IP Library › Granted Patent US 8,634,361
Granted Patent B2
US 8,634,361 · App. 12/865,652 · Granted Jan 21, 2014

System and method for uplink timing synchronization in conjunction with discontinuous reception

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,634,361
App. No.
12/865,652
Granted
Jan 21, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for providing uplink timing synchronization during DRX operation in a wire-less communication system.

Claims (22)

1. A method of uplink sounding reference signal transmission in a user equipment (UE), comprising:

controlling a receiver in the UE to have a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation active time;

determining uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) subframes based on an SRS repetition period;

refraining from transmitting uplink SRS on the determined SRS subframes when not in DRX active time; and

maintaining an SRS resource allocated for the UE when not in DRX active time, wherein the SRS resource is a time-frequency resource.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SRS resource allocated for the UE is released at the expiration of a time alignment timer.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising refraining from transmitting channel quality indictor (CQI) transmissions when not in active time.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

using a transmission resource to transmit an uplink timing reference signal transmission; and

maintaining the transmission resource during both active time and non-active time.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting channel quality indictor (CQI) transmissions and an uplink timing reference signal transmission in a same sub-frame during an active time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DRX active time is a connected mode DRX active time.

7. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

a processor configured to control a receiver in the UE to have a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation active time;

the processor further configured to determine uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) subframes based on an SRS repetition period;

the processor further configured to refrain from transmitting uplink SRS on the determined SRS subframes when not in DRX active time; and

the processor further configured to maintain an SRS resource allocated for the when not in DRX active time, wherein the SRS resource is a time-frequency resource.

8. The UE of claim 7 , wherein the SRS resource allocated for the UE is released at the expiration of a time alignment timer.

9. The UE of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to refrain from transmitting channel quality indictor (CQI) transmissions when not in active time.

10. The UE of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to use a transmission resource to transmit an uplink timing reference signal transmission and to maintain the transmission resource during both active time and non-active time.

11. The UE of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit channel quality indictor (CQI) transmissions and an uplink timing reference signal transmission in a same sub-frame during an active time.

12. The UE of claim 7 , wherein the DRX active time is a connected mode DRX active time.