used by the first base station in a normal or nonenergy saving configuration (e.g., during and after connection setup for a UE); • a second DL transmit power level (P_red) used by the first base station in the energy saving configuration, for at least for SSB. In some variants, P_red is fixed or pre-configured, e.g., 3dB lower than Pnom. In other variants, Pred is explicitly indicated as an actual value. In other variants, the UE may be pre-configured with a set of Pred and a corresponding set of indices. The first base station can indicate the specific Pred it uses by broadcasting the corresponding index; and

• an amount by which the DL transmit power is reduced in cell 1. This can be indicated by the actual DL transmit power being used or an offset (e.g., 5dB, 20dB, etc.) from normal DL transmit power that provides full coverage of cell 1.

In some embodiments, when the first base station is in the energy saving configuration, it broadcasts in cell 1 a configuration of where and/or how UEs can request the first base station to increase DL transmit power in cell 1 (also referred to as “requesting configuration”). In other embodiments, the first base station can provide the configuration to UEs via dedicated or unicast (e.g., RRC) signaling.

In other embodiments, where and/or how UEs can request the first base station to increase DL transmit power is pre-configured and/or specified, e.g., in 3GPP specification(s). For example, the pre-configuration can become applicable when the UE receives the indication that the first base station is operating in the energy saving configuration.

In some embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) of where the UE is allowed to request is based on areas or portions of cells (e.g., cell 1) that use reduced DL transmit power. For example, such areas can be defined by specific allowed beams (e.g., associated with SSBs) or specific non-allowed beams.

In other embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) of where the UE is allowed to request is based on one or more thresholds. For example, a UE is only allowed to request increased DL transmit power when its measured receive signal level (Rxlev) is below a first threshold and above a second threshold.

In some embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) indicates some subset of UEs that are allowed to request increased DL transmit power in cell 1. For example, the first base station may allow only UEs of reduced reception capability (so-called RedCap devices) to request increased DL transmit power in cell 1.

In some embodiments, the configuration (or pre-configuration) of how the UE is allowed to request is based on and/or specified by one or more of the following:

• specific RA resources, e.g., preamble, sequence, cyclic shift, time/frequency location, channel, etc.; • specific signal, e.g., specific Zadoff Chu sequence, a transmission with a specific DMRS pattern, etc.;

• specific bit, field, or IE in UCI, a MAC message, or an RRC message; and

• an amount of change in measured DL signal strength (e.g., Rxlev delta, RSRP threshold), needed, after a request for increased DL transmit power, before the UE is allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power. In other words, the UE is not allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power until its DL signal strength (e.g., Rxlev) measurements have decreased by at least the indicated amount.

In some embodiments, once the UE needs (or getting close to needing) increased DL transmit power from the first base station operating in the energy saving configuration, the UE can request increased DL transmit power for cell 1 according to the configuration (or preconfiguration). In other embodiments, a UE can request an increase in DL transmit power only if solicited by the first base station. For example, the first base station can transmit a paging DCI to an RRC CONNECTED UE or another type of DCI (e.g., new DCI format, such as 2 7) to a nonconnected UE, indicating that the UE should request an increase in DL transmit power, if needed.

In some embodiments, the UE can also request the first base station to reduce DL transmit power in cell 1 and/or to provide assistance information that enables the first base station to do so. For example, the UE can measure Rxlev for cell 1 (e.g., based on RSRP for broadcast SSB) and indicate a reduction in DL transmit power when its measured Rxlev in cell 1 is above a third threshold, which can be pre-configured or part of the requesting configuration. As a more specific example, the third threshold can correspond to a coverage area for an energy saving configuration of the first base station.

As another example, the UE may be experiencing higher interference from different base stations. The UE assistance information or request for power reduction can be in terms of an explicit DL transmit power level for one or more base stations, an offset to a normal (or current) DL transmit power level, or current received power level,

In some embodiments, after receiving the request to increase the transmit power from the UE, the first base station can increase the DL transmit power only for a particular duration, which can be guaranteed for and/or known by the UE. For example, the UE may know there will be traffic during an upcoming duration (e.g., milliseconds, second, etc.). If after this duration, there is no traffic to be served by the first base station in cell 1 (e.g., no UEs in RRC CONNECTED state in certain beams) and/or served UEs reporting weakest link measurements for cell 1 are well inside cell l ’s normal coverage area (e.g., in the coverage area of the energy saving configuration), the first base station can return to the energy saving configuration.

In some embodiments, the duration can correspond to the value used to initiate the prohibit timer. In other embodiments, the duration can be derived from other cell parameters (including multiples thereof) such as DRX cycle, paging cycle, etc. In other embodiments, the duration can be preconfigured and/or specified in a 3GPP specification (e.g., use the normal/non-reduced DL transmit power level for at least X ms after receiving the request from the UE). In other embodiments, the duration can be part of the configuration for how the UE can request DL transmit power increase, which can be provided in any of the ways discussed above.

In other embodiments, the UE can include the duration with the request for DL transmit power increase. For example, the requested duration can be specified as a number (e.g., in ms or sec) or as an index that points to a particular entry in a preconfigured list known to the UE and the receiving base station.

In some embodiments, the first base station may provide the second base station information about its energy saving status. Based on this information, the second base station may provide information to UEs about the first base station operating in an energy saving configuration. In other embodiments, when such information is provided by the first base station, the UE in cell 2 can detect a “coverage hole” and request increased DL transmit power. It is then up to the first and second base stations (e.g., via Xn interface) to negotiate and to determine whether DL transmit power should be increase for cell 1 and/or cell 2.

In some embodiments, the configuration for requesting DL transmit power increase in cell 1 can be provided by the second network node instead of or in addition to by the first network node. For example, the second network node can broadcast this configuration in cell 2. As such, when the UE received the configuration from the second network node and moves toward cell 1, it is able to request an increase in DL transmit power without needing to receive the configuration from cell 1.

In some embodiments, the UE may indicate to the second base station a direction and/or a location for the UE’s expected entry into cell 1 served by the first base station. The second base station can provide this information to the first base station together with the request to increase DL transmit power. From this, the first base station can determine a more specific area (e.g., beam) in which increased DL transmit power is needed. In other embodiments, the UE can directly inform the first base station about the area needing increased DL transmit power, e.g., by using a preamble associated with a particular beam, a particular transmission timing that can be associated with an area, etc.

