IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,309,744
Granted Patent B2
US 12,309,744 · App. 17/598,129 · Granted May 20, 2025

Methods for flexible configuration of paging occasions

Inventors: Sigen Ye (Cupertino, CA); Chunxuan Ye (Cupertino, CA); Dawei Zhang (Cupertino, CA); Fangli Xu (Cupertino, CA); Haitong Sun (Cupertino, CA); Huaning Niu (Cupertino, CA); Sethuraman Gurumoorthy (Cupertino, CA); Seyed Ali Akbar Fakoorian (Cupertino, CA); Wei Zeng (Cupertino, CA); Yushu Zhang (Cupertino, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W68/02
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,309,744
App. No.
17/598,129
Granted
May 20, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed to configure different paging occasions for enhanced UEs that support, and for legacy UEs that do not support, the enhanced feature of the paging early indication (PEI) in paging procedure for 5G/LTE networks. Different paging occasions for the enhanced and legacy UEs may be configured by providing separate paging occasion parameters for the enhanced and legacy UEs. The network may use the separate paging parameters to design the PEI to save signaling overhead. The network may reuse paging format for the paging PDCCH to serve as the PEI that is transmitted in advance of the paging occasions for the enhanced UEs, or may keep legacy paging PDCCH at its current locations to serve as the PEI for the enhanced UEs. A scheduling offset may be configured to separate in time the paging PDCCH serving as the PEI and the paging PDSCH containing the paging message.

Claims (32)

1. A baseband processor of a wireless user equipment (UE) configured to perform paging operations comprising:

receiving, from a base station, separate configuration parameters used to determine paging occasions for an enhanced group of UEs that support a paging early indication (PEI) and a legacy group of UEs that do not support the PEI, wherein the separate configuration parameters comprise one or more of: separate frame offsets (PF offset) for the enhanced group and the legacy group, separate numbers of total paging frames (N) in each discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of radio frames for the enhanced group and the legacy group, separate numbers of the paging occasions (Ns) per paging frame for the enhanced group and the legacy group, or separate first paging control message monitoring occasions associated with the paging occasions for the enhanced group and the legacy group;

determining a paging occasion for the enhanced group and for the legacy group of UEs using the separate configuration parameters, including determining, based on the separate configuration parameters, that the paging occasion for the enhanced group and the paging occasion for the legacy group are overlapping;

listening for a shared paging control message during an overlapping paging occasion for the enhanced group and the legacy group, wherein the shared paging control message serves as the PEI and allocates resources for a paging message for the legacy group and for a paging message for the enhanced group, during when the paging occasion for the enhanced group and the paging occasion for the legacy group are overlapping;

receiving the shared paging control message which serves as the PEI from the base station, the PEI indicating to the UE to monitor the paging occasion for the enhanced group;

receiving a scheduling offset from the base station, wherein the shared paging control message precedes the paging message for the enhanced group by the scheduling offset to allow the shared paging control message to serve as the PEI; and

listening for the paging message for the enhanced group and for the legacy group of UEs transmitted by the base station during or following the paging occasion for the enhanced group when the PEI indicates to the UE to monitor the paging occasion for the enhanced group, wherein the paging message for the enhanced group is shared with the paging message for the legacy group.

2. The baseband processor of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a paging control message for the enhanced group transmitted by the base station when the paging occasion for the enhanced group and the paging occasion for the legacy group do not overlap, wherein the paging control message for the enhanced group allocates resources for the paging message for the enhanced group.

3. The baseband processor of claim 2 , wherein the paging control message for the enhanced group precedes the paging message for the enhanced group by a scheduling offset to allow the paging control message for the enhanced group to serve as the PEI for the enhanced group, wherein the paging control message for the enhanced group is received in advance of the paging occasion for the enhanced group and the paging message for the enhanced group is received during the paging occasion for the enhanced group.

4. The baseband processor of claim 3 ,

wherein the scheduling offset is received from the base station as a broadcast message.

5. The baseband processor of claim 3 , wherein the paging control message for the enhanced group reuses a paging format of a paging control message for the legacy group, wherein the paging control message for the legacy group allocates resources for the paging message for the legacy group transmitted by the base station during the paging occasion for the legacy group.

6. The baseband processor of claim 5 , wherein the paging control message for the legacy group and the paging message for the legacy group are not transmitted during the paging occasion for the enhanced group.

7. The baseband processor of claim 2 , wherein the paging control message for the enhanced group comprises separate paging control information for a plurality of sub-groupings of the enhanced group of UEs, wherein the plurality of sub-groupings of the enhanced group of UEs share the paging occasion for the enhanced group.

8. The baseband processor of claim 2 , wherein the paging control message for the enhanced group precedes the paging message for the enhanced group by a scheduling offset to allow the paging control message for the enhanced group to serve as the PEI, wherein the paging control message for the enhanced group is received during the paging occasion for the enhanced group and the paging message for the enhanced group is received following the paging occasion for the enhanced group.

