Patent Description:
The present application relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to reducing the power consumption of devices such as wireless communication devices through additional signaling for obtaining time domain (wireless) resource allocation in advance, during wireless communications, e.g. during 3GPP LTE and/or NR communications.

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) now provide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities. Additionally, there exist numerous different wireless communication technologies and standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE <NUM> (WLAN or Wi-Fi), IEEE <NUM> (WiMAX), BLUETOOTH™, etc. A next telecommunications standards moving beyond the current International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced) Standards is called 5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems, referred to as 3GPP NR (otherwise known as <NUM>-NR for <NUM> New Radio, also simply referred to as NR). NR proposes a higher capacity for a higher density of mobile broadband users, also supporting device-to-device, ultra-reliable, and massive machine communications, as well as lower latency and lower battery consumption, than current LTE standards.

In general, wireless communication technologies, such as cellular communication technologies, are substantially designed to provide mobile communication capabilities to wireless devices. The ever increasing number of features and functionality introduced in wireless communication devices creates a continuous need for improvement in both wireless communications and in wireless communication devices. In particular, it is important to ensure the accuracy of transmitted and received signals through user equipment (UE) devices, e.g., through wireless devices such as cellular phones, base stations and relay stations used in wireless cellular communications. The UEs, which may be mobile telephones or smart phones, portable gaming devices, laptops, wearable devices, PDAs, tablets, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices, etc. are generally powered by a portable power supply, e.g., a battery and may have multiple radio interfaces that enable support of multiple radio access technologies (RATs) as defined by the various wireless communication standards (LTE, LTE-A, NR, Wi-Fi, BLUETOOTH™, etc.). There are ongoing efforts not only to achieve efficient use of wireless communication resources and thereby increase system efficiency, but also to reduce power consumption required to perform wireless communications in order to improve the battery life of wireless devices.

Other corresponding issues related to the prior art will become apparent to one skilled in the art after comparing such prior art with the disclosed embodiments as described herein. <NPL>, discusses potential enhancements for UE power saving for frequency, time and antenna domain. The proposed enhancements in are network-assisted mechanisms. <NPL>, discusses the analysis on UE power consumption based on time/frequency/antenna domains adaptation, where impacts on C-DRX configurations and UE processing timeline are considered as time domain adaptations.

Embodiments are presented herein of, inter alia, of methods and procedures for support in various devices, e.g. wireless communication devices, to reduce power consumption by obtaining time domain resource allocation patterns in advance through additional signaling, during wireless communications, e.g. during 3GPP LTE and/or NR communications. Embodiments are further presented herein for wireless communication systems containing wireless communication devices (UEs) and/or base stations and/or access points (APs) communicating with each other within the wireless communication systems.

Pursuant to the above, a device obtains, through signaling between the device and a wireless network (e.g. between the device and a base station/eNB/gNB), a specified time-domain wireless-resource allocation pattern allocated to the device by the wireless network, with the specified resource allocation pattern associated with future wireless communications of the device for which the device has not yet decoded corresponding control information. In this manner, using signaling between the device and the network, the device obtains a resource allocation pattern for a current transmit time interval (TTI, e.g. a slot or mini-slot in case of NR) in advance, before actually having to decode the control information for the current TTI. As a result, the device does not have to decode control information to identify the resource allocation pattern for the current TTI, and thereby conducts wireless communications during the current TTI using resources allocated according to the (previously) obtained specified resource allocation pattern.

In some embodiments, the device may obtain the specified resource allocation pattern by receiving an indication from the network that the specified resource allocation pattern remains associated with the future wireless communications until indicated otherwise by the network, and/or by transmitting to the network an indication of preferred parameters associated with the future communications and further associated with the specified resource allocation pattern, and/or by transmitting to the network a request to have the network change from a different resource allocation pattern to the specified resource allocation pattern. The resource allocation pattern may be stored in a table by the wireless network, with the table including multiple entries, each entry representing a respective TWRA pattern, and a corresponding entry representing the specified resource allocation pattern.

In some embodiments, the device may obtain the specified resource allocation pattern by requesting the network to change from a presently selected entry of the multiple entries to the entry corresponding to the specified resource allocation pattern. The specified resource allocation pattern may facilitate reduced power use by the device with respect to a present resource allocation pattern to which the presently selected entry corresponds. In some embodiments, the device may obtain the specified resource allocation pattern by receiving an indication from the network that the corresponding entry from the table will remain selected until otherwise indicated to the device by the network. In some embodiments, the device may obtain the specified resource allocation pattern by transmitting to the network an indication of one or more preferred entries of the multiple entries included in the table. The device may first identify the respective resource allocation patterns corresponding to the one or more preferred entries as resource allocation patterns that provide power savings benefit to the UE, prior to transmitting the indication to the network. In some embodiments, the device may obtain the specified resource allocation pattern by transmitting to the network a capability report indicating power saving capabilities of the device.

