Power-efficient mechanism for multi-link operation in mobile communications

1. A method, comprising:

establishing, by a processor of an apparatus, a first link and a second link with at least one of a plurality of network nodes;

monitoring, by the processor, the first link;

determining, by the processor, whether a condition is triggered on the first link; and

activating, by the processor, the second link at beginning of a next discontinuous reception (DRX) ON duration in response to the condition being triggered on the first link,

wherein the activating of the second link comprises:

initiating an inactivity timer after activating the second link or after receiving data on the second link;

keeping the second link activated before expiration of the inactivity timer;

upon expiration of the inactivity timer, entering into a short DRX period on the second link to periodically monitor the second link in the DRX ON duration based on a short DRX cycle;

initiating a short DRX cycle timer after entering the short DRX period; and

upon expiration of the short DRX cycle timer, stopping monitoring the second link.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stopping of monitoring the second link comprises performing at least one of:

deactivating a cell,

deactivating a carrier,

switching a carrier to a dormant state,

switching a carrier to a bandwidth part without physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) reception, and

stopping monitoring a PDCCH.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activating of the second link comprises performing at least one of:

activating a cell,

activating a carrier,

switching a carrier to an active state,

switching a carrier to a specific bandwidth part, and

starting monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the condition comprises at least one of presence of a downlink or uplink activity on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), entry into a specific bandwidth part, reception of a network indication, transmission of a specific amount of data, transmission of a specific type of traffic, and reception of a wakeup indication.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

initiating, by the processor, an inactivity timer; and

stopping, by the processor, monitoring the second link when the inactivity timer is expired.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting, by the processor, an indication to inform at least one of the network nodes that the second link is activated.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

entering, by the processor, into a power saving state on the first link; and

stopping, by the processor, monitoring the second link in response to the entering.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first link is configured with discontinuous reception (DRX), and wherein the second link is not configured with the DRX.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DRX ON duration occurs after triggering of the condition by a time delay.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver capable of wirelessly communicating with a plurality of network nodes of a wireless network; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver, the processor capable of:

establishing, via the transceiver, a first link and a second link with at least one of the network nodes;

monitoring, via the transceiver, the first link;

determining whether a condition is triggered on the first link; and

activating the second link at beginning of a next discontinuous reception (DRX) ON duration in response to the condition being triggered on the first link,

wherein, in activating the second link, the processor performs operations comprising:

initiating an inactivity timer after activating the second link or after receiving data on the second link;

keeping the second link activated before expiration of the inactivity timer;

upon expiration of the inactivity timer, entering into a short DRX period on the second link to periodically monitor the second link in the DRX ON duration based on a short DRX cycle;

initiating a short DRX cycle timer after entering the short DRX period; and

upon expiration of the short DRX cycle timer, stopping monitoring the second link.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein, in stopping monitoring the second link, the processor is capable of performing at least one of:

deactivating a cell,

deactivating a carrier,

switching a carrier to a dormant state,

switching a carrier to a bandwidth part without physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) reception, and

stopping monitoring a PDCCH.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein, in activating the second link, the processor is capable of performing at least one of:

activating a cell,

activating a carrier,

switching a carrier to an active state,

switching a carrier to a specific bandwidth part, and

starting monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the condition comprises at least one of presence of a downlink or uplink activity on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), entry into a specific bandwidth part, reception of a network indication, transmission of a specific amount of data, transmission of a specific type of traffic, and reception of a wakeup indication.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further capable of:

initiating an inactivity timer; and

stopping monitoring the second link when the inactivity timer is expired.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further capable of:

transmitting, via the transceiver, an indication to inform at least one of the network nodes that the second link is activated.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further capable of:

entering into a power saving state on the first link; and

stopping monitoring the second link in response to the entering.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first link is configured with discontinuous reception (DRX), and wherein the second link is not configured with the DRX.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the DRX ON duration occurs after triggering of the condition by a time delay.