Figure 7 shows an exemplary network arrangement that illustrates other embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 7 shows the same entities as Figure 6, e.g., base station 1 (610, also referred to as first base station) serving cell 1 and base station 2 (620, also referred to as second base station) serving cell 2. Cell 1 has a reduced coverage area when base station 1 enters an energy saving configuration (at least for cell 1). Figure 7 also shows UE A (630) that is initially in the coverage of cell 2 but is moving toward the coverage area of cell 1.

In the embodiments illustrated by Figure 7, the UE may request an increase in DL transmit power in cell 1 from the second base station serving cell 2. In response, the second base station sends a corresponding request to the first base station, e.g., via Xn interface, NG interface, etc. These embodiments may be advantageous when the UE is uplink power-limited and can reach the second base station more easily and/or reliably than the first base station. Alternately or additionally, the request from the second base station can be based on internal events or measurements (e.g., detection of excessive load at cell edge).

In some embodiments, the first and second base stations may also exchange information about amount of decrease in DL transmit power in their respective cells. Thus, when the second base station requests increased DL transmit power in cell 1, the second gNB is aware of the decreased amount and can request a corresponding increase in the DL transmit power in cell 1 by the first base station.

In some embodiments, the UE may request not only an increase in DL transmit power increase in cell 1 but also a particular amount of increase. The amount may be specified as a number (e.g., in dB format) or as an index that points to a particular entry in a preconfigured list known to the UE and receiving base station. For example, the UE can determine the amount of increase based on SINR required for successful reception of cell 1 broadcast signaling in a nonconnected state. As another example, the UE can determine the amount of increase based on a target SINR (including EVM impact) for data transmissions, considering that the SINR may saturate below full DL transmit power of the first base station. In some variants, the configuration (or pre-configuration) can include a limit or maximum amount of increase that the UE can request. For example, a UE having a reception power level of P dBm may request up to Q dB increase in DL transmit power.

In some embodiments, a UE may also indicate that a DL transmit power reduction is permissible, either indicating that the first base station may transition to a fixed energy saving configuration or indicating a feasible DL transmit power reduction from the UE’s perspective.

In some embodiments, the configuration for how to request a DL transmit power increase can be applicable throughout a PLMN and/or a tracking area that includes the first base station. As such, a UE need not receive the configuration from each base station in the PLMN or tracking area. Since UEs can obtain the configuration from many different base stations, each base station may take more risk to enter the energy saving configuration even if that means that fewer UEs will be able to receive the requesting configuration due to the reduced DL transmit power.

In some embodiments, DL transmit power may be reduced in an SCell (or secondary component carrier activated in the first base station) when UEs in RRC CONNECTED operation are sufficiently close to the first base station such that full power is not required to maximize the SINR. This may be due to EVM limiting the effective channel SINR at high values. The UE may indicate the DL transmit power to needed maximize SINR for its operating point via control signaling over its PCell that is constantly available. The indicated DL transmit power may imply a required increase or a permitted reduction. Upon receiving this information from one or more UEs, the first base station may increase DL transmit power level in the SCell if any of the UEs indicate the need for an increase, or decrease the DL transmit power level in the SCell to a value that is not below the highest indicated power level among all UEs. The first base station may adjust SCell DL transmit power level dynamically and solely based on data transmission aspects, since the SCell has no responsibilities for providing initial access to UEs.

In some embodiments, dynamic switching between a normal configuration with normal DL TX power and an energy saving configuration with reduced DL TX (and corresponding signaling discussed above) can be limited to cells operating in certain frequency bands. For example, the dynamic switching can be limited to frequency bands introduced or specified after a particular date or in a particular 3GPP release. In other words, cells in frequency bands that existed before the particular date or the particular 3 GPP release can operate in the normal configuration but not in the energy saving configuration. In this manner, backward compatibility is maintained with all UEs that existed before the particular date or the particular 3GPP release, and new UEs introduced after the particular date or that support the particular 3 GPP release will be aware of configuration switching capability based on cell frequency band. The embodiments described above can be further illustrated with reference to Figures 8- 10, which show exemplary methods (e.g., procedures) for a UE, a first base station, and a second base station, respectively. Put differently, various features of the operations described below correspond to various embodiments described above. Furthermore, the exemplary methods shown in Figures 8-10 can be used cooperatively to provide various benefits, advantages, and/or solutions to problems, including those described herein. Although Figures 8-10 show specific blocks in particular orders, the operations of the exemplary methods can be performed in different orders than shown and can be combined and/or divided into blocks with different functionality than shown. Optional blocks or operations are indicated by dashed lines.

In particular, Figure 8 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a UE configured to operate in a wireless network (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN), according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary method shown in Figure 8 can be performed by a UE (e.g., wireless device, MTC device, NB-IoT device, modem, etc. or component thereof) such as described elsewhere herein.

The exemplary method can include the operations of block 810, in which the UE can receive, from the wireless network, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell. The energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink (DL) transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration. The exemplary method can also include the operations of block 860, in which the UE can, based on the indication, transmit a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell.

• one or more thresholds for UE measurements of DL received signal strength;

• one or more RA resources;

• one or more signals;

• one or more physical uplink channels; • one or more bits, fields, or information elements in an uplink message; and

In some of these embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 840, in which the UE can measure DL received signal strength for the first cell. In some variants, the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include first and second thresholds and the first request is transmitted (e.g., in block 860) when the measured DL received signal strength is below the first threshold and above the second threshold. In some further variants, the one or more thresholds include a third threshold and the exemplary method also includes the operations of block 840, in which the UE can transmit a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible, when the following applies:

• the measured DL signal strength is above the third threshold.

In some further variants, the second request indicates a feasible amount of decrease of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

In some of these embodiments, the configuration is pre-configured in the UE. In other of these embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 820, in which the UE can receive the configuration from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell.

In some embodiments, the indication is received (e.g., in block 810) from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell, and the first request is transmitted (e.g., in block 860) to the first base station or to the second base station. In some of these embodiments, the first cell is a secondary cell (SCell) for the UE, and the first request is transmitted to the first base station in a primary cell (PCell) for the UE.

In some of these embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 850, where the UE can receive, from the first base station, a message soliciting the UE to request an increase in DL transmit power for the first cell. The first request is transmitted (e.g., in block 850) in response to the message.

In other of these embodiments, the first request also indicates a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on one of the following:

• transmitting the first request using resources of the first cell that are associated with the coverage area, when the first request is transmitted to the first base station.

