Method and system for the support of a long DRX in an LTE

1. A method of discontinuous reception (DRX) signaling in a long-term evolution infrastructure between an evolved node B (eNB) and user equipment (UE), the method comprising the steps of:

providing a DRX value in a header of a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC-PDU);

acknowledging the MAC-PDU; and

reconfiguring the DRX based on the provided DRX value after a period of delay;

wherein the period of delay is limited by a first threshold, said first threshold being configured to handle possible negative acknowledgment (NACK) to acknowledgement (ACK) misinterpretations and

wherein the period of delay is limited by:

a second threshold, the second threshold being set for the UE to wait for a retransmission due to possible ACK to NACK or discontinuous transmit misinterpretation; and

a third threshold, the third threshold being set to allow the UE to check the layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) signaling channel for a high speed shared control channel indication that data is transmitted on high speed physical downlink shared channel wherein the period is set to greater than the maximum of the first threshold and the second threshold, added to the third threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the possible NACK to ACK misinterpretation is recovered from by the eNB providing a DRX indication in multiple downlink MAC-PDUs.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the possible NACK to ACK misinterpretation is recovered from by checking channel quality indicator (CQI) frequency at the eNB.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the possible NACK to ACK misinterpretation is recovered from on a Timing Advance (TA) Request message at the eNB.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold value is signaled by the radio resource control.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DRX value is increased by both the UE and the eNB in a predetermined manner without any explicit signaling, the predetermined manner comprising the steps of:

checking that no data has been received within N DRX cycles, where N is an integer, and

if no data has be received in the N DRX cycles, increasing the DRX cycle by a pre-specified amount.

7. An evolved node B (eNB) operating in a long-term evolution infrastructure, the eNB being characterized by means for:

providing a DRX value in a header of a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC-PDU); and

reconfiguring DRX based on the DRX value after a period of time wherein the period of delay is limited by a first threshold, said first threshold being configured to handle possible negative acknowledgement (NACK) to acknowledgement (ACK) misinterpretations and wherein the possible NACK to ACK misinterpretation is recovered from on a Timing Advance (TA) Request message at the eNB.

8. A user equipment (UE) operating in a long-term evolution (LTE) infrastructure, the UE being characterized by means for:

receiving a DRX value in a header of a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC-PDU);

acknowledging the MAC-PDU; and

reconfiguring DRX based on the DRX value after a period of delay wherein the period of delay is limited by a first threshold, said first threshold being configured to handle possible negative acknowledgement (NACK) to acknowledgement (ACK) misinterpretations and wherein the possible NACK to ACK misinterpretation is recovered from on a Timing Advance (TA) Request message at the eNB.

9. A method of discontinuous reception (DRX) signaling in a long-term evolution infrastructure between an evolved node B (eNB) and user equipment (UE), the method comprising the steps of:

providing a DRX value in a header of a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC-PDU);

acknowledging the MAC-PDU; and

reconfiguring the DRX based on the provided DRX value after a period of delay;

wherein the period of delay is limited by a first threshold, said first threshold being configured to handle possible negative acknowledgment (NACK) to acknowledgement (ACK) misinterpretations and wherein the possible NACK to ACK misinterpretation is recovered from on a Timing Advance (TA) Request message at the eNB.