Note that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to, base stations, access points, cellular phones, portable media players, tablet computers, wearable devices, and various other computing devices.

While features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications and alternatives falling within the scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

The following is a glossary of terms that may appear in the present application:.

Memory Medium - Any of various types of memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include an installation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; a computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash, magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may comprise other types of memory as well or combinations thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located in a second different computer system which connects to the first computer system over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., in different computer systems that are connected over a network.

Programmable Hardware Element - Includes various hardware devices comprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via a programmable interconnect.

Computer System (or Computer) - any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digital assistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or other device or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" may be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or "UE Device") - any of various types of computer systems devices which perform wireless communications. Also referred to as wireless communication devices, many of which may be mobile and/or portable. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones) and tablet computers such as iPad™, Samsung Galaxy™, etc., gaming devices (e.g. Sony PlayStation™, Microsoft XBox™, etc.), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, PlayStation Portable™, <NUM> Gameboy Advance™, <NUM> iPod™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. Apple Watch™, Google Glass™), PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices, etc. Various other types of devices would fall into this category if they include Wi-Fi or both cellular and Wi-Fi communication capabilities and/or other wireless communication capabilities, for example over short-range radio access technologies (SRATs) such as BLUETOOTH™, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" may be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is capable of wireless communication and may also be portable/mobile.

Wireless Device (or wireless communication device) - any of various types of computer systems devices which performs wireless communications using WLAN communications, SRAT communications, Wi-Fi communications and the like. As used herein, the term "wireless device" may refer to a UE device, as defined above, or to a stationary device, such as a stationary wireless client or a wireless base station. For example a wireless device may be any type of wireless station of an <NUM> system, such as an access point (AP) or a client station (UE), or any type of wireless station of a cellular communication system communicating according to a cellular radio access technology (e.g. LTE, CDMA, GSM), such as a base station or a cellular telephone, for example.

Base Station (BS) - The term "Base Station" has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

Processor - refers to various elements (e.g. circuits) or combinations of elements that are capable of performing a function in a device, e.g. in a user equipment device or in a cellular network device. Processors may include, for example: general purpose processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores or processing circuit cores, processing circuit arrays or processor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), programmable hardware elements such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), as well as any of various combinations of the above.

Station (STA) - The term "station" herein refers to any device that has the capability of communicating wirelessly, e.g. by using the <NUM> protocol. A station may be a laptop, a desktop PC, PDA, access point or Wi-Fi phone or any type of device similar to a UE. An STA may be fixed, mobile, portable or wearable. Generally in wireless networking terminology, a station (STA) broadly encompasses any device with wireless communication capabilities, and the terms station (STA), wireless client (UE) and node (BS) are therefore often used interchangeably.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system of <FIG> is merely one example of a possible system, and embodiments may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes base stations 102A through 102N, also collectively referred to as base stations <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, base station 102A communicates over a transmission medium with one or more user devices 106A through 106N. Each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE) or UE device. Thus, the user devices 106A through 106N are referred to as UEs or UE devices, and are also collectively referred to as UEs <NUM>. Various ones of the UE devices may operate with reduced power consumption by obtaining time domain (wireless) resource allocation patterns in advance through additional signaling during wireless communications, e.g. during 3GPP LTE and/or NR communications, according to various embodiments disclosed herein.

The base station 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site, and may include hardware that enables wireless communication with the UEs 106A through 106N. The base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate with a network <NUM>, e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and/or the Internet, neutral host or various CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) deployments, among various possibilities. The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a "cell. " It should also be noted that "cell" may also refer to a logical identity for a given coverage area at a given frequency. In general, any independent cellular wireless coverage area may be referred to as a "cell". In such cases a base station may be situated at particular confluences of three cells. The base station, in this uniform topology, may serve three <NUM> degree beam width areas referenced as cells. Also, in case of carrier aggregation, small cells, relays, etc. may each represent a cell. Thus, in carrier aggregation in particular, there may be primary cells and secondary cells which may service at least partially overlapping coverage areas but on different respective frequencies. For example, a base station may serve any number of cells, and cells served by a base station may or may not be collocated (e.g. remote radio heads). As also used herein, from the perspective of UEs, a base station may sometimes be considered as representing the network insofar as uplink and downlink communications of the UE are concerned. Thus, a UE communicating with one or more base stations in the network may also be interpreted as the UE communicating with the network, and may also be considered at least a part of the UE communicating on the network or over the network.