In some variants, the resources of the first cell include one of the following: a preamble associated with a DL beam in the coverage area, and a transmission timing that is associated with the coverage area.

In some embodiments, the first request indicates one or more of the following:

In some embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 830, where the UE can receive an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell, e.g., from the first base station or from a second base station serving a second cell neighboring the first cell:

• a normal DL transmit power (e.g., Pnorm) used by the first base station in the non-energy saving configuration;

• the reduced DL transmit power (e.g., P_red); and

• a power offset (e.g., dP) between the normal DL transmit power and the reduced DL transmit power.

In addition, Figure 9 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a first base station configured to operate in a wireless network, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary method shown in Figure 9 can be performed by a base station (e.g., RAN node, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc., or component thereof) such as described elsewhere herein. The exemplary method can include the operations of block 910, in which the first base station can transmit an indication that the first base station is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink (DL) transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration. The exemplary method can include the operations of block 950, in which the first base station can receive a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell. The exemplary method can include the operations of block 960, in which the first base station can enter a nonenergy saving configuration for the first cell in response to the first request. The first base station transmits at least one signal or channel in the first cell using an increased DL transmit power relative to the energy saving configuration.

In various embodiments, the first request can have any of the same contents and characteristics as discussed above in relation to Figure 8 for UE embodiments. For example, the first request can be based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how UEs can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell.

In various embodiments, the configuration can have any of the same contents and characteristics discussed above in relation to Figure 8 for UE embodiments. For example, the configuration can include first and second thresholds for UE measurements, with the first request being received (e.g., in block 950) responsive to a UE’s measured DL received signal strength being below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

As another example, the configuration can include a third threshold for UE measurements and the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 970, where when the first base station is using the non-energy saving configuration for at least the first cell, the first base station can receive from a UE a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible. The second request is responsive to the UE’s measured DL signal strength being above the third threshold. In some variants, the second request indicates a feasible amount of decrease of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

In some embodiments, the configuration is pre-configured in each UE. In other embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 920, where the first base station can transmit the configuration in at least the first cell. In various embodiments, the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell, only to a tracking area that includes the first cell, or to a PLMN that includes the first cell.

In some embodiments, the first request is received from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell, such as illustrated in Figure 7. In other embodiments, the first request is received from a user equipment (UE), such as illustrated in Figure 6. In some variants, the first cell is an SCell for the UE and the first request is received from the UE in a PCell for the UE. In some further variants, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 940, where the first base station can send to the UE a message soliciting the UE to request an increase in DL transmit power for the first cell. The first request is received from the UE (e.g., in block 960) in response to the message.

In some embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 980, where the first base station can subsequently exit (i.e., after entering) the non-energy saving configuration and use the energy saving configuration again for the first cell, based on one or more of the following:

• there is no additional traffic to be served in the first cell; and

In some of these embodiments, exiting the non-energy saving configuration and using the energy saving configuration (e.g., in block 980) is further based on one or more of the following:

• that the non-energy saving configuration has been used in the first cell for at least a duration, which is pre-configured or indicated in the first request (e.g., in block 950); and

• receiving from a UE a second request (e.g., in block 970) indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible.

In some embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 930, where the first base station can transmit an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell:

• the reduced DL transmit power (e.g., P_red); and

In addition, Figure 10 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a second base station configured to operate in a wireless network, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary method shown in Figure 10 can be performed by a base station (e.g., RAN node, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc., or component thereof) such as described elsewhere herein.

The exemplary method can include the operations of block 1010, in which the second base station can transmit, in a second cell served by the second base station, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell. The energy saving configuration includes a reduced DL transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration. The exemplary method can include the operations of block 1040, in which the second base station can receive, from a UE via the second cell, a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell. The exemplary method can include the operations of block 1050, in which the second base station can send the first request to the first base station.

In various embodiments, the configuration can have any of the same contents and characteristics discussed above in relation to Figure 8 for UE embodiments. For example, the configuration can include first and second thresholds for UE measurements, with the first request being received (e.g., in block 1040) responsive to a UE’s measured DL received signal strength being below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

In some embodiments, the configuration is pre-configured in each UE. In other embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 1020, where the second base station can transmit the configuration in at least the second cell. In various embodiments, the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell, only to a tracking area that includes the first cell, or to a PLMN that includes the first cell.

In some embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 1030, where the second base station can transmit in the second cell an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell:

• the reduced DL transmit power (e.g., P_red); and

• a power offset (e.g., dP) between the normal DL transmit power and the reduced DL transmit power. Although various embodiments are described herein above in terms of methods, apparatus, devices, computer-readable medium and receivers, the person of ordinary skill will readily comprehend that such methods can be embodied by various combinations of hardware and software in various systems, communication devices, computing devices, control devices, apparatuses, non-transitory computer-readable media, etc.

Figure 11 shows an example of a communication system 1100 in accordance with some embodiments. In this example, communication system 1100 includes a telecommunication network 1102 that includes an access network 1104 (e.g., RAN) and a core network 1106, which includes one or more core network nodes 1108. Access network 1104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 11 lOa-b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1110), or any other similar 3 GPP access node or non-3GPP access point. Network nodes 1110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of UEs, such as by connecting UEs 1112a-d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1112) to core network 1106 over one or more wireless connections.

Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, communication system 1100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. Communication system 1100 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

UEs 1112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes 1110 and other communication devices. Similarly, network nodes 1110 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with UEs 1112 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in telecommunication network 1102 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in telecommunication network 1102.

In the depicted example, core network 1106 connects network nodes 1110 to one or more hosts, such as host 1116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. Core network 1106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

Host 1116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of access network 1104 and/or telecommunication network 1102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Host 1116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, communication system 1100 of Figure 11 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

In some examples, telecommunication network 1102 is a cellular network that implements 3 GPP standardized features. Accordingly, telecommunication network 1102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to telecommunication network 1102. For example, telecommunication network 1102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive loT services to yet further UEs. In some examples, UEs 1112 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to access network 1104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from access network 1104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, hub 1114 communicates with access network 1104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1112c and/or 1112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1110b). In some examples, hub 1114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, hub 1114 may be a broadband router enabling access to core network 1106 for the UEs. As another example, hub 1114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 1110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in hub 1114. As another example, hub 1114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, hub 1114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, hub 1114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which hub 1114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, hub 1114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

Hub 1114 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1110b. Hub 1114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between hub 1114 and UEs (e.g., UE 1112c and/or 1112d), and between hub 1114 and core network 1106. In other examples, hub 1114 is connected to core network 1106 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, hub 1114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over access network 1104 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with network nodes 1110 while still connected via hub 1114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, hub 1114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 1110b. In other embodiments, hub 1114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 1110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

Figure 12 shows a UE 1200 in accordance with some embodiments. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by 3 GPP, including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

UE 1200 includes processing circuitry 1202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1204 to an input/output interface 1206, a power source 1208, a memory 1210, a communication interface 1212, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 12. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

Processing circuitry 1202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in memory 1210. Processing circuitry 1202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general -purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, processing circuitry 1202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). In the example, input/output interface 1206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into UE 1200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, power source 1208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. Power source 1208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from power source 1208 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of UE 1200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of power source 1208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source 1208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of UE 1200 to which power is supplied.

