US 10,455,505 B2 · Paging enhancement for extended DRX in cellular systems

Abstract

Technology described herein relates to systems, methods, and computer readable media to implement extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX) for user equipments (UEs). A Mobility Management Entity (MME) can be aware of the starting time and length of an eDRX cycle of a UE so that the MME can send a paging message for the UE to an evolved Node B (eNB) shortly ahead of a Paging Occasion (PO). In some examples, more than one PO can be included within an eDRX cycle. An eDRX timer can be used to control the duration of waking times and, if desired, to maintain legacy compatibility. Additional examples provide a way for the MME to update calculations regarding the starting time and length of eDRX cycle of the UE such that the MME will continue to be apprised of when the UE will be reachable when the UE moves between cells.

Claims26

Dependent claims

A user equipment (UE) capable of applying extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) to reduce energy consumption at the UE, the UE comprising,

one or more processors configured to:
signal transceiver circuitry at the UE to send an eDRX-request communication to a mobility management entity (MIME) via a wireless connection to a cellular base station, wherein the eDRX-request communication indicates that the UE requests to use eDRX for an idle mode of the UE;
identify an eDRX-response communication received from the MME via the wireless connection to the cellular base station, wherein the eDRX-response communication includes an absolute time reference (Tref);
identify an eDRX timer value (TeDRX) to be applied, wherein the TeDRX specifies a duration of an eDRX cycle;
switch the UE into a power-saving state that applies the eDRX cycle;
switch the UE from the power-saving state into the idle mode, which applies a normal DRX cycle, before a periodic time instant TN;
monitor a paging occasion (PO) for a paging communication from the MME for at least a predefined period of time;
switch the UE back into the power-saving state;
and
use the Tref and the TeDRX to identify paging occasions (POs) that are to be monitored at the UE;
and
a memory configured to communicate with the one or more processors.

9 more elements

An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) that supports idle-mode extended discontinuous reception (I-eDRX), the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:
identify common time reference information for a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node and a Hyper System Frame Number (H-SFN) for the first RAN node received from the first RAN node;
identify a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) communication from a Mobility Management Entity (MME) received via the first RAN node, wherein the NAS communication indicates an I-eDRX configuration for the UE and indicates a reference time for an I-eDRX cycle for the UE;
create a mapping relation between the H-SFN of the first RAN node and the common time reference information of the first RAN node;
and
commence the I-eDRX cycle based on the reference time by entering a deep sleep mode and
a memory configured to communicate with the one or more processors.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Paging enhancement for extended DRX in cellular systems

Life of this patent

Paging enhancement for extended DRX in cellular systems

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims26