Recovery of discontinuous reception cycle synchronization

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

• transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a downlink control information (DCI) message indicating a set of resources allocated to the UE for a transmission;
• transmitting, to the UE, data to synchronize a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle with the UE based on an absence of the transmission from the set of resources allocated to the UE, wherein the data is transmitted to synchronize the DRX cycle with the UE by restarting an inactivity timer at the UE;
• transmitting, to the UE, another DCI message having an indicator value indicating an association with a new transmission;
• and either:
• transmitting, prior to expiration of the inactivity timer, data to the UE based on the other DCI message having the indicator value indicating the association with the new transmission, or
• receiving data from the UE based on the other DCI message having the indicator value indicating the association with the new transmission.

An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

• a processor;
• memory coupled with the processor;
• and
• instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
• receive, from a base station, consecutive downlink control information (DCI) messages including respective indicator values that are equal, each of the indicator values indicating an association with one of a new transmission or a retransmission;
• remain in an awake state for at least a portion of a scheduled sleep state of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle scheduled by the base station based on the respective indicator values being equal across the consecutive DCI messages;
• synchronize the DRX cycle with the base station while in the awake state:
• resume compliance with the DRX cycle scheduled by the base station based on synchronizing the DRX cycle,
• wherein the synchronization with the DRX cycle with the base station comprises to:
• receive, from the base station, another DCI message having an indicator value indicating an association with a new transmission;
• and
• initiate an inactivity timer at the UE based on the other DCI message having the indicator value indicating the association with the new transmission, the initiation of the inactivity timer at the UE being synchronized with initiation of a corresponding timer for the UE at the base station;
• and either:
• receive, prior to expiration of the inactivity timer, data from the base station based on the other DCI message having the indicator value indicating the association with the new transmission, or
• transmit data to the base station based on the other DCI message having the indicator value indicating the association with the new transmission.

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

• a processor;
• memory coupled with the processor;
• and
• instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
• transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a downlink control information (DCI) message indicating a set of resources allocated to the UE for a transmission;
• and
• transmit, to the UE, data to synchronize a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle with the UE based on an absence of the transmission from the set of resources allocated to the UE, wherein the data is transmitted to synchronize the DRX cycle with the UE by restarting an inactivity timer at the UE;
• transmit, to the UE, another DCI message having an indicator value indicating an association with a new transmission;
• and either:
• transmit, prior to expiration of the inactivity timer, data to the UE based on the other DCI message having the indicator value indicating the association with the new transmission, or
• receive data from the UE based on the other DCI message having the indicator value indicating the association with the new transmission.