The base stations <NUM> and the user devices may be configured to communicate over the transmission medium using any of various radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LAA/LTE-U, <NUM>-NR (NR, for short), 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX etc. Note that if a base station is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately be referred to as an 'eNodeB' or 'eNB', and if it is implemented in the context of <NUM> NR, it may alternately be referred to as 'gNodeB' or 'gNB'. In some embodiments, base station 102A (e.g. an eNB in an LTE network or a gNB in an NR network) may communicate with UEs that operate with reduced power consumption by obtaining time domain (wireless) resource allocation patterns in advance through additional signaling during wireless communications, e.g. during 3GPP LTE and/or NR communications, as described herein. Depending on a given application or specific considerations, for convenience some of the various different RATs may be functionally grouped according to an overall defining characteristic. For example, all cellular RATs may be collectively considered as representative of a first (form/type of) RAT, while Wi-Fi communications may be considered as representative of a second RAT. In other cases, individual cellular RATs may be considered individually as different RATs. For example, when differentiating between cellular communications and Wi-Fi communications, "first RAT" may collectively refer to all cellular RATs under consideration, while "second RAT" may refer to Wi-Fi. Similarly, when applicable, different forms of Wi-Fi communications (e.g. over <NUM> vs. over <NUM>) may be considered as corresponding to different RATs. Furthermore, cellular communications performed according to a given RAT (e.g. LTE or NR) may be differentiated from each other on the basis of the frequency spectrum in which those communications are conducted. For example, LTE or NR communications may be performed over a primary licensed spectrum as well as over a secondary spectrum such as an unlicensed spectrum and/or spectrum that was assigned to Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). Overall, the use of various terms and expressions will always be clearly indicated with respect to and within the context of the various applications/embodiments under consideration.

UEs <NUM> may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, a UE might be configured to communicate using any or all of a 3GPP cellular communication standard (such as LTE or NR) or a 3GPP2 cellular communication standard (such as a cellular communication standard in the CDMA2000 family of cellular communication standards). Base stations <NUM> and other similar base stations operating according to the same or a different cellular communication standard may thus be provided as one or more networks of cells, which may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs <NUM> and similar devices over a wide geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

Thus, while base station 102A may act as a "serving cell" for UEs 106A-N as illustrated in <FIG>, each one of UEs <NUM> may also be capable of receiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or more other cells (which might be provided by base stations 102B-N and/or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells".

In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next generation base station, e.g., a <NUM> New Radio (<NUM> NR) base station, or "gNB". In some embodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. In addition, a gNB cell may include one or more transmission and reception points (TRPs).

The UEs <NUM> might also or alternatively be configured to communicate using WLAN, BLUETOOTH™, BLUETOOTH™ Low-Energy, one or more global navigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one and/or more mobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H or DVB-H), etc. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible. Furthermore, the UE <NUM> may also communicate with Network <NUM>, through one or more base stations or through other devices, stations, or any appliances not explicitly shown but considered to be part of Network <NUM>. UEs <NUM> communicating with a network may therefore be interpreted as the UEs <NUM> communicating with one or more network nodes considered to be a part of the network and which may interact with the UEs <NUM> to conduct communications with the UEs <NUM> and in some cases affect at least some of the communication parameters and/or use of communication resources of the UEs <NUM>.

Furthermore, as also illustrated in <FIG>, at least some of the UEs <NUM>, e.g. 106D and 106E may represent vehicles communicating with each other and with base station 102A, via cellular communications such as 3GPP LTE and/or <NUM>-NR for example. In addition, UE 106F may represent a pedestrian who is communicating and/or interacting with the vehicles represented by UEs 106D and 106E in a similar manner. Various aspects of vehicles communicating in a network exemplified in <FIG> are disclosed in the context of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications such as the communications specified by 3GPP TS <NUM> V <NUM>. <NUM>, among others.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary user equipment <NUM> (e.g., one of the devices 106A through 106N) in communication with the base station <NUM> and an access point <NUM>, according to some embodiments. The UE <NUM> may be a device with both cellular communication capability and non-cellular communication capability (e.g., BLUETOOTH™, Wi-Fi, and so forth) such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer or a tablet, or virtually any type of wireless device. The UE <NUM> may be configured to communicate using any of multiple wireless communication protocols. For example, the UE <NUM> may be configured to communicate using two or more of CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible.

The UE <NUM> may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RAT standards, e.g. those previously mentioned above. In some embodiments, the UE <NUM> may share one or more parts of a receive chain and/or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards. The shared radio may include a single antenna, or may include multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. Alternatively, the UE <NUM> may include separate transmit and/or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another alternative, the UE <NUM> may include one or more radios or radio circuitry which are shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radios which are used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE <NUM> may include a shared radio for communicating using LTE or CDMA2000 1xRTT or NR, and/or communicating using each of Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH™.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary UE <NUM>, according to some embodiments. As shown, the UE <NUM> may include a system on chip (SOC) <NUM>, which may include portions for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC <NUM> may include processor(s) <NUM> which may execute program instructions for the UE <NUM> and display circuitry <NUM> which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display <NUM>. The processor(s) <NUM> may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) <NUM>, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) <NUM> and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory <NUM>, read only memory (ROM) <NUM>, NAND flash memory <NUM>) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry <NUM>, radio circuitry <NUM>, connector I/F <NUM>, and/or display <NUM>. The MMU <NUM> may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU <NUM> may be included as a portion of the processor(s) <NUM>.

As shown, the SOC <NUM> may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE <NUM>. For example, the UE <NUM> may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash <NUM>), a connector interface <NUM> (e.g., for coupling to the computer system), the display <NUM>, and wireless communication circuitry (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH™, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device <NUM> may include at least one antenna (e.g. 335a), and possibly multiple antennas (e.g. illustrated by antennas 335a and 335b), for performing wireless communication with base stations and/or other devices. Antennas 335a and 335b are shown by way of example, and UE device <NUM> may include fewer or more antennas. Overall, the one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antenna(s) <NUM>. For example, the UE device <NUM> may use antenna(s) <NUM> to perform the wireless communication with the aid of radio circuitry <NUM>. As noted above, the UE may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiple wireless communication standards in some embodiments.

As further described herein, the UE <NUM> (and/or base station <NUM>) may include hardware and software components for implementing methods for at least UE <NUM> to operate with reduced power consumption by obtaining time domain (wireless) resource allocation patterns in advance through additional signaling during wireless communications, e.g. during 3GPP LTE and/or NR communications,, as further detailed herein. The processor(s) <NUM> of the UE device <NUM> may be configured to implement part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, processor(s) <NUM> may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Furthermore, processor(s) <NUM> may be coupled to and/or may interoperate with other components as shown in <FIG>, to operate with reduced power consumption by obtaining time domain (wireless) resource allocation patterns in advance through additional signaling during wireless communications, according to various embodiments disclosed herein. Processor(s) <NUM> may also implement various other applications and/or end-user applications running on UE <NUM>.

In some embodiments, radio circuitry <NUM> may include separate controllers dedicated to controlling communications for various respective RAT standards. For example, as shown in <FIG>, radio circuitry <NUM> may include a Wi-Fi controller <NUM>, a cellular controller (e.g. LTE and/or NR controller) <NUM>, and BLUETOOTH™ controller <NUM>, and in at least some embodiments, one or more or all of these controllers may be implemented as respective integrated circuits (ICs or chips, for short) in communication with each other and with SOC <NUM> (and more specifically with processor(s) <NUM>). For example, Wi-Fi controller <NUM> may communicate with cellular controller <NUM> over a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and/or BLUETOOTH™ controller <NUM> may communicate with cellular controller <NUM> over a cell-ISM link, etc. While three separate controllers are illustrated within radio circuitry <NUM>, other embodiments have fewer or more similar controllers for various different RATs that may be implemented in UE device <NUM>. For example, at least one exemplary block diagram illustrative of some embodiments of cellular controller <NUM> is shown in <FIG> as further described below.

The base station <NUM> may include at least one antenna <NUM>, and possibly multiple antennas, (e.g. illustrated by antennas 434a and 434b) for performing wireless communication with mobile devices and/or other devices. Antennas 434a and 434b are shown by way of example, and base station <NUM> may include fewer or more antennas. Overall, the one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antenna(s) <NUM>. Antenna(s) <NUM> may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE devices <NUM> via radio circuitry <NUM>. The radio <NUM> may be designed to communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards, including, but not limited to, LTE, LTE-A, <NUM>-NR (or NR for short), WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc. The processor(s) <NUM> of the base station <NUM> may be configured to implement part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), for base station <NUM> to communicate with a UE device that may operate with reduced power consumption by obtaining time domain (wireless) resource allocation patterns in advance through additional signaling, during wireless communications, e.g. during 3GPP LTE and/or NR communications. Alternatively, the processor(s) <NUM> may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. In the case of certain RATs, for example Wi-Fi, base station <NUM> may be designed as an access point (AP), in which case network port <NUM> may be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and/or local area network (s), e.g. it may include at least one Ethernet port, and radio <NUM> may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard. Base station <NUM> may operate according to the various methods and embodiments as disclosed herein for communicating with UE devices that operate with reduced power consumption by obtaining time domain (wireless) resource allocation patterns in advance through additional signaling during wireless communications, as disclosed herein.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram illustrative of cellular controller <NUM>, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of <FIG> is only one example of a possible cellular communication circuit; other circuits, such as circuits including or coupled to sufficient antennas for different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas, or circuits including or coupled to fewer antennas, e.g., that may be shared among multiple RATs, are also possible. According to some embodiments, cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may be included in a communication device, such as communication device <NUM> described above. As noted above, communication device <NUM> may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and/or a combination of devices, among other devices.

The cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335a-b and <NUM> as shown. In some embodiments, cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may include dedicated receive chains (including and/or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for <NUM> NR). For example, as shown in <FIG>, cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may include a first modem <NUM> and a second modem <NUM>. The first modem <NUM> may be configured for communications according to a first RAT, e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A, and the second modem <NUM> may be configured for communications according to a second RAT, e.g., such as <NUM> NR.