Memory 1210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, memory 1210 includes one or more application programs 1214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1216. Memory 1210 may store, for use by UE 1200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

Memory 1210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ Memory 1210 may allow UE 1200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non- transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in memory 1210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

Processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using communication interface 1212. Communication interface 1212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1222. Communication interface 1212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1218 and/or a receiver 1220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, transmitter 1218 and receiver 1220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of communication interface 1212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 1212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., an alert is sent when moisture is detected), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to UE 1200 shown in Figure 12.

As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

Figure 13 shows a network node 1300 in accordance with some embodiments. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (e.g., radio access points) and base stations (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, eNBs, and gNBs).

Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

Network node 1300 includes a processing circuitry 1302, a memory 1304, a communication interface 1306, and a power source 1308. Network node 1300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which network node 1300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, network node 1300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1310 may be shared by different RATs). Network node 1300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z- wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1300.

Processing circuitry 1302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1300 components, such as memory 1304, to provide network node 1300 functionality.

In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1312 and baseband processing circuitry 1314. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1312 and the baseband processing circuitry 1314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1312 and baseband processing circuitry 1314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

Memory 1304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 1302. Memory 1304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions (collectively denoted computer program product 1304a) capable of being executed by processing circuitry 1302 and utilized by network node 1300. Memory 1304 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry 1302 and/or any data received via communication interface 1306. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1302 and memory 1304 is integrated.

Communication interface 1306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, communication interface 1306 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. Communication interface 1306 also includes radio frontend circuitry 1318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna 1310. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 comprises filters 1320 and amplifiers 1322. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 may be connected to an antenna 1310 and processing circuitry 1302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1310 and processing circuitry 1302. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1320 and/or amplifiers 1322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1310. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front-end circuitry 1318. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 1302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1318, instead, processing circuitry 1302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to antenna 1310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1312 is part of communication interface 1306. In still other embodiments, communication interface 1306 includes one or more ports or terminals 1316, radio front-end circuitry 1318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and communication interface 1306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

Antenna 1310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 1310 may be coupled to radio front-end circuitry 1318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, antenna 1310 is separate from network node 1300 and connectable to network node 1300 through an interface or port.

Antenna 1310, communication interface 1306, and/or processing circuitry 1302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, antenna 1310, communication interface 1306, and/or processing circuitry 1302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Power source 1308 provides power to the various components of network node 1300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source 1308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of network node 1300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, network node 1300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of power source 1308. As a further example, power source 1308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of network node 1300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 13 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 1300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node 1300 and to allow output of information from network node 1300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 1300.

Figure 14 is a block diagram of a host 1400, which may be an embodiment of host 1116 of Figure 11, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, host 1400 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. Host 1400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

Host 1400 includes processing circuitry 1402 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1404 to an input/output interface 1406, a network interface 1408, a power source 1410, and a memory 1412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 12 and 13, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1400.

Memory 1412 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 1414 and data 1416, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for host 1400 or data generated by host 1400 for a UE. Embodiments of host 1400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. Host application programs 1414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). Host application programs 1414 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, host 1400 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. Host application programs 1414 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real- Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

Figure 15 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

Applications 1502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 1504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions (collectively denoted computer program product 1504a) executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1508a and 1508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1508), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1508. VMs 1508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM 1508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1508, and that part of hardware 1504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1508 on top of the hardware 1504 and corresponds to the application 1502.

Hardware 1504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1502. In some embodiments, hardware 1504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

Figure 16 shows a communication diagram of a host 1602 communicating via a network node 1604 with a UE 1606 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 1112a of Figure 11 and/or UE 1200 of Figure 12), network node (such as network node 1110a of Figure 11 and/or network node 1300 of Figure 13), and host (such as host 1116 of Figure 11 and/or host 1400 of Figure 14) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 16. Like host 1400, embodiments of host 1602 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. Host 1602 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by host 1602 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE 1606 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1650 extending between UE 1606 and host 1602. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection 1650.

Network node 1604 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with host 1602 and UE 1606. Connection 1660 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 1106 of Figure 11) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

UE 1606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1606 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1606 with the support of host 1602. In host 1602, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via OTT connection 1650 terminating at UE 1606 and host 1602. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 1650 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through OTT connection 1650.

OTT connection 1650 may extend via a connection 1660 between host 1602 and network node 1604 and via a wireless connection 1670 between network node 1604 and UE 1606 to provide the connection between host 1602 and UE 1606. Connection 1660 and wireless connection 1670, over which OTT connection 1650 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host 1602 and UE 1606 via network node 1604, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

As an example of transmitting data via OTT connection 1650, in step 1608, host 1602 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with UE 1606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1606 that shares data with host 1602 without explicit human interaction. In step 1610, host 1602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards UE 1606. Host 1602 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by UE 1606. The request may be caused by human interaction with UE 1606 or by operation of the client application executing on UE 1606. The transmission may pass via network node 1604, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1612, network node 1604 transmits to UE 1606 the user data that was carried in the transmission that host 1602 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1614, UE 1606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on UE 1606 associated with the host application executed by host 1602.

In some examples, UE 1606 executes a client application which provides user data to host 1602. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from host 1602. Accordingly, in step 1616, UE 1606 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of UE 1606. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, UE 1606 initiates, in step 1618, transmission of the user data towards host 1602 via network node 1604. In step 1620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, network node 1604 receives user data from UE 1606 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards host 1602. In step 1622, host 1602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE 1606.

