Discontinuous Reception of Bursts for Voice Calls

• US 20090258664A1
• Filed: 04/09/2008
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Huan, Hong Xin George
• Granted Patent: US 8,233,877 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/522
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0277 according to available power supply, e.g. switching off when a low battery condition is detected
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A mobile terminal capable of operating in a Discontinuous Transmission mode during an active voice call with a remote party is also capable of operating in a Discontinuous Reception mode during the same active voice call. Particularly, a receiving mobile terminal monitors when the remote party stops transmitting speech during the active voice call. If there are no speech signals to receive, the mobile terminal switches it'"'"'s receiver “off” for selected receive time slots to save battery power.

Claims

1. A method of receiving signals during an active call, the method comprising:

detecting an end of received speech during an active voice call; and

disabling a receiver for selected receive bursts during the active call responsive to detecting the end of the received speech.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein disabling a receiver for selected receive bursts during the active call comprises switching the receiver from a normal receive mode of operation to a discontinuous reception of bursts mode of operation if there are no speech signals being received.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein disabling a receiver for selected receive bursts during the active call comprises:

turning the receiver on for a first frame in a radio block;

determining whether the first frame contains speech; and

if the first frame does not contain speech, turning the receiver off for one or more subsequent frames in the radio block.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising switching from the discontinuous reception of bursts mode of operation to the normal receive mode of operation if the first frame in the radio block contains speech.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting an end of received speech during an active voice call comprises detecting an indicator frame indicating that the remote party is not transmitting speech signals.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the indicator frame comprises a Silence Insertion Descriptor frame, and wherein disabling the receiver for selected receive bursts during the active call comprises turning the receiver off for the selected receive bursts responsive to detecting the Silence Insertion Descriptor frame.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a start of received speech during the active call; and

enabling the receiver for each of the receive burst slots during the active call responsive to detecting the start of the received speech.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein enabling the receiver for each of the receive burst slots during the active call comprises switching the receiver to a normal receive mode of operation if there are speech signals to be received.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein detecting a start of received speech during the active call comprises:

enabling the receiver for a first receive burst of a received radio block to receive signals;

decoding the received signals received in the first burst to produce decoded signals; and

determining whether the decoded signals are speech signals.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein determining whether the decoded signals are speech signals comprises:

determining whether the decoded signals include an identifier transmitted by the remote party'"'"'s device to indicate the start of the speech signals;

switching the receiver on for subsequent receive bursts in the radio block to receive the speech signals if the indicator is present; and

switching the receiver off for the remaining receive bursts in the radio block if the indicator is not present.

11. A wireless communication device comprising:

a receiver configured to receive speech signals in a normal receive mode during an active voice call; and

a controller configured to;

detect an end of the received speech signals during the active voice call; and

switch the receiver to operate in a discontinuous reception of bursts mode during the active call responsive to detecting the end of the received speech signals.

12. The device of claim 11 wherein the controller is configured to switch the receiver to a discontinuous reception of bursts mode of operation by:

turning the receiver on for a first frame in a radio block;

determining whether the first frame contains speech signals; and

turning the receiver off for one or more subsequent frames in the radio block if the first frame does not contain speech signals.

13. The device of claim 12 wherein the controller is configured to switch the receiver from the discontinuous reception of bursts mode of operation to the normal receive mode of operation if the first frame in the radio block contains speech.

14. The device of claim 11 wherein the controller is configured to switch the receiver to the discontinuous reception of bursts mode of operation during the active voice call by turning the receiver off for selected receive bursts if there are no speech signals being received.

15. The device of claim 14 wherein the controller is configured to detect the end of the received speech signals during the active voice call by detecting a first predetermined frame indicating that a remote party is not transmitting speech signals.

16. The device of claim 11 wherein the controller is configured to:

detect a start of received speech signals during the active call; and

switch the receiver back to the normal receive mode of operation responsive to detecting the start of the speech signals.

17. The device of claim 16 wherein the controller is configured to switch the receiver back to the normal receive mode of operation during the active call by turning the receiver on for each of the receive bursts in a received radio block.

18. The device of claim 16 wherein the controller is configured to detect a start of received speech signals during the active call by:

enabling the receiver to receive signals in a first burst of a received radio block;

decoding the signals received in the first burst to produce decoded signals; and

determining whether the decoded signals are speech signals.

19. The device of claim 18 wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the decoded signals are speech signals by determining whether the decoded signals include an identifier transmitted by a remote party'"'"'s device to indicate the start of the speech signals.

20. The device of claim 19 wherein the controller is further configured to:

switch the receiver on for subsequent receive bursts in the received radio block to receive the speech signals if the indicator is present; and

switch the receiver off for the remaining receive bursts in the radio block if the indicator is not present.

21. A method of transmitting speech signals having control information during an active voice call, the method comprising:

generating an indicator indicating an end of speech blocks being transmitted to a remote device during an active voice call; and

transmitting the indicator in a first radio block to switch the remote device to operate in a discontinuous reception of bursts mode of operation while engaged in the active voice call.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the indicator comprises a silence descriptor.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising generating an identifier indicating a start of the speech blocks for transmission to the remote device.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein generating an identifier comprises concatenating an M-bit value N times to produce an identifier having a predetermined bit length responsive to detecting a user'"'"'s speech.

25. The method of claim 23 further comprising mapping the identifier into a subblock of a first encoded signal block, and interleaving the subblock into a second radio block for transmission to the remote device.

26. The method of claim 23 further comprising interleaving the identifier with encoded speech into a first frame of a second radio block.

27. A wireless communication device comprising:

a controller configured to generate an indicator indicating an end of speech blocks being transmitted to a remote device during an active voice call; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the indicator in a first radio block to switch the remote device to operate in a discontinuous reception of bursts mode of operation while engaged in the active voice call.

28. The device of claim 27 wherein the indicator comprises a silence descriptor.

29. The device of claim 27 wherein the controller is further configured to generate an identifier indicating a start of the speech blocks for transmission to the remote device.

30. The device of claim 29 wherein the controller is further configured to concatenate an M-bit value N times to produce the identifier having a predetermined bit length responsive to detecting a user'"'"'s speech.

31. The device of claim 29 wherein the controller is further configured to map the identifier into a subblock of a first encoded signal block, and interleave the subblock into a second radio block for transmission to the remote device.

32. The device of claim 29 wherein the controller is further configured to interleave the identifier with encoded speech into a first frame of a second radio block.