# US 12,010,756 B2 · Recovery of discontinuous reception cycle synchronization

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- Number: US 12,010,756 B2
- Document ID: US12010756B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/456,869
- Filed: 2021-11-29
- Published: 2022-11-03
- Granted: 2024-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2021-04-29
- Assignees: QUALCOMM Incorporated
- Applicants: QUALCOMM Incorporated
- Inventors: Sitaramanjaneyulu Kanamarlapudi; Krishna Chaitanya Mukkera
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12010756B2

## CPC

- H04L 5/0091: {Signalling for the administration of the divided path, e.g. signalling of configuration information}
- H04W 76/28: Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
- H04L 1/1819: {with retransmission of additional or different redundancy}
- H04L 1/1851: {using multiple timers}
- H04L 1/1896: {ARQ related signaling}
- H04L 5/0053: {Allocation of signalling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals}
- H04W 72/23: in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
- H04W 76/27: Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
- H04L 5/0055: {Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK (for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861)}
- Y02D 30/70: in wireless communication networks
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE

## Abstract

A UE may be configured to receive, from a base station, consecutive 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. The UE may be further configured to remain in an awake state for at least a portion of a scheduled sleep state of a DRX cycle scheduled by the base station based on the respective indicator values being equal across the consecutive DCI messages. A base station may be configured to transmit, to a UE, a DCI message indicating a set of resources allocated to the UE for a transmission, and to transmit, to the UE, data to synchronize a DRX cycle with the UE based on an absence of the transmission from the set of resources allocated to the UE.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving, 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;
remaining 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;
synchronizing the DRX cycle with the base station while in the awake state; and
resuming compliance with the DRX cycle scheduled by the base station based on synchronizing the DRX cycle,
wherein synchronizing the DRX cycle with the base station comprises:
receiving, from the base station, another DCI message having an indicator value indicating an association with a new transmission; and
initiating 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:
receiving, 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
transmitting data to the base station based on the other DCI message having the indicator value indicating the association with the new transmission.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the resuming compliance with the DRX cycle scheduled by the base station based on synchronizing the DRX cycle comprises:
transitioning from the awake state to a sleep state of the DRX cycle scheduled by the base station after expiration of the inactivity timer.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
refraining from transmitting data to the base station based on a most recent DCI message of the consecutive DCI messages that indicates a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) value within a set of reserved MCS values.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting data to the base station based on a most recent DCI message of the consecutive DCI messages that indicates a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) value outside of a set of reserved MCS values.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
refraining from decoding data identified on a downlink data channel by a most recent DCI message of the consecutive DCI messages that indicates a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) value within a set of reserved MCS values.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein each of the indicator values corresponds to a new data indicator (NDI) field of one of the consecutive DCI messages.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein each of the consecutive DCI messages corresponds to one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process.

### Claim 8

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.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the transmitting the data to synchronize the DRX cycle with the UE comprises:
transmitting, to the UE, another DCI message scheduling the data on another set of resources of a downlink data channel based on the absence of the transmission from the set of resources allocated to the UE; and
transmitting the data to the UE on the other set of resources of the downlink data channel.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the data comprises dummy data.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the DCI message further indicates at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) value that is within a set of reserved MCS values or a redundancy value that is greater than 0.

### Claim 12

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.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the resumption of compliance with the DRX cycle scheduled by the base station based on synchronizing the DRX cycle comprises to:
transition from the awake state to a sleep state of the DRX cycle scheduled by the base station after expiration of the inactivity timer.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
refrain from transmitting data to the base station based on a most recent DCI message of the consecutive DCI messages that indicates a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) value within a set of reserved MCS values.

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
transmit data to the base station based on a most recent DCI message of the consecutive DCI messages that indicates a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) value outside of a set of reserved MCS values.

### Claim 16 (depends on 12)

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
refrain from decoding data identified on a downlink data channel by a most recent DCI message of the consecutive DCI messages that indicates a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) value within a set of reserved MCS values.

### Claim 17 (depends on 12)

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each of the indicator values corresponds to a new data indicator (NDI) field of one of the consecutive DCI messages.

### Claim 18 (depends on 12)

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each of the consecutive DCI messages corresponds to one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process.

### Claim 19

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.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the transmission of the data to synchronize the DRX cycle with the UE comprises to:
transmit, to the UE, another DCI message scheduling the data on another set of resources of a downlink data channel based on the absence of the transmission from the set of resources allocated to the UE; and
transmit the data to the UE on the other set of resources of the downlink data channel.

### Claim 21 (depends on 19)

The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the data comprises dummy data.

### Claim 22 (depends on 19)

The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the DCI message further indicates at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) value that is within a set of reserved MCS values or a redundancy value that is greater than 0.