One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 1606 using OTT connection 1650, in which wireless connection 1670 forms the last segment. More precisely, embodiments described herein can provide novel, flexible, and efficient signaling and procedures to support dynamic adaptation of DL transmit (TX) power used by a base station in a cell, at least for transmission of SSB. These techniques facilitate predictable and/or correct UE and network behavior when a base station dynamically adapts DL TX power to reduce base station energy consumption. Thus, embodiments facilitate improved energy efficiency of wireless networks while maintaining predictable and/or correct UE behavior. When used in UEs and base stations (or network nodes) operating in a wireless network, embodiments increase the value to both end users and service providers of OTT services delivered via the wireless network.

In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by host 1602. As another example, host 1602 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, host 1602 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, host 1602 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, host 1602 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, host 1602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.

In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 1650 between host 1602 and UE 1606, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of host 1602 and/or UE 1606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which OTT connection 1650 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 1650 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of network node 1604. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by host 1602. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection 1650 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, arrangements, and procedures that, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and can be thus within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Various embodiments can be used together with one another, as well as interchangeably therewith, as should be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art.

The term unit, as used herein, can have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and/or electronic devices and can include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include Digital Signal Processor (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

As described herein, device and/or apparatus can be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of a device or apparatus, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as a software module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution or being run on a processor. Furthermore, functionality of a device or apparatus can be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. A device or apparatus can also be regarded as an assembly of multiple devices and/or apparatuses, whether functionally in cooperation with or independently of each other. Moreover, devices and apparatuses can be implemented in a distributed fashion throughout a system, so long as the functionality of the device or apparatus is preserved. Such and similar principles are considered as known to a skilled person.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

In addition, certain terms used in the present disclosure, including the specification, drawings and embodiments thereof, can be used synonymously in certain instances, including, but not limited to, e.g., data and information. It should be understood that, while these words and/or other words that can be synonymous to one another, can be used synonymously herein, that there can be instances when such words can be intended to not be used synonymously.

Example embodiments of the techniques and apparatus described herein include, but are not limited to, the following enumerated examples:

Al . A method for a user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a wireless network, the method comprising: receiving, from the wireless network, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink (DL) transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; and based on the indication, transmitting a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell.

A2. The method of embodiment Al, wherein the first request also indicates an amount of increase of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

A3. The method of any of embodiments A1-A2, wherein transmitting the first request is further based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how UEs can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell.

A4. The method of embodiment A3, wherein the configuration includes one or more of the following: an indication of areas or portions of the first cell that use the reduced DL transmit power; one or more thresholds for UE measurements of DL received signal strength; an indication of cell resources that can be used for requesting increases in DL transmit power; an indication of a subset of UEs that can request increases in DL transmit power; and an indication of how often each UE can request increases in DL transmit power. A5. The method of embodiment A4, wherein the indication of cell resources that can be used identifies one or more of the following: one or more random access (RA) resources; one or more signals; one or more physical uplink channels; one or more bits, fields, or information elements in an uplink message; and a specific number of repetitions used to transmit a request to increase the DL transmit power.

A6. The method of any of embodiments A4-A5, wherein the indication of how often each UE can request increases includes one of the following: a timer value, to be used by the UE to initiate a prohibit timer upon requesting increased DL transmit power; or an amount of change in measured DL signal strength needed, after a request for increased DL transmit power, before the UE is allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power.

A7. The method of any of embodiments A4-A6, wherein the method further comprises measuring DL received signal strength for the first cell.

A8. The method of embodiment A7, wherein: the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include first and second thresholds; and the first request is transmitted when the measured DL received signal strength is below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

A9. The method of any of embodiments A7-A8, wherein: the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include a third threshold; and the method further comprises transmitting a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible, when the following applies: the first base station is using the non-energy saving configuration for the first cell; and the measured DL signal strength is above the third threshold.

A10. The method of embodiment A9, wherein the second request indicates a feasible amount of decrease of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

Al l. The method of any of embodiments A3-A10, wherein one of the following applies: the configuration is pre-configured in the UE; or the method further comprises receiving the configuration from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell.

A12. The method of any of embodiments A3-A11, wherein the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell, only to a tracking area that includes the first cell, or to a public land mobile network (PLMN) that includes the first cell.

A13. The method of any of embodiments A1-A12, wherein: the indication is received from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell; and the first request is transmitted to the first base station or to the second base station.

A14. The method of embodiment A13, wherein the first cell is a secondary cell (SCell) for the UE, and the first request is transmitted to the first base station in a primary cell (PCell) for the UE.

A15. The method of any of embodiments A13-A14, further comprising receiving, from the first base station, a message soliciting the UE to request an increase in DL transmit power for the first cell, wherein the first request is transmitted in response to the message.

A16. The method of any of embodiments A13-A14, wherein the first request also indicates a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on one of the following: a location and/or an orientation of the UE, when the first request is transmitted to the second base station; or transmitting the first request using resources of the first cell that are associated with the coverage area, when the first request is transmitted to the first base station. A17. The method of embodiment A16, wherein the resources of the first cell include one of the following: a preamble associated with a DL beam in the coverage area, and a transmission timing that is associated with the coverage area.

A18. The method of any of embodiments A1-A17, wherein the first request indicates a duration for the requested increase in DL transmit power, based on one of the following: a value in seconds or milliseconds; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

Al 9. The method of any of embodiments Al -Al 8, further comprising receiving, from the first base station, an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell: a normal DL transmit power (Pnorm) used by the first base station in the non-energy saving configuration; the reduced DL transmit power (Pred); and a power offset (dP) between the normal DL transmit power (Pnorm) and the reduced DL transmit power (P_red).

BL A method for a first base station configured to operate in a wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting an indication that the first base station is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink (DL) transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; receiving a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell; and entering a non-energy saving configuration for the first cell in response to the first request, whereby the first base station transmits at least one signal or channel in the first cell using an increased DL transmit power relative to the energy saving configuration.

B2. The method of embodiment Bl, wherein the first request also indicates an amount of increase of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

B3. The method of any of embodiments B1-B2, wherein the first request is based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how user equipment (UEs) can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell.

B4. The method of embodiment B3, wherein the configuration includes one or more of the following: an indication of areas or portions of the first cell that use the reduced DL transmit power; one or more thresholds for UE measurements of DL received signal strength; an indication of cell resources that can be used for requesting increases in DL transmit power; an indication of a subset of UEs that can request increases in DL transmit power; and an indication of how often each UE can request increases in DL transmit power.