9. The baseband processor of claim 1 , wherein the shared paging control message comprises separate paging control information for a plurality of sub-groupings of the enhanced group of UEs, wherein the plurality of sub-groupings of the enhanced group of UEs share the paging occasion for the enhanced group.

10. The baseband processor of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from the base station, second separate configuration parameters used to determine paging occasions for a plurality of sub-groupings of the enhanced group of UEs; and

determining a paging occasion for the UE using the second separate configuration parameters selected based on the sub-grouping to which the UE belongs.

11. The baseband processor of claim 1 , further comprising:

entering a low power mode when the PEI indicates to the UE not to monitor the paging occasion for the enhanced group.

12. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

at least one antenna;

at least one radio, wherein the at least one radio is configured to communicate with a base station using the at least one antenna; and

at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform paging operations comprising:

receive from the base station separate configuration parameters used to determine paging occasions for an enhanced group of UEs that support a paging early indication (PEI) and a legacy group of UEs that do not support the PEI, wherein the separate configuration parameters comprise one or more of: separate frame offsets (PF offset) for the enhanced group and the legacy group, separate numbers of total paging frames (N) in each discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of radio frames for the enhanced group and the legacy group, separate numbers of the paging occasions (Ns) per paging frame for the enhanced group and the legacy group, or separate first paging control message monitoring occasions associated with the paging occasions for the enhanced group and the legacy group;

determine a paging occasion for the enhanced group and for the legacy group of UEs using the separate configuration parameters, including determining, based on the separate configuration parameters, that the paging occasion for the enhanced group and the paging occasion for the legacy group are overlapping;

listening for a shared paging control message during an overlapping paging occasion for the enhanced group and the legacy group, wherein the shared paging control message serves as the PEI and allocates resources for a paging message for the legacy group and for a paging message for the enhanced group, during when the paging occasion for the enhanced group and the paging occasion for the legacy group are overlapping;

receive from the base station the shared paging control message which serves as the PEI, the PEI indicating to the UE to monitor the paging occasion for the enhanced group;

receiving a scheduling offset from the base station, wherein the shared paging control message precedes the paging message for the enhanced group by the scheduling offset to allow the shared paging control message to serve as the PEI; and

listen for the paging message for the enhanced group and for the legacy group of UEs transmitted by the base station during or following the paging occasion for the enhanced group when the PEI indicates to the UE to monitor the paging occasion for the enhanced group, wherein the paging message for the enhanced group is shared with the paging message for the legacy group.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 20, 2023
From: YE, SIGEN; YE, CHUNXUAN; ZHANG, DAWEI; XU, FANGLI; SUN, HAITONG; NIU, HUANING; GURUMOORTHY, SETHURAMAN; FAKOORIAN, SEYED ALI AKBAR; ZENG, WEI; ZHANG, YUSHU
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 065625/0034 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240031983A1 · Jan 25, 2024
References Cited (12)
US 20220264516A1 · He · 2022 [cited by examiner]
CN 112544114A · 2021 [cited by applicant]
WO 2020216242A1 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
WO 2022104657A1 · 2022 [cited by applicant]
Extended European Search Report and Search Opinion received for European Application No. 21935482.6, mailed on Nov. 25, 2024, 11 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Preliminary Report on Patentability received for PCT Patent Application No. PCT/CN2021/085576, mailed on Oct. 19, 2023, 5 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report and Written Opinion received for PCT Patent Application No. PCT/CN2021/085576, mailed on Jan. 6, 2022, 6 pages. [cited by applicant]
Mediatek Inc: “Paging Enhancements for UE Power Saving in NR”, 3GPP Draft; R2-2007190, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Mobile Competence Centre, vol. RAN WG2, No. electronic; Aug. 17, 2020-Aug. 28, 2020, Aug.… [cited by applicant]
Qualcomm Inc, “Power saving enhancements for paging reception”, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #112-e, R2-2010994, Nov. 2-13, 2020, 5 pages. [cited by applicant]
Qualcomm Inc, “Power saving enhancements for paging reception”, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #113-e, R2-2100313, Online, Jan. 25-Feb. 5, 2021, 4 pages. [cited by applicant]
Qualcomm Incorporated: “Paging enhancements for idle/inactive mode UE power saving”, 3GPP Draft; RI-2101474, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), vol. RAN WG1, No. e-Meeting; Jan. 25, 2021-Feb. 5, 2021 Jan. 19, 20… [cited by applicant]
Samsung: “Discussion on paging enhancements”, 3GPP Draft; RI-2101217, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), vol. RAN WG1, No. e-Meeting; Jan. 25, 2020-Feb. 5, 2020, Jan. 19, 2021. [cited by applicant]