Discontinuous reception operation with additional wake-up opportunities
The invention relates to methods for improving the DRX operation of a UE by introducing an additional DRX wake-up cycle, which runs in parallel to the short and/or long DRX cycle. The DRX wake-up cycle defines time intervals after which the UE starts monitoring the PDCCH for a wake-up duration of time; the UE does not perform any other operation during the wake-up duration apart from monitoring the PDCCH. The time intervals of the wake-up cycle between the wake-up durations are preferably shorter than the one of the DRX long cycle, and may have the same or a shorter length than the ones of the DRX short cycle. The wake-up duration may be as long as the on-duration of the DRX short/long cycle, or may be preferably much shorter, such as only one or a few subframes.
1. A method of discontinuous reception (DRX) for a mobile terminal being in communication with a base station in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from the base station, a first configuration that defines a short discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle and a second configuration that defines a long DRX cycle,
configuring the short DRX cycle according to the received first configuration and the long DRX cycle according to the received second configuration,
in response to receiving, from the base station, a first DRX command MAC (Medium Access Control) control element, starting the short DRX cycle, and starting the long DRX cycle after the short DRX cycle expires, and
in response to receiving, from the base station, a second DRX command MAC control element, which is different from the first DRX MAC control element and includes an indication of the long DRX cycle, immediately transitioning from the short DRX cycle to the long DRX cycle even before the short DRX cycle expires.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second DRX command MAC control element including the indication of the long DRX cycle is transmitted from the base station when the base station expects end of downlink data for the mobile terminal.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the mobile terminal indicates the expected end of the downlink data to the base station.
4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a third configuration that defines an additional DRX cycle from the base station,
starting the additional DRX cycle in parallel to performing the short or long DRX cycle, and
monitoring a downlink control channel for messages destined to the mobile terminal for a particular duration of time.
5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
repeating the long DRX cycle until a scheduling message is received from the base station.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) by discontinuously using the short DRX cycle and the long DRX cycle.
7. A mobile terminal for performing discontinuous reception (DRX) in communication with a base station in a mobile communication system, the mobile terminal comprising:
a receiver which, in operation, receives from a base station a first configuration that defines a short discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle and a second configuration that defines a long DRX cycle, and
a processor which, in operation, configures the short DRX cycle according to the first configuration and configures the long DRX cycle according to the second configuration,
wherein, when the receiver receives from the base station a first DRX command MAC (Medium Access Control) control element, the processor starts the short DRX cycle, and starts the long DRX cycle after the short DRX cycle expires, and
wherein, when the receiver receives from the base station a second DRX command MAC control element, which is different from the first DRX MAC control element and includes an indication of the long DRX cycle, the processor immediately transitions from the short DRX cycle to the long DRX cycle even before the short DRX cycle expires.
8. The mobile terminal according to claim 7 , wherein the receiver receives the second DRX command MAC control element including the indication of the long DRX cycle from the base station when the base station expects end of downlink data for the mobile terminal, and
wherein a transmitter of the mobile terminal, in operation, indicates the expected end of the downlink data to the base station.
9. The mobile terminal according to claim 7 , wherein, when the receiver receives a third configuration that defines an additional DRX cycle from the base station, the processor starts the additional DRX cycle in parallel to performing the short or long DRX cycle, and monitors a downlink control channel for messages destined to the mobile terminal for a particular duration of time.
10. The mobile terminal according to claim 7 , wherein the processor repeats the long DRX cycle until the receiver receives a scheduling message from the base station.
11. The mobile terminal according to claim 7 , wherein the receiver and the processor monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) by discontinuously using the short DRX cycle and the long DRX cycle.