Keeping The UE Awake

• US 20180054799A1
• Filed: 08/16/2017
• Published: 02/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IPLA Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Convida Wireless LLC
• Inventors: Starsinic, Michael F., Mladin, Catalina Mihaela, Di Girolamo, Rocco, Li, Hongkun, Wang, Chonggang, Chen, Zhuo, Seed, Dale N.
• Granted Patent: US 10,306,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0225 using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/25 Maintenance of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/06 Transport layer protocols, e.g. TCP [Transport Control Protocol] over wireless transmission control protocol/Internet protocol [TCP/IP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

When mobile terminated devices sleep, the devices might not be reachable when needed, for instance when the device is a recipient of data from a third party server. As described herein, a third party application server may inform the network that it has data to send to a particular UE or group of UEs. In an example, the mobile core network (MCN) may use information from the third party server to ensure that the UE is awake when it needs to be. For example, a given UE or group of UEs can be prevented from entering a sleep state before a data transfer is completed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and communication circuitry, the apparatus being connected to a network via its communication circuitry, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a message indicating a connection status associated with the mobile terminated device;

based on the message, configuring a retransmission time of a protocol to a first value;

sending a data packet to the at least one mobile terminated device; and

using the protocol to retransmit the data packet a predetermined number of times in accordance with the first value.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the protocol is a transmission control protocol or a constrained application protocol.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the message comprises a discontinuous reception timer or a tracking area update timer.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein the message further comprises an active timer, a tracking area update timer value, or a discontinuous reception cycle length.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

changing the retransmission time of the protocol from the first value to a second value, upon receiving data from the at least one mobile terminated device.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

changing the retransmission time of the protocol from the first value to a second value, upon receiving a notification from the network.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein the notification includes a timer value.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

using the protocol to retransmit the data packet in accordance with the second value.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

changing the retransmission time of the protocol back to the first value upon receiving a second notification from the network.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein the notification comprises an availability notification.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the second notification comprises a loss of connectivity notification.

12. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and communication circuitry, the apparatus being connected to a network via its communication circuitry, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first data delivery request message that indicates at least one user equipment (UE) that will be a recipient of data during a data transfer from a third party server, the first data delivery request message further indicating when the third party server would like to perform the data transfer; and

based on the first data delivery request message, performing an action to ensure that the at least one UE is awake for the data transfer.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a transfer policy associated with the at least one user equipment, such that the action is also based on the transfer policy,

wherein the transfer policy indicates whether one or more sleep modes are used by the at least one UE.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the at least one user equipment is a group of user equipments, such that the action ensures that each UE in the group is awake for the data transfer at the same time as each other.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein performing the action comprises paging the at least one UE upon receiving the first data delivery request message.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 15, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

after paging the at least one UE so that the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state, refraining from releasing the at least one UE from the RRC connected state until at least one of a time window in the first data delivery request message has passed, the data transfer is complete, or a timer expires.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein performing the action comprises preventing the at least one UE from entering a power savings mode (PSM) or extended idle mode discontinuous reception (eDRX) until a time window in the first data delivery request message has passed.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein preventing the at least one UE from entering the PSM or eDRX comprises rejecting a timer value that is proposed by the at least one UE during a tracking area update.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein preventing the at least one UE from entering the PSM or eDRX comprises adjusting a timer associated with the at least one UE and a tracking area update timer associated with the at least one UE such that the at least one UE is awake when the data transfer is performed.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein performing the action comprises sending a second data delivery request message to a radio access node in the network, wherein the data delivery request message comprises a request to page the at least one UE.