B5. The method of embodiment B4, wherein the indication of cell resources that can be used identifies one or more of the following: one or more random access (RA) resources; one or more signals; one or more physical uplink channels; one or more bits, fields, or information elements in an uplink message; and a specific number of repetitions used to transmit a request to increase the DL transmit power.

B6. The method of any of embodiments B4-B5, wherein the indication of how often each UE can request increases includes one of the following: a timer value, to be used by a UE to initiate a prohibit timer upon requesting increased DL transmit power; or an amount of change in measured DL signal strength needed, after a request for increased DL transmit power, before a UE is allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power.

B7. The method of embodiments B4-B6, wherein: the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include first and second thresholds; and the first request is received responsive to a UE’s measured DL received signal strength being below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

B8. The method of embodiments B4-B7, wherein: the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include a third threshold; and the method further comprises, when the first base station is using the non-energy saving configuration for at least the first cell, receiving from a UE a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible, responsive to the UE’s measured DL signal strength being above the third threshold.

B9. The method of embodiment B8, wherein the second request indicates a feasible amount of decrease of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

BIO. The method of any of embodiments B3-B9, wherein one of the following applies: the configuration is pre-configured in each UE; or the method further comprises transmitting the configuration in at least the first cell.

Bl 1. The method of any of embodiments B3-B10, wherein the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell, only to a tracking area that includes the first cell, or to a public land mobile network (PLMN) that includes the first cell.

B12. The method of any of embodiments Bl-Bl 1, wherein the first request is received from a user equipment (UE) or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell.

B13. The method of embodiment Bl 2, wherein the first cell is a secondary cell (SCell) for the UE, and the first request is received from the UE in a primary cell (PCell) for the UE. B14. The method of any of embodiments B12-B13, further comprising sending, to the UE, a message soliciting the UE to request an increase in DL transmit power for the first cell, wherein the first request is received from the UE in response to the message.

Bl 5. The method of any of embodiments B12-B13, wherein the first request also indicates a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on one of the following: a location and/or an orientation of the UE, when the first request is received from the second base station; or receiving the first request in resources of the first cell that are associated with the coverage area, when the first request is received from the UE.

Bl 6. The method of embodiment Bl 5, wherein the resources of the first cell include one of the following: a preamble associated with a DL beam in the coverage area, and a transmission timing that is associated with the coverage area.

Bl 7. The method of any of embodiments Bl -Bl 6, further comprising exiting the non-energy saving configuration and using the energy saving configuration again for the first cell, based on one or more of the following: there is no additional traffic to be served in the first cell; and all user equipment (UEs) served by the first cell are within a coverage area associated with the energy saving configuration.

Bl 8. The method of embodiment Bl 7, wherein exiting the non-energy saving configuration and using the energy saving configuration is further based on one or more of the following: that the non-energy saving configuration has been used in the first cell for at least a duration, which is pre-configured or indicated in the first request; and receiving from a UE a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible

Bl 9. The method of embodiment Bl 8, wherein the first request indicates a requested duration for the increase in DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in seconds or milliseconds; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station. B20. The method of any of embodiments Bl -Bl 9, further comprising transmitting an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell: a normal DL transmit power (Pnorm) used by the first base station in the non-energy saving configuration; the reduced DL transmit power (Pred); and a power offset (dP) between the normal DL transmit power (Pnorm) and the reduced DL transmit power (P_red).

CL A method for a second base station configured to operate in a wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting, in a second cell served by the second base station, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink (DL) transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; receiving, from a user equipment (UE) via the second cell, a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell; and sending the first request to the first base station.

C2. The method of embodiment Cl, wherein the first request also indicates an amount of increase of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

C3. The method of any of embodiments C1-C2, wherein the first request is based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how user equipment (UEs) can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell.

C4. The method of embodiment C3, wherein the configuration includes one or more of the following: an indication of areas or portions of the first cell that use the reduced DL transmit power; one or more thresholds for UE measurements of DL received signal strength; an indication of cell resources that can be used for requesting increases in DL transmit power; an indication of a subset of UEs that can request increases in DL transmit power; and an indication of how often each UE can request increases in DL transmit power.

C5. The method of embodiment C4, wherein the indication of cell resources that can be used identifies one or more of the following: one or more random access (RA) resources; one or more signals; one or more physical uplink channels; one or more bits, fields, or information elements in an uplink message; and a specific number of repetitions used to transmit a request to increase the DL transmit power.

C6. The method of any of embodiments C4-C5, wherein the indication of how often each UE can request increases includes one of the following: a timer value, to be used by a UE to initiate a prohibit timer upon requesting increased DL transmit power; or an amount of change in measured DL signal strength needed, after a request for increased DL transmit power, before a UE is allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power.

C7. The method of embodiments C4-C6, wherein: the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include first and second thresholds; and the first request is received responsive to a UE’s measured DL received signal strength being below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

C8. The method of any of embodiments C3-C7, wherein one of the following applies: the configuration is pre-configured in each UE; or the method further comprises transmitting the configuration in the second cell served.

C9. The method of any of embodiments C3-C8, wherein the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell, only to a tracking area that includes the first cell, or to a public land mobile network (PLMN) that includes the first cell. CIO. The method of any of embodiments C1-C9, wherein the first request indicates a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on a location and/or an orientation of the UE.

Cl 1. The method of any of embodiments Cl -CIO, wherein first request indicates a requested duration for the increase in DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in seconds or milliseconds; or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

C12. The method of any of embodiments Cl-Cl 1, further comprising transmitting, in the second cell, an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell: a normal DL transmit power (Pnorm) used by the first base station in the non-energy saving configuration; the reduced DL transmit power (Pred); and a power offset (dP) between the normal DL transmit power (Pnorm) and the reduced DL transmit power (P_red).

DI . A user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a wireless network, the UE comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with a base station of the wireless network; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments Al -Al 9.

D2. A user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a wireless network, the UE being further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments Al -Al 9.

D3. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a wireless network, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments Al -Al 9. D4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a wireless network, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments Al -Al 9.

El . A first base station configured to operate in a wireless network, the first base station comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with one or more user equipment (UEs) and with a second base station in the wireless network; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments Bl -Bl 9.

E2. A first base station configured to operate in a wireless network, the first base station being further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments Bl -Bl 9.

E3. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a first base station configured to operate in a wireless network, configure the first base station to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments Bl -Bl 9.

