Communications device, infrastructure equipment and methods

A method of receiving downlink control information by a communications device from a wireless communications network, the method comprising:

• receiving, via a time divided wireless access interface provided by the wireless communications network, downlink control information (DCI) messages providing an indication of allocated communications resources, the DCIs including a slot gap (K0) indicating a time slot gap between a timeslot in which the DCI is received and the allocated communications resources,
• wherein the receiving comprises
• receiving in a time slot a current DCI which includes a slot gap parameter for currently allocated communications resources
• determining based on the slot gap parameter that the currently allocated communications resources are in a time slot later than the time slot in which the current DCI is received, and
• in response to determining that the currently allocated communications resources are in a time slot later than the time slot in which the current DCI is received, increasing a cross slot counter,
• determining that the value of the cross-slot counter has exceeded a predetermined threshold, and
• in response to determining that the value of the cross slot counter has exceeded a predetermined threshold, updating a current minimum slot gap value to define an earliest timeslot in which downlink communications resources can be allocated by means of a DCI as a timeslot later than a timeslot in which the DCI is transmitted.

A method of receiving data by a communications device from a wireless communications network, the method comprising:

• during a discontinuous reception (DRX) off period, controlling a receiver of the communications device to operate in a reduced power consumption mode, wherein during the DRX off period, the communications device is not required to decode downlink control information allocating communications resources for the transmission of downlink data to the communications device,
• determining that the DRX off period has ended,
• determining that a minimum slot gap parameter value defining an earliest timeslot in which communications resources can be allocated by means of a downlink control message is to be changed,
• after the DRX off period has ended, receiving a downlink control message transmitted in a first timeslot of a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communications network, the downlink control message comprising an indication of a slot gap parameter value, the slot gap parameter value indicating a delay between the first timeslot and a second timeslot in which communications resources are allocated for the transmission of data by the wireless communications network to the communications device, and
• controlling the receiver of the communications device to receive signals representing the data in accordance with the changed minimum slot gap value.

A method of transmitting data by a communications device in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:

• transmitting via a time divided wireless access interface provided by the wireless communications network, a buffer status indication, the buffer status indication indicating a quantity of uplink data which is available for transmission by the communications device,
• determining, based on the quantity of uplink data indicated by the buffer status indication, a minimum slot gap parameter defining an earliest timeslot in which uplink communications resources can be allocated by means of a downlink control information (DCI) message,
• receiving, via the wireless access interface a DCI message providing an indication of allocated communications resources, the DCI including a slot gap (K2) indicating a time slot gap between a timeslot in which the DCI is received and the allocated communications resources, wherein the allocated communications resources occur in a timeslot which is compliant with the determined minimum slot gap parameter, and
• controlling the communications device to transmit the data using the allocated communications resources in accordance with the determined minimum slot gap parameter.