User equipment assistance information signaling in a wireless network

A method comprising:

• determining a power preference for a User Equipment (UE);
• generating a UE assistance information message, said message comprising said power preference;
• and
• transmitting said UE assistance information message to an evolved Node B (eNB) of a wireless network associated with said UE.

An enhanced Node B (eNB) comprising:

• a receiver circuit to receive an RRC message from a UE on a wireless network;
• a signal processing module to extract a UE assistance information element from said RRC message, said RRC message communicated to said signal processing module on a UL-DCCH;
• and
• said signal processing circuit further to extract a PPI associated with said UE from said UE assistance information element.

A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon which when executed by a processor result in the following operations comprising:

• determining a power preference for a User Equipment (UE);
• generating a UE assistance information message, said message comprising said power preference;
• and
• transmitting said UE assistance information message to an evolved Node B (eNB) of a wireless network associated with said UE.