E4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a first base station configured to operate in a wireless network, configure the first base station to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments Bl -Bl 9.

Fl. A second base station configured to operate in a wireless network, the second base station comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with one or more user equipment (UEs) and with a first base station in the wireless network; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments C1-C12.

F2. A second base station configured to operate in a wireless network, the second base station being further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments C1-C12.

F3. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a second base station configured to operate in a wireless network, configure the second base station to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments C1-C12.

F4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a second base station configured to operate in a wireless network, configure the second base station to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of embodiments C1-C12.

Claims

1. A method for a user equipment, UE, configured to operate in a wireless network, the method comprising: receiving (810), from the wireless network, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; and based on the indication, transmitting (860) a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein: transmitting (860) the first request is further based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how UEs can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell; and the configuration includes one or more of the following: an indication of areas or portions of the first cell that use the reduced DL transmit power; one or more thresholds for UE measurements of DL received signal strength; an indication of cell resources that can be used for requesting increases in DL transmit power; an indication of a subset of UEs that can request increases in DL transmit power; and an indication of how often each UE can request increases in DL transmit power.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication of cell resources that can be used identifies one or more of the following: one or more random access, RA, resources; one or more signals; one or more physical uplink channels; one or more bits, fields, or information elements in an uplink message; and a specific number of repetitions used to transmit a request to increase the DL transmit power.

4. The method of any of claims 2-3, wherein the indication of how often each UE can request increases includes one of the following: a timer value, to be used by the UE to initiate a prohibit timer upon requesting increased DL transmit power; or an amount of change in measured DL signal strength needed, after a request for increased DL transmit power, before the UE is allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power.

5. The method of any of claims 2-4, wherein: the method further comprises measuring DL received signal strength for the first cell; the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include first and second thresholds; and the first request is transmitted when the measured DL received signal strength is below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

6. The method of any of claims 2-5, wherein: the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include a third threshold; and the method further comprises transmitting (870) a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible, when the following applies: the first base station is using the non-energy saving configuration for the first cell; and the measured DL signal strength is above the third threshold.

7. The method of any of claims 2-6, wherein one of the following applies: the configuration is pre-configured in the UE; or the method further comprises receiving (820) the configuration from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell.

8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein: the indication is received from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell; and the first request is transmitted to the first base station or to the second base station.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first cell is a secondary cell, SCell, for the UE, and the first request is transmitted to the first base station in a primary cell, PCell, for the UE.

10. The method of any of claims 8-9, further comprising receiving (850), from the first base station, a message soliciting the UE to request an increase in DL transmit power for the first cell, wherein the first request is transmitted to the first base station in response to the message.

11. The method of any of claims 1-10, wherein the first request indicates a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on one of the following: a location and/or an orientation of the UE, when the first request is transmitted to the second base station; or the first request is transmitted to the first base station using one or more of the following associated with the coverage area of the first cell: a preamble associated with a DL beam in the coverage area, and a transmission timing.

12. The method of any of claims 1-11, wherein the first request indicates one or more of the following: an amount of increase of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB, or an index that corresponds to an entry in a preconfigured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station; and a duration for the requested increase in DL transmit power, based on one of the following: a value in seconds or milliseconds, or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

13. The method of any of claims 1-12, further comprising receiving (830), from the first base station or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell, an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell: a normal DL transmit power used by the first base station in the non-energy saving configuration; the reduced DL transmit power; and a power offset between the normal DL transmit power and the reduced DL transmit power.

14. A method for a first base station configured to operate in a wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting (910) an indication that the first base station is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; receiving (950) a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell; and in response to the first request, entering (960) a non-energy saving configuration for the first cell, in which the first base station transmits at least one signal or channel in the first cell using an increased DL transmit power relative to the energy saving configuration.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein: the first request is based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how user equipment, UEs, can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell; and the configuration includes one or more of the following: an indication of areas or portions of the first cell that use the reduced DL transmit power; one or more thresholds for UE measurements of DL received signal strength; an indication of cell resources that can be used for requesting increases in DL transmit power; an indication of a subset of UEs that can request increases in DL transmit power; and an indication of how often each UE can request increases in DL transmit power.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the indication of cell resources that can be used identifies one or more of the following: one or more random access, RA, resources; one or more signals; one or more physical uplink channels; one or more bits, fields, or information elements in an uplink message; and a specific number of repetitions used to transmit a request to increase the DL transmit power.

17. The method of any of claims 15-16, wherein the indication of how often each UE can request increases includes one of the following: a timer value, to be used by a UE to initiate a prohibit timer upon requesting increased DL transmit power; or an amount of change in measured DL signal strength needed, after a request for increased DL transmit power, before a UE is allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power.

18. The method of claims 15-17, wherein: the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include first and second thresholds; and the first request is received responsive to a UE’s measured DL received signal strength being below the first threshold and above the second threshold.

19. The method of claims 15-18, wherein: the one or more thresholds for UE measurements include a third threshold; and the method further comprises, when the first base station is using the non-energy saving configuration for at least the first cell, receiving (970) from a UE a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible, responsive to the UE’s measured DL signal strength being above the third threshold.

20. The method of any of claims 15-19, wherein the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell; only to a tracking area that includes the first cell; or to a public land mobile network, PLMN, that includes the first cell.

21. The method of any of claims 14-20, wherein the first request is received from a user equipment, UE, or from a second base station that serves a second cell neighboring the first cell.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first cell is a secondary cell, SCell, for the UE and the first request is received from the UE in a primary cell, PCell, for the UE.

23. The method of any of claims 21-22, further comprising sending (940), to the UE, a message soliciting the UE to request an increase in DL transmit power for the first cell, wherein the first request is received from the UE in response to the message.

24. The method of any of claims 14-23, wherein the first request indicates a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on one of the following: a location and/or an orientation of the UE, when the first request is received from the second base station; or the first request is received from the UE based on one or more of the following associated with the coverage area of the first cell: a preamble associated with a DL beam in the coverage area, and a transmission timing.

25. The method of any of claims 14-24, further comprising subsequently exiting (980) the non-energy saving configuration and entering the energy saving configuration for the first cell, based on one or more of the following: there is no additional traffic to be served in the first cell; and all user equipment, UEs, served by the first cell are within a coverage area associated with the energy saving configuration.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein exiting (980) the non-energy saving configuration and entering the energy saving configuration is further based on one or more of the following: that the non-energy saving configuration has been used in the first cell for at least a duration, which is pre-configured or indicated in the first request; and receiving (970) from a UE a second request indicating that a decrease in the DL transmit power for the first cell is feasible.

