Low power LTE (LP-LTE) paging monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10701635-B2
Application number	US-201916444004-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2019
Priority date	Mar 14, 2016
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

A wireless communication device (UE) may include a paging subsystem that performs paging-monitoring as part of wireless communications of the wireless communication device. The UE may place wireless communication system resources not required during paging-monitoring into either a low-power state or a power-down state, and those system resources may remain in one of those respective states during paging-monitoring. The wireless communication system resources not required during the paging-monitoring may include at least a wireless communications protocol stack used during the wireless communications of the UE, and at least system resources used for performing uplink related tasks independently of wireless communication system resources used for performing downlink related tasks. The paging subsystem may include at least a control manager subsystem capable of decoding a physical downlink control channel, a downlink control subsystem capable of performing tasks related to a physical downlink data channel, and a message parser for parsing paging messages.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for use in wireless communications, the apparatus comprising:
a processor configured to cause a device to:
perform monitoring for paging using:
a downlink control subsystem used to perform tasks related to a physical downlink data channel; and
a control manager subsystem used to decode a physical downlink control channel and route control information between an uplink control subsystem and the downlink control subsystem, wherein the uplink control subsystem is used for performing uplink related tasks of wireless communications conducted by the device according to a specific wireless communication technology, and wherein the uplink control subsystem, the downlink control subsystem, and the control manager subsystem are used by the device to conduct the wireless communications; and

place at least the uplink control subsystem into one of:
a low-power state during the monitoring for paging; or
a power-down state during the monitoring for paging.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to:
place a wireless communication protocol stack of the device into one of the low-power state or the power-down state during the monitoring for paging, wherein the wireless communication protocol stack is used along with the uplink control subsystem, the downlink control subsystem, and the control manager subsystem to conduct the wireless communications.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to parse paging messages using the downlink control subsystem.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to perform the monitoring for paging using one or more of the following:
a respective portion of shared memory of the device used for inter-processor communication;
a respective portion of scratch memory of the device used for processing;
a respective portion of code and data memory of the device used by processing core elements of the device that are not part of wireless communication system resources of the device;
a respective portion of scratch memory used by hardware modules of the device; or
a respective portion of registers and memory used by the hardware modules of the device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to place the uplink control subsystem into the low-power state, the processor is configured to cause the device to perform one or more of the following:
set memory voltages to levels below operating voltage levels for memories of the device included in the uplink control subsystem; or
decrease a clock frequency of operating clocks of processing elements of the device included in the uplink control subsystem.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein processor is configured to cause the device to:
save a present state of the uplink control subsystem and code associated with the uplink control subsystem into a non-volatile memory element of the device, prior to placing the uplink control subsystem into the power-down state; and
restore, to system memory of the device, the saved present state of the uplink control subsystem and the code associated with the uplink control subsystem, in response to the uplink subsystem being powered up.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to:
process a physical downlink control channel and determine if the physical downlink control channel indicates paging, subsequent to placing the uplink control subsystem into one of the low-power state or the power-down state.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein processor is configured to cause the device to:
in response to determining that the physical downlink control channel indicates paging, process the physical downlink data channel and determine whether any of the paging is for the device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein processor is configured to cause the device to:
perform one of the following in response to determining that at least some of the paging is for the device:
place the uplink control subsystem into normal operating mode, in case the uplink control subsystem was previously placed into the low-power state; or
restore a previously stored system state of the uplink control subsystem and code associated with the uplink control subsystem to system memory, in case the uplink control subsystem was previously placed into the power-down state.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to:
enter a discontinuous reception off-mode of operation in response to determining that none of the paging is for the device.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to:
enter a discontinuous reception off-mode of operation in response to determining that the physical downlink control channel does not indicate paging.

12. A device, comprising:
radio frequency (RF) circuitry for facilitating RF communications of the device; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the RF circuitry and configured to cause the device to:
perform monitoring for paging using:
a downlink subsystem used to perform tasks related to a physical downlink data channel; and
a control subsystem used to decode a physical downlink control channel and route control information between an uplink subsystem and the downlink subsystem, wherein the uplink subsystem is used for performing uplink related tasks of wireless communications conducted by the device according to a specific wireless communication technology, and wherein the uplink subsystem, the downlink subsystem, and the control subsystem are used by the device to conduct the wireless communications; and

place at least the uplink subsystem into one of:
a low-power state during the monitoring for paging; or
a power-down state during the monitoring for paging.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to:
place a wireless communication protocol stack of the device into one of the low-power state or the power-down state during the monitoring for paging, wherein the wireless communication protocol stack is used along with the uplink subsystem, the downlink subsystem, and the control subsystem to conduct the wireless communications.

14. The device of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to perform the monitoring for paging using one or more of the following:
a respective portion of shared memory of the device used for inter-processor communication;
a respective portion of scratch memory of the device used for processing;
a respective portion of code and data memory of the device used by processing core elements of the device that are not part of wireless communication system resources of the device;
a respective portion of scratch memory used by hardware modules of the device; or
a respective portion of registers and memory used by the hardware modules of the device.

15. The device of claim 12 , wherein to cause the device to place the uplink subsystem into the low-power state, the processor is configured to cause the device to perform one or more of the following:
set memory voltages to levels below operating voltage levels for memories of the device included in the uplink subsystem; or
decrease a clock frequency of operating clocks of processing elements of the device included in the uplink subsystem.

16. A non-transitory memory element storing programming instructions executable by a processor to cause a device to:
perform monitoring for paging using:
a downlink subsyste

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Elsayed Moustafa M
• Tabet Tarik

Classifications

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title

• H04W52/0229 Primary

  where the received signal is a wanted signal · CPC title

• H04W68/00

  User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like · CPC title

• H04W76/28

  Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX] · CPC title

• Y02D70/164

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic