PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10560897-B2
Application Number: US-201815992826-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Transmission slot blanking for power optimization

Abstract:
A method and user equipment for transmission slot blank. The method includes, at the user equipment (“UE”), establishing a voice call, determining whether the voice call currently comprises a silence period, blanking at least two slots of a control frame according to a predetermined pattern, wherein the predetermined pattern includes at least one slot that is not blanked between the at least two slots that are blanked, and transmitting the control frame.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 at a user equipment (“UE”):
 establishing a voice call; 
 determining whether the voice call currently comprises a silence period; 
 blanking at least two slots of a control frame according to a predetermined pattern, wherein the predetermined pattern includes at least two slots that are not blanked between the at least two slots that are blanked; and 
 transmitting the control frame. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined pattern comprises a plurality of evenly spaced blank slots. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 blanking a second plurality of evenly spaced slots of a further control frame according to a further predetermined pattern, wherein the further control frame is adjacent to the control frame and the further predetermined pattern is different from the predetermined pattern. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the control frame is transmitted on a DPCCH. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether at least one precondition is met; 
 determining whether at least one channel condition meets a predetermined threshold; 
 when the at least one precondition is met and the at least one channel condition meets the predetermined threshold, blanking at least one slot of a data frame according to the predetermined pattern; and 
 transmitting the data frame. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one precondition comprises one of (i) multiple radio access bearers (multi-RAB) being disabled, (ii) high speed packet access (HSPA) being disabled, (iii) no signaling radio bearers (SRB) being present, or (iv) compressed mode gap being disabled. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one predetermined threshold comprises a threshold related to at least one of (i) a signal-to-interference ratio, (ii) an Ec/No, or (iii) a transmission power. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the data frame is transmitted on a DPDCH. 
     
     
       9. A user equipment (“UE”), comprising:
 a transceiver; 
 a memory arrangement storing instructions executable by the UE; and 
 a processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory arrangement, wherein execution of the instructions causes the UE to:
 establish a voice call; 
 determine whether at least one channel condition meets a predetermined threshold; 
 when the at least one channel condition meets the predetermined threshold, generate a data frame comprising a plurality of blank slots and a plurality of slots including data according to a predetermined pattern; and 
 transmit the data frame. 
 
 
     
     
       10. The UE of  claim 9 , wherein execution of the instructions further causes the UE to:
 determine whether at least one precondition is met. 
 
     
     
       11. The UE of  claim 9 , wherein the predetermined pattern comprises a plurality of evenly spaced blank slots. 
     
     
       12. The UE of  claim 9 , wherein execution of the instructions further causes the UE to:
 blank a second plurality of evenly spaced slots of a further data frame according to a further predetermined pattern, wherein the further data frame is adjacent to the data frame and the further predetermined pattern is different from the predetermined pattern. 
 
     
     
       13. The UE of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one precondition comprises one of (i) multiple radio access bearers (multi-RAB) being disabled, (ii) high speed packet access (HSPA) being disabled, (iii) no signaling radio bearers (SRB) being present, or (iv) compressed mode gap being disabled. 
     
     
       14. The UE of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one predetermined threshold comprises a threshold related to at least one of (i) a signal-to-interference ratio, (ii) an Ec/No, or (iii) a transmission power. 
     
     
       15. The UE of  claim 9 , wherein execution of the instructions further causes the UE to:
 determine whether the voice call currently comprises a silence period; 
 blank at least one slot of a control frame according to a predetermined pattern; and 
 transmit the control frame. 
 
     
     
       16. The UE of  claim 15 , wherein the data frame is transmitted on a DPDCH and wherein the control frame is transmitted on a DPCCH. 
     
     
       17. An integrated circuit, comprising:
 circuitry configured to establish a voice call; 
 circuitry configured to determine whether at least one precondition is met; 
 circuitry configured to determine whether at least one channel condition meets a predetermined threshold; 
 circuitry configured to, when the at least one precondition is met and the at least one channel condition meets the predetermined threshold, blank at least one slot of a data frame according to a predetermined pattern; and 
 circuitry configured to transmit the data frame, 
 wherein the predetermined pattern comprises a plurality of evenly spaced blank slots separated by at least two slots that are not blanked. 
 
     
     
       18. The integrated circuit of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 circuitry configured to blank a second plurality of evenly spaced slots of a further data frame according to a further predetermined pattern, wherein the further data frame is adjacent to the data frame and the further predetermined pattern is different from the predetermined pattern. 
 
     
     
       19. The integrated circuit of  claim 17 , wherein the at least one precondition comprises at least one of (i) multiple radio access bearers (multi-RAB) being disabled, (ii) high speed packet access (HSPA) being disabled, (iii) no signaling radio bearers (SRB) being present, and (iv) compressed mode gap being disabled; and
 wherein the at least one predetermined threshold comprises a threshold related to at least one of (i) a signal-to-interference ratio, (ii) an Ec/No, and (iii) a transmission power. 
 
     
     
       20. The integrated circuit of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 circuitry configured to determine whether the voice call currently comprises a silence period; 
 circuitry configured to blank at least one slot of a control frame according to a predetermined pattern; and 
 circuitry configured to transmit the control frame.

Description:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
     A user equipment (“UE”) may be configured to establish a connection to at least one of a plurality of different networks or types of networks, as well as to other UEs, to perform a voice call. For example, the UE may communicate with another UE through a network connection (e.g., a voice call over the WCDMA air interface). 
     A UE may be portable and utilize a limited power supply such as a battery. Thus, a need exists for saving power. Power saving features exist for WCDMA voice. For the downlink, there exist features such as frame early termination (“FET”) and voice activity detection (VAD) which opportunistically shut off RF reception when the channel condition is good. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present application discloses a method, device and integrated circuit for uplink transmission blanking during a voice call. In a first aspect, a method is disclosed where a user device (“UE”) establishes a voice call, determines whether the voice call currently comprises a silence period, blanks at least two slots of a control frame according to a predetermined pattern, wherein the predetermined pattern includes at least one slot that is not blanked between the at least two slots that are blanked, and transmits the control frame. 
     In a second aspect, a user equipment (“UE”) is disclosed including a transceiver, a memory arrangement storing instructions executable by the UE and a processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory arrangement. Execution of the instructions causes the UE to establish a voice call, determine whether at least one channel condition meets a predetermined threshold, when the at least one channel condition meets the predetermined threshold, blank at least one slot of a data frame according to a predetermined pattern, and transmit the data frame. 
     In a third aspect, an integrated circuit is disclosed. The integrated circuit may include circuitry configured to establish a voice call, circuitry configured to determine whether at least one precondition is met, circuitry configured to determine whether at least one channel condition meets a predetermined threshold, circuitry configured to, when the at least one precondition is met and the at least one channel condition meets the predetermined threshold, blank at least one slot of a data frame according to a predetermined pattern, and circuitry configured to transmit the data frame, wherein the predetermined pattern comprises a plurality of evenly spaced blank slots. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an example network arrangement according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
         FIG. 2  shows a user equipment for performing uplink transmission blanking according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
         FIG. 3  shows a first exemplary method for uplink control channel transmission blanking according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
         FIG. 4  shows a second exemplary method for uplink data channel transmission blanking according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
         FIG. 5  shows an exemplary uplink channel blanking pattern according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments are related to a device, system and method for power saving during voice calls through insertion of blank frames into uplink channels. In the exemplary embodiments, a mobile device will be described as user equipment (“UE”) and the base station will be described as a Node B (“NB”) base station, which is generally known as being a base station associated with a UMTS radio access network (“UMTS-RAN”). However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that UEs and base stations operating in accordance with other network standards may also implement the exemplary embodiments in accordance with the functionalities and principles described herein. 
     The term “blank,” as used herein, refers to a slot in an uplink frame that contains no information, such that a transmitter of the exemplary UE is not transmitting any data or signaling on the blank slot. The term “blanking,” as used herein, refers to stopping uplink transmissions for a period of time (e.g., the period of time corresponding to a blanked slot). RF transmission is shut off during blanking to achieve power savings. 
       FIG. 1  shows an example network arrangement  100  according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. The exemplary network arrangement  100  includes a plurality of UEs  110 - 120 . Those skilled in the art will understand that the UEs  110 - 120  may be any type of electronic component that is configured to communicate via a network, e.g., mobile phones, tablet computers, desktop computers, smartphones, phablets, embedded devices, wearables, etc. It should be understood that an actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs being used by any number of users and being associated with any number of these users where the user may be associated with one or more UEs. That is, the example of three UEs  110 - 120  is only provided for illustrative purposes. 
     The UEs  110 - 120  may be configured to communicate directly with one or more networks. In this example, the network with which the UEs  110 - 120  may communicate is a UMTS-RAN  140 . However, it should be understood that the UEs  110 - 120  may also communicate with other types of networks and may also communicate using a wired connection. With regard to the exemplary embodiments, the UEs  110 - 120  may establish a connection with the UMTS-RAN  140  to, among other functionalities, perform voice calls. 
     The UMTS-RAN  140  may be a portion of the cellular networks deployed by cellular providers or operators (e.g., Verizon, AT&amp;T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.). These networks may include, for example, base client stations (Node Bs, etc.) that are configured to send and receive traffic from UEs that are equipped with an appropriate cellular chip set. Those skilled in the art will understand that the cellular providers may also deploy other types of networks, including further evolutions of the cellular standards, within their cellular networks. 
     The network arrangement  100  also includes a cellular core network  150 . The cellular core network  150  and the UMTS-RAN may be considered a cellular network that is associated with a particular cellular provider. The cellular core network  150  may be considered to be the interconnected set of components that manages the operation and traffic of the cellular network. The interconnected components of the cellular core network  130  may include any number of components such as servers, switches, routers, etc. 
     The exemplary embodiments relate to the UEs  110 - 120  connecting to UMTS-RAN  140  via a NB  130 . Initially, the UEs  110 - 120  may establish a connection to the UMTS-RAN  140 . Those skilled in the art will understand that any association procedure may be performed for the UEs  110 - 120  to connect to the UMTS-RAN  140 . For example, as discussed above, the UMTS-RAN  140  may be associated with a particular cellular provider where the UEs  110 - 120  and/or the user thereof has a contract and credential information (e.g., stored on a SIM card). Upon detecting the presence of the UMTS-RAN  140 , the UEs  110 - 120  may transmit the corresponding credential information to associate with the UMTS-RAN  140 . More specifically, the UEs  110 - 120  may associate with a specific access point (e.g., the NB  130  of the UMTS-RAN  140 ). 
       FIG. 2  shows a user equipment  110  for performing uplink transmission blanking according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. The UE  110  may represent any electronic device that is configured to perform wireless functionalities described herein, examples of which are provided above. It should be understood that the below description may also apply to UEs  115  and  120 . 
     The UE  110  may include a processor  205 , a memory arrangement  210 , a display device  215 , an input/output (I/O) device  220 , a transceiver  230 , and other components  235 . The other components  235  may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the UE  110  to other electronic devices, etc. The processor  205  may be configured to execute a plurality of applications of the UE  110 . 
     It should be noted that the described functionalities of the UE  110  each being an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor  205  is only exemplary. The functionality associated with the applications may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the UE  110  or may be a modular component coupled to the UE  110 , e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor  205  is split among two processors, a baseband processor and an application processor (“AP”). The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a UE. 
     The memory  210  may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE  110 . Specifically, the memory  210  may store data related to various applications. The display device  215  may be a hardware component configured to show data to a user while the I/O device  220  may be a hardware component that enables the user to enter inputs. It should be noted that the display device  215  and the I/O device  220  may be separate components or integrated together such as a touchscreen. 
     The transceiver  230  may be a hardware component configured to transmit and/or receive data. For example, the transceiver  230  may enable communication with other electronic devices directly or indirectly through one or more networks based upon an operating frequency of the network. The transceiver  230  may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set of consecutive frequencies). Thus, one or more antennas (not shown) coupled with the transceiver  230  may enable the transceiver  230  to operate on the UMTS frequency band. 
       FIG. 3  shows a first exemplary method  300  for uplink control channel transmission blanking according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. The method  300  will be described with reference to the network arrangement  100  of  FIG. 1  and to UE  110  of  FIG. 2  as it applies to WCDMA voice calls, however the method is applicable to voice calls on any network with a comparable voice data transmission architecture. 
     It may be considered that the UE  110  operating on the UMTS-RAN  140  sends control information via an uplink control channel (e.g. DPCCH) and data via an uplink data channel (e.g. DPDCH). The control channel is the physical channel on which control information, including transport format combination indicator (TFCI), transmit power control (TPC), and pilot information, is transmitted, and the data channel is the physical channel on which the payload, e.g. voice data, is transmitted. Throughout this description, the information transmitted on the control channel and/or the data channel may be referred to generally as “data” or may also refer to the specific type of data (e.g., control channel information, voice data, etc.). In the example of UMTS-RAN  140 , data is transmitted in frames, each frame comprising 15 slots. An exemplary implementation of the method of  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  will be described further below with respect to  FIG. 5 . 
     The method of  FIG. 3  relates to blanking on the uplink control channel. The method  300  may be performed during a silence period of the voice call. As those skilled in the art will understand, during a voice call there are silence periods in which the UE  110  may continue to transmit control information via the DPCCH to the NB  130 , but there is no data being transmitted via the DPDCH for the voice call. The exemplary blanking method  300  for the control channel may be performed during these silence periods. 
     In  310 , the UE  110  may establish a voice call with a further UE, e.g. UE  120 . As discussed above, the voice call may be over the WCDMA air interface as utilized by the UMTS-RAN  140 . Thus, the UE  110  is communicating with the UMTS-RAN  140  via the NB  130 , meaning the communications via uplink channels (e.g. DPCCH and DPDCH) are from the UE  110  to the NB  130 . It is noted that in this example, the called UE  120  is shown as being camped on the same NB  130 . This is only an example, as the UE  120  may be camped on another NB of the UMTS-RAN  140 , may be connected to a different type of wireless network (e.g. LTE network, 5G network, WiFi network), may be a traditional landline, etc. Thus, the called device is irrelevant to the operation of the exemplary embodiments. 
     In  320 , the UE  110  determines whether there is a current silence period for the voice call. If there is no current silence period, the method  300  loops because, as described above, the blanking method  300  is applied during a silence period. If there is a current silence period, the method continues to  330 . 
     In  330 , the UE  110  may blank at least one slot of an uplink control frame according to a predetermined pattern. In one exemplary embodiment, the UE  110  blanks three evenly spaced slots per frame, resulting in a spacing of four slots between blank slots. This example will be illustrated in more detail below with reference to  FIG. 5 . 
     In  340 , the UE  110  may blank at least one slot of a further frame according to a further predetermined pattern. The further frame may be adjacent to the frame that was blanked in  330 . In one exemplary embodiment, the UE  110  blanks three evenly spaced slots per frame. However, the further predetermined pattern may be different from the predetermined pattern of  330 . 
       FIG. 5  shows an exemplary uplink channel blanking pattern  500  according to various exemplary embodiments described herein.  FIG. 5  shows a series of frames  510  and the slots  520  corresponding to frame 0 ( 511 ) and frame 1 ( 512 ) after the exemplary predetermined blanking patterns of  330  and  340  have been applied. It may be considered that the frames  511  and  512  comprise a single transmission time interval (TTI) for the uplink control channel. Thus, the frame 0 ( 511 ) may be considered an even frame and frame 1 ( 512 ) may be considered an odd frame. The exemplary pattern  500  shown in the slots  520  may be continued in the same manner for subsequent even and odd frames if these subsequent frames are also transmitted during a silence period. 
     In this example, the even frame 0 ( 511 ) may have been blanked in  330  of method  300 . As described above, the predetermined blanking pattern may blank three evenly spaced slots per frame. Thus, in this example, slot 4 ( 521 ), slot 9 ( 522 ) and slot 14 ( 523 ) of frame 0 ( 511 ) are blanked. Similarly, the odd frame 1 ( 512 ) may have been blanked in  340  of method  300 . In this example, there are also three blanked slots, slot 2 ( 525 ), slot 7 ( 526 ) and slot 12 ( 527 ). In both cases, there are three blanked slots and an equal number of slots between the blank slots. However, the slots blanked in the odd frame 1 ( 512 ) are offset from the slots blanked in the even frame 0 ( 511 ). This offset may be included because the NB  130  may perform cross frame combining for a TTI and, in such a case, having different slots blanked may avoid issues related to Transport Format Combination Indicator (TFCI) decoding. However, it is not a requirement to have such an offset. 
     Returning to the method  300 , in  350 , the UE  110  transmits the blanked control frames to the NB  130 . In this example, having three blank slots for every frame results in an overall blanking ratio of 20%. The method of  FIG. 3  may be performed for every frame transmitted on the uplink control channel during a silence period. 
       FIG. 4  shows a second exemplary method  400  for uplink data channel transmission blanking according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. The method  400  will be described with reference to the network arrangement  100  of  FIG. 1  and to UE  110  of  FIG. 2  as it applies to WCDMA voice calls. However, the method is applicable to voice calls on any network with a comparable voice data transmission architecture. The method of  FIG. 4  relates to blanking on the uplink data channel (e.g., DPDCH) under certain preconditions. The blanking pattern is substantially similar to that which is described above in the method of  FIG. 3  and as shown in  FIG. 5 . That is, the blanking pattern  500  described above with respect to  FIG. 5  and applied to the uplink control channel may also be applied to the uplink data channel. 
     In  410 , the UE  110  may establish a voice call with a further UE, e.g. UE  120 . As discussed above, the voice call may be over the WCDMA air interface as utilized by the UMTS-RAN  140 . 
     In  420 , the UE determines whether one or more preconditions are met. Four conditions are described herein, but these four conditions are only exemplary. As those skilled in the art will understand, any number of preconditions may be used, and one or more preconditions may be relaxed under certain circumstances. A first exemplary determination may be whether multiple radio access bearers (multi-RAB) are being used. A second exemplary determination may be whether high speed packet access (HSPA) is configured. A third exemplary determination may be whether a signaling radio bearer (SRB) is present. A fourth determination may be whether compressed mode gap is configured. It should be understood that blanking data slots may hinder or prevent the UE  110  from operating in each of the modes. Thus, the preconditions for blanking are used to determine whether the blanking of data frames will degrade certain modes of operation of the UE  110 . From these examples, it can be seen that additional preconditions may be used depending on the various modes and functionalities implemented by a particular UE. In this example, if it is determined that any of these exemplary features are currently implemented for the UE  110  then blanking is not used for the uplink data channel and the method ends. If it is determined that none of these features are currently implemented for the UE  130 , then the method proceeds to step  430 . 
     In  430 , the UE determines whether good channel conditions are present. Three channel metrics are described herein, but these three metrics are only exemplary. As those skilled in the art will understand, any number of metrics may be used for determining whether channel conditions are good enough to implement blanking of the data channel. A single channel metric may determine channel adequacy, or multiple channel metrics may be determined in combination. A first exemplary determination may be whether a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) estimate exceeds an SIR target by a predetermined margin, e.g. 3 dB. A second exemplary determination may be whether an energy per chip divided by a power density in the band (i.e., Ec/No) is above a certain threshold, e.g. −17 dB. A third exemplary determination may be whether the transmit (Tx) power is below a certain threshold, e.g. 10 dBm. In this example, if these three channel conditions are met, then the channel is deemed to be good, and the method proceeds to step  440 . If any of the thresholds are not met, then blanking is not used for the uplink data channel and the method ends. 
     In  440 , the UE  110  may blank at least one slot of an uplink data frame according to a predetermined pattern. This step corresponds to step  320  of  FIG. 3 . In  450 , the UE  110  may blank at least one slot of a further uplink data frame according to a further predetermined pattern. This step corresponds to step  330  of  FIG. 3 . In  460 , the UE  110  transmits the blanked data frames to the further UE  120 . This step corresponds to step  340  of  FIG. 3 . Again, as described above, the result of the blanking method  400  may be the frames/slots as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     Those skilled in art will understand that methods  300  and  400  may be implemented individually or combined and implemented simultaneously at the UE  110 . If combined, the blanking method  300  may be used to blank the control channel during silence periods while the blanking method  400  may be used during other times to blank the data channel. 
     The exemplary embodiments describe a specific blanking pattern, however any pattern may be used in which there is at least one transmitting slot between blanked slots. That is, there should be no adjacent blanked slots. The preferred embodiments utilize equal spacing such as that shown in  FIG. 5 . Whereas  FIG. 5  shows three blank slots with a spacing of four transmitting slots, further patterns may be used, e.g. a pattern of five blank slots with a spacing of two transmitting slots. 
     The exemplary embodiments are described with reference to signal/data transmission for voice calls. However, the embodiments described herein may be applied to any data transmission utilizing a comparable architecture to that described herein. 
     Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any suitable software or hardware configuration or combination thereof. An exemplary hardware platform for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, a Windows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having an operating system such as iOS, Android, etc. In a further example, the exemplary embodiments of the above described method may be embodied as a program containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the present disclosure, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the exemplary embodiments. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of the exemplary embodiments invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalent.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20180530
Publication Date: 20200211
Grant Date: 20200211
Priority Date: 20180530
Inventors: TANG, JIA
JI, Zhu
WANG, YU-LIN
ZHANG, WEI
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04W52/0258", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/0258", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/1268", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/0258", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/1268", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D30/70", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 68693529