27. The method of any of claims 14-26, wherein the first request indicates one or more of the following: an amount of increase of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB, or an index that corresponds to an entry in a preconfigured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station; and a duration for the requested increase in DL transmit power, based on one of the following: a value in seconds or milliseconds, or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

28. A method for a second base station configured to operate in a wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting (1010), in a second cell served by the second base station, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; receiving (1040), from a user equipment, UE, via the second cell, a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell; and sending (1050) the first request to the first base station.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein: the first request is based on a configuration that indicates when and/or how UEs can request increases in DL transmit power for the first cell; and the configuration includes one or more of the following: an indication of areas or portions of the first cell that use the reduced DL transmit power; one or more thresholds for UE measurements of DL received signal strength; an indication of cell resources that can be used for requesting increases in DL transmit power; an indication of a subset of UEs that can request increases in DL transmit power; and an indication of how often each UE can request increases in DL transmit power.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the indication of cell resources that can be used identifies one or more of the following: one or more random access, RA, resources; one or more signals; one or more physical uplink channels; one or more bits, fields, or information elements in an uplink message; and a specific number of repetitions used to transmit a request to increase the DL transmit power.

31. The method of any of claims 29-30, wherein the indication of how often each UE can request increases includes one of the following: a timer value, to be used by a UE to initiate a prohibit timer upon requesting increased DL transmit power; or an amount of change in measured DL signal strength needed, after a request for increased DL transmit power, before a UE is allowed to request another increase in DL transmit power.

32. The method of any of claims 29-31, wherein the configuration is applicable to one of the following: only the first cell; only to a tracking area that includes the first cell; or to a public land mobile network, PLMN, that includes the first cell.

33. The method of any of claims 28-32, wherein the first request indicates one or more of the following: a coverage area of the first cell in which the increase in DL transmit power is requested, based on a location and/or an orientation of the UE; an amount of increase of the DL transmit power for the first cell, based on one of the following: a value in dB, or an index that corresponds to an entry in a preconfigured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station; and a duration for the requested increase in DL transmit power, based on one of the following: a value in seconds or milliseconds, or an index that corresponds to an entry in a pre-configured list of values known by at least the UE and the first base station.

34. The method of any of claims 28-33, further comprising transmitting (1030), in the second cell, an indication of one or more of the following associated with the first cell: a normal DL transmit power used by the first base station in the non-energy saving configuration; the reduced DL transmit power; and a power offset between the normal DL transmit power and the reduced DL transmit power.

35. A user equipment, UE (120, 530, 630, 1112, 1200, 1606) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), the UE comprising: communication interface circuitry (1212) configured to communicate with at least one base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 510, 520, 610, 620, 1110, 1300, 1604) of the wireless network; and processing circuitry (1202) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to: receive, from the wireless network, an indication that a first base station in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; and based on the indication, transmit a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell.

36. The UE of claim 35, wherein the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 2-13.

37. A user equipment, UE (120, 530, 630, 1112, 1200, 1606) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), the UE being further configured to: receive, from the wireless network, an indication that a first base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 510, 610, 1110, 1300, 1604) in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; and based on the indication, transmit a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell.

38. The UE of claim 37, being further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 2-13.

39. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium (1210) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1202) of a user equipment, UE (120, 530, 630, 1112, 1200, 1606) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 1-13.

40. A computer program product (1214) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1202) of a user equipment, UE (120, 530, 630, 1112, 1200, 1606) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 1-13.

41. A first base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 510, 610, 1110, 1300, 1604) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), the first base station comprising: communication interface circuitry (1306, 1504) configured to communicate with one or more user equipment, UEs (120, 530, 630, 1112, 1200, 1606) and with a second base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 520, 620, 1110, 1300, 1604) in the wireless network; and processing circuitry (1302, 1504) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to: transmit an indication that the first base station is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; receive a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell; and in response to the first request, enter a non-energy saving configuration for the first cell, in which the first base station transmits at least one signal or channel in the first cell using an increased DL transmit power relative to the energy saving configuration.

42. The first base station of claim 41, wherein perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 15-27.

43. A first base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 510, 610, 1110, 1300, 1604) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), the first base station being further configured to: transmit an indication that the first base station is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; receive a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell; and in response to the first request, enter a non-energy saving configuration for the first cell, in which the first base station transmits at least one signal or channel in the first cell using an increased DL transmit power relative to the energy saving configuration.

44. The first base station of claim 43, being further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 15-27.

45. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium (1304, 1504) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1302, 1504) of a first base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 510, 610, 1110, 1300, 1604) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), configure the first base station to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 14-27.

46. A computer program product (1304a, 1504a) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1302, 1504) of a first base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 510, 610, 1110, 1300, 1604) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), configure the first base station to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 14-27.

47. A second base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 520, 620, 1110, 1300, 1604) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), the second base station comprising: communication interface circuitry (1306, 1504) configured to communicate with one or more user equipment, UEs (120, 530, 630, 1112, 1200, 1606) and with a first base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 510, 610, 1110, 1300, 1604) in the wireless network; and processing circuitry (1302, 1504) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to: transmit, in a second cell served by the second base station, an indication that the first base station is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; receive, from a UE via the second cell, a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell; and send the first request to the first base station.

48. The second base station of claim 47, wherein the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 29-34.

49. A second base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 520, 620, 1110, 1300, 1604) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), the second base station being further configured to: transmit, in a second cell served by the second base station, an indication that a first base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 510, 610, 1110, 1300, 1604) in the wireless network is using an energy saving configuration for at least a first cell, wherein the energy saving configuration includes a reduced downlink, DL, transmit power for the first cell relative to a non-energy saving configuration; receive, from a user equipment, UE (120, 530, 630, 1112, 1200, 1606) via the second cell, a first request for the first base station to increase the DL transmit power for the first cell; and send the first request to the first base station.

50. The second base station of claim 49, being further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 29-34.

51. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium (1304, 1504) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1302, 1504) of a second base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 520, 620, 1110, 1300, 1604) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), configure the second base station to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 28-34.

52. A computer program product (1304a, 1504a) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1302, 1504) of a second base station (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 520, 620, 1110, 1300, 1604) configured to operate in a wireless network (100, 199, 1104), configure the second base station to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 28-34.