As shown, the first modem <NUM> may include one or more processors <NUM> and a memory <NUM> in communication with processors <NUM>.

Similarly, the second modem <NUM> may include one or more processors <NUM> and a memory <NUM> in communication with processors <NUM>.

Thus, when cellular communication circuitry <NUM> receives instructions to transmit according to the first RAT (e.g., as supported via the first modem <NUM>), switch <NUM> may be switched to a first state that allows the first modem <NUM> to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry <NUM> and UL front end <NUM>). Similarly, when cellular communication circuitry <NUM> receives instructions to transmit according to the second RAT (e.g., as supported via the second modem <NUM>), switch <NUM> may be switched to a second state that allows the second modem <NUM> to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry <NUM> and UL front end <NUM>).

As described herein, the first modem <NUM> and/or the second modem <NUM> may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. The processors <NUM>, <NUM> may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processors <NUM>, <NUM> may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processors <NUM>, <NUM>, in conjunction with one or more of the other components <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processors <NUM>, <NUM> may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processors <NUM>, <NUM> may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processors <NUM>, <NUM>. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors <NUM>, <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may include only one transmit/receive chain. For example, the cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may not include the modem <NUM>, the RF front end <NUM>, the DL front end <NUM>, and/or the antenna 335b. As another example, the cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may not include the modem <NUM>, the RF front end <NUM>, the DL front end <NUM>, and/or the antenna 335a. In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may also not include the switch <NUM>, and the RF front end <NUM> or the RF front end <NUM> may be in communication, e.g., directly, with the UL front end <NUM>.

As previously mentioned, various devices, which may be mobile telephones or smart phones, portable gaming devices, laptops, wearable devices, PDAs, tablets, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, or additional handheld devices, are generally powered by a portable power supply, e.g., a battery and may have multiple radio interfaces that enable support of multiple radio access technologies (RATs). Ongoing efforts are being made to reduce power consumption as much as possible to prolong the operating time of the device on a single battery charge.

Some communication standards, e.g. 3GPP NR specification, define extremely flexible time-domain wireless-resource allocation patterns, e.g. flexible PDCCH (physical downlink control channel)/PDSCH (physical downlink shared channel) time-domain resource allocation patterns. The radio resource control (RRC) configures a table including a list of possible (e.g. up-to <NUM>) time-domain (wireless) resource allocation patterns per bandwidth part (BWP). A carrier BWP is a contiguous set of physical resource blocks selected from a contiguous subset of the common resource blocks for a given numerology on a given carrier. For downlink, the UE may be configured with up to several carrier BWPs (one example is four BWPs, per current specifications), with only one BWP per carrier active at a given time. For uplink, the UE may similarly be configured with up to several (e.g. four) carrier BWPs, with only one BWP per carrier active at a given time. If a UE is configured with a supplementary uplink, then the UE may be additionally configured with up to the specified number (e.g. four) carrier BWPs in the supplementary uplink, with only one carrier BWP active at a given time.

The data control information (DCI) in the PDCCH carries an index to the table, indicating to UE what (time-domain wireless-resource) allocation will be used in a current transmit time interval (TTI). In NR, a frame consists of ten (<NUM>) subframes, with each frame having a specified duration (e.g. <NUM> duration similar to LTE). Each subframe consists of <NUM> mini-slots. Each slot can have a specified number of symbols, e.g. either <NUM> (normal cyclic prefix, CP) or <NUM> (extended CP) OFDM symbols. A slot is designated as a typical unit (e.g. a TTI) for transmission used by the scheduling mechanism. NR permits transmission to start at any OFDM symbol, and last for as many symbols as required for the communication. This is known as a "mini-slot" transmission, which facilitates very low latency for critical data communications and minimizes interference to other radio frequency (RF) links. Mini-slots help achieve lower latency in <NUM> NR architecture. In slot-based scheduling, one slot is the possible scheduling unit (e.g. TTI) and slot aggregation is also allowed. The slot length scales with subcarrier spacing. A mini-slot occupies a specified number of symbols, e.g. <NUM>, <NUM> or <NUM> OFDM symbols. It enables non-slot-based scheduling, and is the minimum scheduling unit used in <NUM> NR. As mentioned above, mini-slots can occupy as little as <NUM> OFDM symbols and are variable in length, and can be positioned asynchronously with respect to the beginning of a standard slot. In theory, the allocation pattern could change from slot to slot, and the UE customarily obtains the pattern used for the current TTI by decoding the DCI, which means decoding the PDCCH.

<FIG> shows an exemplary table detailing fields contained in each entry of a time-domain wireless-resource allocation table, according to prior art. More specifically, as indicated in <FIG>, each entry of the table contains an information element (IE) called PDSCH-time Domain Resource Allocation, which includes <NUM> fields:.

