Indication of power boosting for physical downlink control channel and its impact on search space

A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

• receiving, from a base station, a power boost indication for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH);
• transmitting a request to lower a carrier aggregation level for one or more PDCCH candidates or an indication of a recommended carrier aggregation level for the one or more PDCCH candidates;
• restricting a number of search spaces for performing blind decoding of the PDCCH based on the power boost indication;
• monitoring for the PDCCH with the indicated power boost from the base station in the restricted number of search spaces based on the power boost indication from the base station;
• and
• performing the blind decoding for at least a subset of the one or more PDCCH candidates with lowered carrier aggregation level or the recommended carrier aggregation level based on the request or the indication.

An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

• memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
• transmit a power boost indication for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH);
• receive a request to lower a carrier aggregation level for one or more PDCCH candidates associated with the PDCCH or an indication recommending the carrier aggregation level for the one or more PDCCH candidates associated with the PDCCH based on the power boost indication;
• apply a power boost to the one or more PDCCH candidates associated with the PDCCH;
• and
• transmit the one or more PDCCH candidates associated with the PDCCH with the power boost and with lowered carrier aggregation level or recommended carrier aggregation level based on the request or the indication.

A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

• transmitting a power boost indication for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH);
• receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a request to lower a carrier aggregation level for one or more PDCCH candidates associated with the PDCCH or an indication recommending the carrier aggregation level for the one or more PDCCH candidates associated with the PDCCH based on the power boost indication;
• applying a power boost to the one or more PDCCH candidates associated with the PDCCH;
• and
• transmitting the one or more PDCCH candidates associated with the PDCCH with the power boost and with lowered carrier aggregation level or recommended carrier aggregation level based on the request or the indication.