Coordination techniques for discontinuous reception (drx) operations in dual-connectivity architectures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016249405-A1
Application number	US-201415026548-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 28, 2014
Priority date	Nov 27, 2013
Publication date	Aug 25, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Coordination techniques for discontinuous reception (DRX) operations in dual-connectivity architectures are described. In one embodiment, for example, user equipment (UE) may comprise logic, at least a portion of which is in hardware, the logic to receive a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message during operation in a dually-connected UE state, determine whether UE assistance information reporting is enabled for the UE based on the RRC configuration message, and in response to a determination that UE assistance information reporting is enabled for the UE, send one or more UE assistance information messages to report a macro cell power preference and a small cell power preference. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

1 . User equipment (UE), comprising:
a display; and logic, at least a portion of which is in hardware, the logic to receive a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message during operation in a dually-connected UE state, determine whether UE assistance information reporting is enabled for the UE based on the RRC configuration message, and in response to a determination that UE assistance information reporting is enabled for the UE, send one or more UE assistance information messages to report a macro cell power preference and a small cell power preference.

2 . The UE of claim 1 , the one or more UE assistance information messages to collectively comprise a master power preference indication (PPI) information element (IE) to indicate the macro cell power preference and a secondary PPI IE to indicate the small cell power preference.

3 . The UE of claim 2 , the logic to send one UE assistance information message to report the macro cell power preference and the small cell power preference, the one UE assistance information message to comprise the master PPI IE and the secondary PPI IE.

4 . The UE of claim 3 , the logic to send the one UE assistance information message to a master evolved node B (MeNB) of a serving macro cell of the UE.

5 . The UE of claim 2 , the logic to send a first UE assistance information message to report the macro cell power preference and send a second UE assistance information message to report the small cell power preference, the first UE assistance information message to comprise the master PPI IE, the second UE assistance information message to comprise the secondary PPI IE.

6 . The UE of claim 5 , the logic to send the first UE assistance information message and the second UE assistance information message to a master evolved node B (MeNB) of a serving macro cell of the UE.

7 . The UE of claim 5 , the logic to send the first UE assistance information message to a master evolved node B (MeNB) of a serving macro cell of the UE and send the second UE assistance information message to a secondary evolved node B (SeNB) of a serving small cell of the UE.

8 . The UE of claim 1 , the logic to receive macro cell discontinuous reception (DRX) settings and small cell DRX settings in response to the one or more UE assistance information messages.

9 . The UE of claim 1 , comprising:
at least one radio frequency (RF) transceiver; and at least one RF antenna.

10 . A master evolved node B (MeNB), comprising:
at least one memory unit; and logic, at least a portion of which is in hardware, the logic to select macro cell discontinuous reception (DRX) settings for a user equipment (UE), receive a message comprising small cell DRX settings for the UE, send a first radio resource control (RRC) configuration message comprising the macro cell DRX settings, and send a second RRC configuration message comprising the small cell DRX settings.

11 . The MeNB of claim 10 , the logic to receive a UE assistance information message indicating a macro cell power preference of the UE and select the macro cell DRX settings for the UE based on the macro cell power preference.

12 . The MeNB of claim 11 , the UE assistance information message to comprise a master power preference indication (PPI) information element (IE) that indicates the macro cell power preference.

13 . The MeNB of claim 11 , the logic to send an RRC message to enable UE assistance information reporting for the UE and receive the UE assistance information message in response to the RRC message.

14 . The MeNB of claim 13 , the logic to receive an indication of a small cell power preference of the UE in response to the RRC message.

15 . The MeNB of claim 14 , the UE assistance information message to comprise a secondary power preference indication (PPI) information element (IE) that indicates the small cell power preference.

16 . The MeNB of claim 14 , the logic to receive a second UE assistance information message that comprises the indication of the small cell power preference in response to the RRC message.

17 . The MeNB of claim 14 , the logic to send a message over an X2 interface connection to report the small cell power preference to a secondary evolved node B (SeNB) of a serving small cell of the UE.

18 . The MeNB of claim 10 , comprising:
one or more radio frequency (RF) transceivers; and one or more RF antennas.

19 . A secondary evolved node B (SeNB), comprising:
at least one radio frequency (RF) transceiver; at least one RF antenna; and logic, at least a portion of which is in hardware, the logic to receive an indication of a small cell power preference of a user equipment (UE), select small cell discontinuous reception (DRX) settings for the UE based on the small cell power preference, and send a radio resource control (RRC) message to report the selected small cell DRX settings.

20 . The SeNB of claim 19 , the logic to receive a message comprising the indication of the small cell power preference over an X2 interface connection.

21 . The SeNB of claim 20 , the logic to receive the message comprising the indication of the small cell power preference from a master evolved node B (MeNB) of a serving macro cell of the UE.

22 . The SeNB of claim 20 , the received message to comprise a power preference indication (PPI) information element (IE) that indicates the small cell power preference.

23 . The SeNB of claim 19 , the logic to receive a UE assistance information message from the UE, the UE assistance information message to comprise a power preference indication (PPI) information element (IE) that indicates the small cell power preference.

24 . The SeNB of claim 19 , the logic to send the RRC message to a master evolved node B (MeNB) of a serving macro cell of the UE.

25 . The SeNB of claim 19 , comprising at least one memory unit.

Assignees

• Koc Ali T
• Jha Satish C
• Sivanesan Kathiravetpillai
• Vannithamby Rath
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Koc Ali T
• Jha Satish C
• Sivanesan Kathiravetpillai
• Vannithamby Rath

Classifications

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04W72/51

  based on terminal or device properties · CPC title

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04L5/14

  Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex · CPC title

• H04W52/0216

  using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame · CPC title