Method and apparatus for power savings at a user equipment

1. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a transceiver configured to:

receive first information for which secondary cells (SCells) are included in respective groups of first groups of SCells, and

receive first PDCCHs, wherein:

a first PDCCH from the first PDCCHs provides a first downlink control information (DCI) format,

the reception of the first PDCCH is outside an On-duration of any discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle,

the first DCI format includes a first bitmap, and

bits of the first bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the first groups of SCells; and

a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to:

determine, based on a value of a corresponding bit of the first bitmap, whether or not to instruct the transceiver to receive PDCCHs for scheduling, on SCells in a group of SCells from the first groups of SCells, receptions of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) or transmissions of physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs); and

determine whether or not to instruct the transceiver to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmission of PUSCHs, on a primary cell during the On-duration of a next DRX cycle based on a value of a first bit, wherein:

the first bit is included in the first DCI format, and

the first bit is not included in the first bitmap.

2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

the transceiver is further configured to receive a configuration for a first bandwidth part (BWP) of a cell from the group of SCells,

when the UE receives PDCCHs in a BWP of the cell, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmission of PUSCHs, prior to receiving the first DCI format and the value of the corresponding bit indicates to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmission of PUSCHs, on the cell, the UE receives the PDCCHs in the BWP of the cell, and

when the UE does not receive PDCCHs in any BWP of the cell, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, prior to receiving the first DCI format and the value of the corresponding bit indicates to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on the cell, the UE receives the PDCCHs in the first BWP of the cell.

3. The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

the transceiver is further configured to receive second information; and

the processor is further configured to:

determine that the first DCI format is not received before a start of the On-duration of a next DRX cycle, and

determine whether or not to receive PDCCHs for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs, or transmissions of PUSCHs, on a primary cell during the On-duration of the next DRX cycle based on the second information.

4. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the reception of the first PDCCH is on a bandwidth part (BWP) that is same as a BWP at an end of the On-duration of a last DRX cycle for receptions of PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, were received on the primary cell.

5. The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

the transceiver is further configured to:

receive second information for second groups of SCells; and

receive a second PDCCH,

the second PDCCH provides a second DCI format,

the second DCI format includes a resource allocation field,

the processor is further configured to determine the second DCI format as:

scheduling a reception of a PDSCH when the resource allocation field does not have a first value; and

providing a second bitmap when the resource allocation field has the first value, bits of the second bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the second groups of SCells,

the second bitmap is provided by fields in the second DCI format other than the resource allocation field, and

a value of a bit of the second bitmap indicates whether or not to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on a corresponding group of SCells from the second groups of SCells.

6. The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

the transceiver is further configured to:

receive second information for second groups of SCells; and

receive a second PDCCH on a cell,

the second PDCCH provides a second DCI format,

the second DCI format schedules a PDSCH reception or a PUSCH transmission on the cell,

the second DCI format includes a field that provides a second bitmap,

bits of the second bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the second groups of SCells, and

the processor is further configured to determine whether or not to instruct the transceiver to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on SCells in a group of SCells from the second groups of SCells based on a value of a corresponding bit of the second bitmap.

7. A method for a user equipment (UE) to receive physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs), the method comprising:

receiving first information for which secondary cells (SCells) are included in respective groups of first groups of SCells;

receiving first PDCCHs, wherein:

a first PDCCH from the first PDCCHs provides a first downlink control information (DCI) format,

the reception of the first PDCCH is outside an On-duration of any discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle,

the first DCI format includes a first bitmap, and

bits of the first bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the first groups of SCells;

determining, based on a value of a corresponding bit of the first bitmap, whether or not to receive PDCCHs for scheduling, on SCells in a group of SCells from the first groups of SCells, receptions of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) or transmissions of physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs); and

determining whether or not to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on a primary cell during the On-duration of a next DRX cycle based on a value of a first bit, wherein:

the first bit is included in the first DCI format, and

the first bit is not included in the first bitmap.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving a configuration for a first bandwidth part (BWP) for a cell from the group of SCells, wherein:

when the UE does not receive PDCCHs in any BWP of the cell, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, prior to receiving the first DCI format and the value of the corresponding bit indicates to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on the cell, the UE receives the PDCCHs in the first BWP of the cell; and