The "Mapping Type" and "Start Symbol and Length" are jointly determined, based on the table shown in <FIG> (which shows a normal cyclic prefix, CP, table as an example). For slot transmissions, the starting index is less flexible while the length is flexible, whereas for mini-slot transmissions, the starting index is flexible while the length is less flexible.

As mentioned above, in order to determine which entry (which time-domain wireless-resource allocation pattern) to use from the resource allocation table for the current TTI (e.g. for the current slot or current mini-slot), the UE currently needs to decode the PDCCH first. However, if the UE had already obtained the time-domain resource allocation pattern in advance, for example before decoding the corresponding control information (e.g. before decoding PDCCH), multiple patterns may be identified, even for same-slot scheduling, which may facilitate reduced power usage by the UE, or provide power saving benefits to the UE.

<FIG> provide examples of some communication scenarios in which power savings may be achieved by the UE when the UE obtains the time-domain (wireless) resource allocation pattern(s) in advance as discussed above. In the example scenarios provided in <FIG>, the PDCCH length is assumed to be one (<NUM>) symbol, decoding of PDCCH is assumed to take an additional three (<NUM>) symbols, the PDSCH length is assumed to be two (<NUM>) or four (<NUM>) symbols, and decoding of PDSCH is assumed to take an additional two (<NUM>) symbols. In each example scenario, two consecutive slots are shown. Each case illustrates a downlink (DL) grant present in the first slot and no DL grant present in the second slot. The horizontal numbering in each diagram refers to the symbols, with each diagram illustrating two slots, and each slot spanning fourteen (<NUM>) symbols numbered <NUM> through <NUM>. The various specific lengths and values provided in these examples are for the purposes of illustration, and alternate embodiments may feature different values when implementing the additional signaling for obtaining time domain (wireless) resource allocation in advance as disclosed herein.

<FIG> shows an exemplary diagram illustrating the use of radio hardware resources and baseband hardware resources for baseline wireless transmissions, according to prior art. As indicated in the figure, the RF (circuitry) is powered (i.e. uses power) during five (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) to decode physical control channel <NUM> and also decode physical data channel <NUM> since a DL grant is present (as noted above), and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>) to decode physical control channel <NUM> without having to decode physical data channel <NUM> since no DL grant is present. The baseband (BB) circuitry is powered during seven (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>). Because the physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> each occupy <NUM> symbols and there is no separation between the physical control channels <NUM>/<NUM> and the corresponding physical data channels <NUM>/<NUM>, respectively, there is not a significant power saving opportunity for the UE in this scenario.

<FIG> shows an exemplary diagram illustrating use of radio hardware resources and baseband hardware resources for same-slot short packet wireless transmissions, according to prior art. As indicated in the figure, the RF (circuitry) is powered during four (<NUM>) symbols in both the first slot (<NUM>) and in the second slot (<NUM>), while the BB circuitry is powered during six (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>). Since the physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> each occupy only two (<NUM>) symbols and the physical control channels <NUM> and <NUM> each occupy one (<NUM>) symbol, the UE may achieve power savings, or reduced power usage, by obtaining the resource allocation pattern (e.g. obtaining parameters corresponding to the resource allocation pattern) in advance, for both a scheduled slot (with a DL grant, which is illustrated as the first slot) and a non-scheduled slot (without a DL grant, which is illustrated as the second slot), in this scenario.

The advantage of obtaining the resource allocation pattern in advance is illustrated in <FIG>, which shows an exemplary diagram illustrating reduced power use of radio hardware resources and baseband hardware resources for same-slot short packet wireless transmissions corresponding to <FIG>. As indicated in <FIG>, the RF (circuitry) is powered only during two (<NUM>) symbols in both the first slot (<NUM>) and in the second slot (<NUM>), while the baseband (BB) circuitry remains powered during six (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>), resulting in power savings during operation of the UE. Transmission of physical control channels <NUM> and <NUM> and physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> is the same as the transmission of physical control channels <NUM> and <NUM> and physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> in <FIG>.

<FIG> shows an exemplary diagram illustrating use of radio hardware resources and baseband hardware resources for same-slot scattered allocation wireless transmissions, according to prior art. As indicated in the figure, the RF (circuitry) is powered during a total of ten (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>), while the BB circuitry is powered during twelve (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>). Since the physical data channels <NUM>/<NUM> are separated from their corresponding physical control channels <NUM>/<NUM>, respectively, by five (<NUM>) symbols, but each physical data channel occupies only four (<NUM>) symbols, the UE may achieve power savings, or reduced power usage, by obtaining the resource allocation pattern (e.g. obtaining parameters corresponding to the resource allocation pattern) in advance, for both a scheduled slot (with a DL grant, which is illustrated as the first slot) and a non-scheduled slot (without a DL grant, which is illustrated as the second slot), in this scenario.

