IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,464,595
Granted Patent B2
US 12,464,595 · App. 17/908,839 · Granted Nov 4, 2025

Radio wakeup radio

Inventors: Oghenekome Oteri (San Diego, CA); Seyed Ali Akbar Fakoorian (San Diego, CA); Hong He (Cupertino, CA); Haitong Sun (Cupertino, CA); Weidong Yang (San Diego, CA); Chunhai Yao (Beijing, CN); Chunxuan Ye (San Diego, CA); Sigen Ye (San Diego, CA); Wei Zeng (San Diego, CA); Dawei Zhang (Saratoga, CA); Yushu Zhang (Beijing, CN)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W76/27H04W52/0229
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,464,595
App. No.
17/908,839
Granted
Nov 4, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for a wakeup radio in a wireless communication system, e.g., in 5G NR systems and beyond. An RRC state is introduced to support a wakeup radio/, including defining transition mechanisms to/from existing RRC states. Further, signaling is introduced to activate a wakeup radio/activate an RRC low power state. Additionally, a bandwidth part framework for a wakeup signal is defined in which a base station may configure one or more time/frequency resources or a wakeup signal for a wakeup radio. In addition, various mechanisms are introduced to switch a wakeup radio on as well as to switch a wakeup radio off. Also, mechanisms are introduced for multiplexing multiple wakeup signals in a time/frequency resource, configuring a wakeup signal bandwidth, and configuring which beam a wakeup signal may be received on.

Claims (61)

1 . An apparatus, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor in communication with the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

operate in a first radio resource control (RRC) state, wherein, in the first RRC state, a wakeup radio in communication with the apparatus is powered off;

receive, in a group common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a downlink control indicator (DCI) having a first format; and

initiate a transition to a second RRC state based on receipt of the first DCI having the first format, wherein the wakeup radio in communication with apparatus is powered on in the second RRC state.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

monitor for the DCI for a duration of time, wherein the duration of time is from a configured offset before a start of a discontinuous reception (DRX) on cycle until an end of a configured range of monitoring.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine that a threshold number of DCIs having the first format have been received from a base station without a wakeup indication; and

transmit, to the base station, an indication of the transition to the second RRC state, wherein the indication of the transition to the second RRC state is sent via one of a scheduling request or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine that the DCI having the first format includes an indication to transition to the second RRC state; and

transmit, to a base station, an indication of the transition to the second RRC state, wherein the indication of the transition to the second RRC state is sent via one of a scheduling request or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive, from a base station, a configuration of one or more time and frequency resources for the wakeup radio to monitor; and

monitor, after transitioning to the second RRC state, the one or more time and frequency resources for a signal via the wakeup radio.

6 . The apparatus of claim 5 ,

wherein the configuration of the one or more time and frequency resources for the wakeup radio to monitor includes only downlink symbols.

7 . The apparatus of claim 5 ,

wherein the signal is a wakeup signal including on-off key signaling.

8 . A non-transitory computer readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by processing circuitry to cause a user equipment device (UE) to:

operate in a first radio resource control (RRC) state, wherein, in the first RRC state, a primary communication radio of the UE is powered on and a wakeup radio of the UE is powered off

monitor, in a group common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), for a UE specific downlink control indicator (DCI) format for bandwidth part switching; and

switch to a preconfigured bandwidth part for wakeup radio monitoring based on receipt of the UE specific DCI format.

9 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 8 ,

wherein the UE specific DCI format includes at least one of DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 0_x, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 1_2, or DCI format 1_x.

10 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 8 ,

wherein the PDCCH is received with a higher than normal aggregation level to ensure receipt of the UE specific DCI format.

11 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 8 ,

wherein the UE specific DCI format is transmitted multiple times by a base station to ensure receipt of the UE specific DCI format.

12 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 8 ,

wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processing circuitry to cause the UE to:

upon receipt of a wakeup signal, transitioning to a second RRC state, wherein, in the second RRC state, the primary communication radio of the UE is powered on and the wakeup radio of the UE is powered off, wherein the second RRC state is one of an RRC idle state, an RRC inactive state, or an RRC connected state, wherein the second RRC state is equivalent to the first RRC state, wherein the transition to the second RRC state occurs prior to a bandwidth part switch from the preconfigured bandwidth part; and wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processing circuitry to cause the UE to:

transmit, to a base station, an indication of the transition to the second RRC state, wherein the indication of the transition to the second RRC state is sent via one of a scheduling request or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

13 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 8 ,

wherein a beam schedule for a wakeup signal is indicated to the wakeup radio, wherein the indication of the beam schedule for the wakeup signal is received from the primary communication radio, signaled in a wakeup radio discovery channel, or signaled as part of a wakeup signal, wherein the beam schedule includes a change in a receive beam at a specific time, and wherein the beam schedule includes the wakeup signal being transmitted with different data on each of multiple frequencies.

14 . A method, comprising:

operating in a first radio resource control (RRC) state, wherein, in the first RRC state, a wakeup radio is powered off;

monitoring, in a group common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), for a first downlink control indicator (DCI) format for a duration of time; and

initiating a transition to a second RRC state based on receipt of the first DCI format, wherein the wakeup radio is powered on in the second RRC state.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving, from a base station, a configuration of one or more time and frequency resources for the wakeup radio to monitor; and

monitoring, after transitioning to the second RRC state, the one or more time and frequency resources for a signal via the wakeup radio.

16 . The method of claim 15 ,

wherein the configuration of the one or more time and frequency resources for the wakeup radio to monitor includes only downlink symbols.

17 . The method of claim 15 ,

wherein the signal is a wakeup signal including on-off key signaling.

18 . The method of claim 14 ,

wherein the duration of time is from a configured offset before a start of a discontinuous reception (DRX) on cycle until an end of a configured range of monitoring.

19 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

determining that a threshold number of the first DCI format have been received from a base station without a wakeup indication; and

transmitting, to the base station, an indication of the transition to the second RRC state, wherein the indication of the transition to the second RRC state is sent via one of a scheduling request or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

20 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving the first DCI format;

determining that the first DCI format includes an indication to transition to the second RRC state; and

transmitting, to a base station, an indication of the transition to the second RRC state, wherein the indication of the transition to the second RRC state is sent via one of a scheduling request or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 1, 2022
From: OTERI, OGHENEKOME; YE, SIGEN; YE, CHUNXUAN; FAKOORIAN, SEYED ALI AKBAR; SUN, HAITONG; YAO, CHUNHAI; ZHANG, YUSHU; YANG, WEIDONG; HE, HONG; ZENG, WEI; ZHANG, DAWEI
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 060970/0735 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240196469A1 · Jun 13, 2024
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