when the UE receives PDCCHs in a BWP of the cell, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, prior to receiving the first DCI format and the value of the corresponding bit indicates to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDCCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on the cell, the UE receives the PDCCHs in the BWP of the cell.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the reception of the first PDCCH is on a bandwidth part (BWP) that is same as a BWP at an end of the On-duration of a last DRX cycle for receptions of PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on the primary cell.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving second information;

determining that the first DCI format is not received before a start of the On-duration of a next DRX cycle; and

determining whether or not to receive PDCCHs for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on a primary cell during the On-duration of the next DRX cycle based on the second information.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving second information for second groups of SCells;

receiving a second PDCCH, wherein:

the second PDCCH provides a second DCI format, and

the second DCI format includes a resource allocation field; and

determining the second DCI format as:

scheduling a reception of a PDSCH when the resource allocation field does not have a first value, and

providing a second bitmap when the resource allocation field has the first value, wherein:

bits of the second bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the second groups of SCells,

the second bitmap is provided by fields in the second DCI format other than the resource allocation field, and

a value of a bit of the second bitmap indicates whether or not to receive PDCCHs for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on a corresponding group of SCells from the second groups of SCells.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving second information for second groups of SCells;

receiving a second PDCCH on a cell, wherein:

the second PDCCH provides a second DCI format,

the second DCI format schedules a PDSCH reception or a PUSCH transmission on the cell,

the second DCI format includes a field that provides a second bitmap,

bits of the second bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the second groups of SCells; and

determining whether or not to receive PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on SCells in a group of SCells from the second groups of SCells based on a value of a corresponding bit of the second bitmap.

13. A base station comprising:

a processor, operably coupled to a transceiver, the processor configured to instruct, based on a value of a corresponding bit of a first bitmap, the transceiver whether or not to transmit PDCCHs for scheduling, on SCells in a group of SCells from a first groups of SCells, receptions of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) or transmissions of physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs); and

the transceiver configured to:

transmit first information for the first groups of SCells; and

transmit first PDCCHs, wherein:

a first PDCCH from the first PDCCHs provides a first downlink control information (DCI) format,

the transmission of the first PDCCH is outside an On-duration of any discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle,

the first DCI format includes the first bitmap, and

bits of the first bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the first groups of SCells,

wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether or not to instruct the transceiver to transmit PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on a primary cell during the On-duration of a next DRX cycle based on a value of a first bit, wherein:

the first bit is included in the first DCI format, and

the first bit is not included in the first bitmap.

14. The base station of claim 13 , wherein the transmission of the first PDCCH is on a bandwidth part (BWP) that is same as a BWP at an end of the On-duration of a last DRX cycle for transmissions of PDCCHs for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs, or transmissions of PUSCHs, on the primary cell.

15. The base station of claim 13 , wherein:

the processor is further configured to:

determine that the first DCI format is not transmitted before a start of the On-duration of a next DRX cycle; and

determine whether or not to transmit PDCCHs for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on a primary cell during the On-duration of the next DRX cycle based on second information; and

the transceiver is further configured to transmit the second information.

16. The base station of claim 13 , wherein:

the processor is further configured to determine a second DCI format as:

scheduling a reception of a PDSCH when a resource allocation field in the second DCI format does not have a first value, and

providing a second bitmap when the resource allocation field in the second DCI format has the first value,

bits of the second bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with groups of SCells from second groups of SCells,

the second bitmap is provided by fields in the second DCI format other than the resource allocation field,

a value of a bit of the second bitmap indicates whether or not to instruct the transceiver to transmit PDCCHs, for scheduling receptions of PDSCHs or transmissions of PUSCHs, on a corresponding group of SCells from the second groups of SCells, and

the transceiver is further configured to transmit:

second information for the second groups of SCells, and

a second PDCCH that provides the second DCI format.

17. The base station of claim 13 , wherein:

the processor is further configured to determine whether or not to instruct the transceiver to transmit PDCCHs, for scheduling transmissions of PDSCHs or receptions of PUSCHs, on SCells in a group of SCells from second groups of SCells based on a value of a bit of a second bitmap,

the transceiver is further configured to:

transmit second information for the second groups of SCells, and

transmit a second PDCCH on a cell,

the second PDCCH provides a second DCI format,

the second DCI format schedules a PDSCH reception or a PUSCH transmission on the cell,

the second DCI format includes a field that provides the second bitmap, and

bits of the second bitmap have a one-to-one mapping with the second groups of SCells.