The advantage of obtaining the resource allocation pattern in advance is illustrated in <FIG>, which shows an exemplary diagram illustrating reduced power use of radio hardware resources and baseband hardware resources for same-slot scattered allocation transmissions corresponding to <FIG>. As indicated in <FIG>, the RF (circuitry) is powered only during a total of five (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during a single symbol in the second slot (<NUM>), while the baseband (BB) circuitry is powered during twelve (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>), resulting in power savings during operation of the UE.

<FIG> shows an exemplary diagram illustrating use of radio hardware resources and baseband hardware resources for cross-slot scattered allocation transmissions, according to prior art. As indicated in the figure, the RF (circuitry) is powered during a total of seven (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>), while the BB circuitry is powered during nine (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>). Since the physical data channels (<NUM> and <NUM>) are separated from their corresponding physical control channels (<NUM> and <NUM>, respectively) by two (<NUM>) symbols, but each physical control channel occupies only four (<NUM>) symbols, the UE may achieve power savings, or reduced power usage, by obtaining the resource allocation pattern (e.g. obtaining parameters corresponding to the resource allocation pattern) in advance, for both a scheduled slot (with a DL grant, which is illustrated as the first slot) and a non-scheduled slot (without a DL grant, which is illustrated as the second slot), in this scenario.

The advantage of obtaining the resource allocation pattern in advance is illustrated in <FIG>, which shows an exemplary diagram illustrating reduced power use of radio hardware and baseband hardware for cross-slot scattered allocation transmissions corresponding to <FIG>. As indicated in <FIG>, the RF (circuitry) is fully powered only during a total of five (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during a single symbol in the second slot (<NUM>), while the baseband (BB) circuitry is powered during nine (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>), resulting in power savings during operation of the UE. Transmission of physical control channels <NUM> and <NUM> and physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> is the same as the transmission of physical control channels <NUM> and <NUM> and physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> in <FIG>.

<FIG> shows an exemplary diagram illustrating use of radio hardware and baseband hardware for cross-slot short packet transmissions, according to prior art. As indicated in the figure, the RF (circuitry) is powered during four (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>), while the BB circuitry is powered during six (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>). Since the physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> each occupy only two (<NUM>) symbols, the UE may achieve power savings, or reduced power usage, by obtaining the resource allocation pattern (e.g. obtaining parameters corresponding to the resource allocation pattern) in advance, for both a scheduled slot (with a DL grant, which is illustrated as the first slot) and a non-scheduled slot (without a DL grant, which is illustrated as the second slot), in this scenario.

The advantage of obtaining the resource allocation pattern in advance is illustrated in <FIG>, which shows an exemplary diagram illustrating reduced power use of radio hardware and baseband hardware for cross-slot short packet transmissions corresponding to <FIG>. As indicated in <FIG>, the RF (circuitry) is powered only during a total of two (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during a single symbol in the second slot (<NUM>), while the baseband (BB) circuitry is powered during six (<NUM>) symbols in the first slot (<NUM>) and during four (<NUM>) symbols in the second slot (<NUM>), resulting in power savings during operation of the UE. Transmission of physical control channels <NUM> and <NUM> and physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> is the same as the transmission of physical control channels <NUM> and <NUM> and physical data channels <NUM> and <NUM> in <FIG>.

As previously described, in order to realize the power savings illustrated in <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>, the UE may obtain the parameters for the resource allocations, or the resource allocation pattern, in advance, e.g. before decoding the physical control channel for the corresponding TTI (e.g. slot or mini-slot). Based on the current standard, this may be possible only if RRC configured the table with a single entry, that is, if each entry in the table were configured to have the same value. However, each resource allocation is configured as the single pattern for the BWP, and to change resource allocation the UE has to switch to a different BWP. Accordingly, having only a single entry (e.g. by making all <NUM> entries the same) may have drawbacks. For example, such a configuration may remove almost all the flexibilities of time-domain resource allocation defined in the standard. There may be many different resource allocation patterns (for different purposes), but there may not be enough BWPs to support them. While BWPs may be utilized for many important purposes, the single-entry approach would reduce the use of BWPs just for different time-domain resource allocations. Furthermore, multiple BWPs represent an optional feature which may not be supported by infra or UE vendors at least in initial deployment phase(s) of NR technology. Therefore, it is desirable to provide the UE with power saving benefits even without multiple BWP support.

