METHOD FOR CONTROLLING OPERATION ACTIVITY MODES OF A WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS TERMINAL

• US 20110305215A1
• Filed: 06/13/2011
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Mobile Communications Technology Dresden GmbH (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: HOFMANN, Matthias, KONRAD, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 9,107,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0222 in packet switched networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method is provided for controlling Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mode in telecommunication user equipment (UE), with the object to improve system power consumption of a UE of a wireless communication system that is running the DRX mode in RRC_CONNECTED state. In an LTE communication system, DRX functionality is applied to the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer to discontinue monitoring the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) for certain periods in order to reduce power consumption of the UE. Typical physical UE implementations have the stack controller and the Physical Layer (PHY) running on several hardware blocks that can enter power saving modes independently. The method comprises a partitioning of the functionality between stack controller and PHY layer that allows the stack controller entity to be active at a minimum while ensuring that the UE still behaves standard compliant to the network.

Claims

1. A method for controlling operation activity modes of a telecommunications terminal affiliated to a wireless telecommunications network, comprising the step of receiving configuration data from the network upon connection to the network at a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer of a protocol stack of the terminal;

the method further comprising;

communicating said configuration data from the RRC layer to a physical layer entity of the terminal; and

the physical layer entity controlling a stack controller entity of the terminal to go into and off a power save mode as a function of said configuration data and as a function of any activity events detected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said configuration data comprise Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration data that configure an DRX ‘

on’

duration during which the terminal monitors a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said configuration data comprise Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) configuration data.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of controlling the stack controller comprises, in case the physical layer entity does not detect any activity during DRX ‘

on’

durations, keeping the stack controller in a power save mode.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of controlling the stack controller comprises deciding when to enter a next DRX period, by the physical layer entity.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein the step of controlling the stack controller comprises, in case of unsuccessful data transmission received at the physical layer entity, the physical layer entity proceeding with downlink retransmission according to a Hybrid Adaptive Response and Request (HARQ) protocol and keeping the stack controller in a power save mode until data transmission is successful.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of the physical layer entity entering a DRX period of inactivity during a retransmission round-trip time of the HARQ protocol.