Methods and apparatus for switching of PDCCH monitoring capability

1. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive information to skip reception of a number of physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) over a number of slots;

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

instruct the transceiver to receive first PDCCHs in first slots from the number of slots when the UE transmits a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) that provides a positive scheduling request (SR) in a first slot that is before the first slots, and

instruct the transceiver to skip the reception of the number of PDCCHs in the number of slots when the UE does not transmit the PUCCH in the first slot,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to, based on the instruction by the processor, receive the first PDCCHs in the first slots or skip the reception of the number of PDCCHs in the number of slots.

2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the reception of the number of PDCCHs is according to UE-specific search space sets or according to common search space sets that do not schedule receptions of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) that provide system information, random access responses, or paging.

3. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the reception of the first PDCCHs includes all PDCCH receptions from the number of PDCCHs in the first slots.

4. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the first slots include all slots from the number of slots after the first slot.

5. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the information to skip the reception of the number of PDCCHs over the number of slots is provided by a downlink control information (DCI) format.

6. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

instruct the transceiver to receive second PDCCHs in second slots from the number of slots when the UE transmits a physical random access channel (PRACH) in a second slot that is before the second slots, and

instruct the transceiver to skip the reception of the number of PDCCHs in the number of slots when the UE does not transmit the PRACH in the second slot.

7. The UE of claim 6 , wherein the second slots start at a predetermined slot after the second slot.

8. A base station (BS) comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit information to skip transmission of a number of physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) over a number of slots;

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

instruct the transceiver to transmit first PDCCHs in first slots from the number of slots when the BS receives a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) that provides a positive scheduling request (SR) in a first slot that is before the first slots, and

instruct the transceiver to skip the transmission of the number of PDCCHs in the number of slots when the BS does not receive the PUCCH in the first slot,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to, based on the instruction by the processor, transmit the first PDCCHs in the first slots or skip the transmission of the number of PDCCHs in the number of slots.

9. The BS of claim 8 , wherein the transmission of the number of PDCCHs is according to UE-specific search space sets or according to common search space sets that do not schedule transmissions of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) that provide system information, random access responses, or paging.

10. The BS of claim 8 , wherein the transmission of the number of PDCCHs includes all PDCCH transmissions from the number of PDCCHs in the first slots.

11. The BS of claim 8 , wherein the first slots include all slots from the number of slots after the first slot.

12. The BS of claim 8 , wherein the information to skip the transmission of the number of PDCCHs over the number of slots is provided by a downlink control information (DCI) format.

13. The BS of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

instruct the transceiver to transmit second PDCCHs in second slots from the number of slots when the BS receives a physical random access channel (PRACH) in a second slot that is before the second slots, and

instruct the transceiver to skip the transmission of the number of PDCCHs in the number of slots when the BS does not receive the PRACH in the second slot.

14. The BS of claim 13 , wherein the second slots start at a predetermined slot after the second slot.

15. A method comprising:

receiving information to skip reception of a number of physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) over a number of slots;

determining an instruction to:

receive first PDCCHs in first slots from the number of slots based on a transmission of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) that provides a positive scheduling request (SR) in a first slot that is before the first slots, or

skip the reception of the number of PDCCHs in the number of slots based on an absence of transmission of the PUCCH in the first slot; and

based on the instruction, receiving the first PDCCHs in the first slots or skipping the reception of the first PDCCHs in the number of slots.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reception of the number of PDCCHs is according to UE-specific search space sets or according to common search space sets that do not schedule receptions of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) that provide system information, random access responses, or paging.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reception of the first PDCCHs includes all PDCCH receptions from the number of PDCCHs in the first slots.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first slots include all slots from the number of slots after the first slot.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

determining an instruction to:

receive second PDCCHs in second slots from the number of slots based on a transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH) in a second slot that is before the second slots, or

skip the reception of the number of PDCCHs in the number of slots based on an absence of the transmission of the PRACH in the second slot.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the second slots start at a predetermined slot after the second slot.