<FIG> shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method that facilitates a device, e.g. a UE, reducing its power consumption by obtaining time-domain wireless-resource allocation patterns, for example for a current TTI, in advance via additional signaling. A device may establish communication with a wireless network (<NUM>). Such communication may include forms of communication as described above with respect to <FIG>, for example. The UE obtains, through signaling between the UE and the wireless network, a specified time-domain wireless-resource allocation pattern configured for the UE by the wireless network, with the specified time-domain wireless-resource allocation pattern associated with specific (e.g. future) wireless communications of the UE for which the UE has not yet decoded corresponding control information (<NUM>). For example, the UE may obtain the specified time-domain wireless-resource allocation pattern for a given TTI, e.g. a current TTI, which may be a slot or mini-slot in NR communications, prior to the UE decoding control information associated with or corresponding to the given TTI. In this manner the UE has advance knowledge of the resource allocation for the given TTI prior to decoding the control information (e.g. before decoding a physical control channel such as PDCCH) for the given TTI. The UE then conducts the specific wireless communications using resources allocated according to the obtained specified domain wireless-resource allocation pattern (<NUM>). This allows the UE to power down one or more hardware circuits or circuit components when conducting the future communications, which would not have been possible if the UE had to decode the corresponding control information first in order to identify the resource allocation(s) for the given TTI (for example for the current TTI).

Typically, a time-domain resource allocation may be something relatively static, e.g., application dependent. Therefore, the RRC may still configure the table with multiple entries as usual (e.g., for multiple applications, as illustrated by examples provided in <FIG>), and additional signaling between the UE and the network may be used to facilitate the UE obtaining the resource allocation patterns or resource allocation parameters in advance for a TTI (e.g. for a slot or mini-slot) prior to having to decode the physical control channel corresponding to that TTI.

Pursuant to the above, in some embodiments, additional signaling may be used to temporarily freeze the resource allocation selection in the table to a specified entry of the table (e.g., for a particular application). Thus, the UE may receive signaling from the network indicating that the network has frozen selection of this entry until further notice from the network. In some embodiments this signaling may be RRC, media access control (MAC) control element (CE), or L1 signaling. Due to the slow changing nature of this parameter, in some embodiments, MAC CE may be used as the preferred type of signaling to achieve this. For example, the MAC CE may be used to activate the feature with an index pointing to the specified (target) entry of the table. Once activated, the UE may consider the time domain resource allocation fixed and known prior to decoding PDCCH. When the feature is deactivated through the MAC CE, the UE may no longer assume any prior knowledge about those parameters.

From the perspective of the UE, a different UE implementation may result in different preferences regarding resource allocation patterns. It is possible that some UE implementations support power saving for both same-slot scheduling and cross-slot scheduling patterns, whereas some other UE may only support power savings for cross-slot scheduling allocation patterns. The UE may also detect a subset of patterns configured by the RRC, where the allocation patterns in that subset may facilitate power savings for the UE. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the UE may transmit information to NW, indicating to the network what the UE's preferred parameters/allocation patterns are. For example, the UE may transmit a capability report to network, or it may transmit corresponding information via some other signaling framework, in which the UE may report its preferred parameters or resource allocation patterns to the network, for example to a base station/gNB.

For example, the UE may report its capability indicating whether the UE supports power saving for same-slot scheduling and/or cross-slot scheduling. The UE may equally report a subset of entries (e.g., the indexes to the RRC time-domain wireless-resource allocation table) to the network (e.g., base station/gNB) as the preferred resource allocation parameters for the UE. In yet some other embodiments, the UE may simply initiate a time-domain resource allocation entry change request and send such request to the network (e.g. base station/gNB). For example, if the network is using one entry from the table which does not provide the UE with power savings, the UE may explicitly request the network (e.g. the gNB) to change to a specified entry which can provide power savings to the UE.

As noted above, <FIG> show respective exemplary tables configured with different sets of default time-domain resource allocation patterns. In each Figure, preferred resource allocation patterns for reduced power use are indicated by dashed lines. As previously noted, "K0" indicates a distance between the physical control channel and its corresponding physical data channel denoted in number of slots, "S" indicates the physical data channel start symbol, "L" indicates the physical data channel length denoted in number of symbols, the "PDSCH Mapping Type" indicates the mapping type for the physical data channel, and "DMRS-Type A-Position" indicates the demodulation reference signal position corresponding to Type A mapping in the physical data channel. The tables in <FIG> are shown as examples only to illustrate various entries that may be assignable to UEs by base stations in certain embodiments. The indicated preferred resource allocation patterns may indicating to the network/requested from the network by the UE as previously described.

Embodiments of the present invention may be realized in any of various forms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may be realized as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the present invention may be realized using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the present invention may be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium (or memory element), where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

Claim 1:
A method comprising:
obtaining (<NUM>), by a device (<NUM>) through signaling between the device (<NUM>) and a wireless network, a specified time-domain wireless-resource allocation, TWRA, pattern configured by the wireless network for wireless communications of the device for a given transmit time interval, TTI; and
conducting (<NUM>), by the device (<NUM>), the wireless communications during the given TTI, using resources allocated according to the obtained specified TWRA pattern without first having to decode a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, for the given TTI to identify the specified TWRA pattern, pursuant to obtaining the specified TWRA pattern through the signaling between the device and the wireless network.