Method and apparatus for power savings at a user equipment

A user equipment (UE) comprising:

• a transceiver configured to receive:
• information for groups of secondary cells (SCells) and for indexes of SCells in each group of SCells from the groups of SCells,
• information for a search space set for receptions of second physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) on a primary cell, outside an On-duration of any discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle on the primary cell, according to a common search space,
• information for a time offset, and
• the second PDCCHs starting from the time offset before a start of On-duration for a next DRX cycle, wherein a PDCCH from the second PDCCHs that provides a first downlink control information (DCI) format and wherein:
• the first DCI format does not schedule transmission or reception of a channel that provides data information,
• the first DCI format includes a bitmap, and
• bits of the bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the groups of SCells;
• and
• a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to determine, based on a value of a bit of the bitmap, to instruct the transceiver whether or not to receive first PDCCHs, wherein:
• the bit of the bitmap maps to a group of SCells from the groups of SCells, and
• the first PDCCHs provide DCI formats that schedule receptions of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) or transmissions of physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs), on an SCell in the group of SCells.

A base station comprising:

• a transceiver configured to transmit:
• information for groups of secondary cells (SCells) and for indexes of SCells in each group of SCells from the groups of SCells,
• information for a search space set for receptions of second physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) on a primary cell, outside an On-duration of any discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle on the primary cell, according to a common search space,
• information for a time offset, and
• the second PDCCHs starting from the time offset before a start of On-duration for a next DRX cycle, wherein a PDCCH from the second PDCCHs provides a first downlink control information (DCI) format and wherein:
• the first DCI format does not schedule transmission or reception of a channel that provides data information,
• the first DCI format includes a bitmap, and
• bits of the bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the groups of SCells;
• a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to determine, based on a value of a bit of the bitmap, to instruct the transceiver whether or not to transmit first PDCCHs, wherein:
• the bit of the bitmap maps to a group of SCells from the groups of SCells, and
• the first PDCCHs provide DCI formats that schedule transmissions of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) or receptions of physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs), on an SCell in the group of SCells.