IP Library Granted Patent US 10,925,007
Granted Patent B2
US 10,925,007 · App. 16/671,910 · Granted Feb 16, 2021

Dynamic power reduction requests for wireless communications

Inventors: Yakun Sun (San Jose, CA); Anatoliy S. Ioffe (Redwood City, CA); Ehsan Haghani (Redwood City, CA); Rohit U. Nabar (Sunnyvale, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W52/146H04W52/365H04W72/048H04W72/0473H04W76/10H04W76/27
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,925,007
App. No.
16/671,910
Granted
Feb 16, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods and systems for controlling uplink (UL) transmission power of a user equipment (UE) electronic device includes determining, using the UE electronic device, that a maximum power availability for a transmission between the UE and a wireless network node is not appropriate to current conditions. Based on the determination that maximum power availability is not appropriate the UE electronic device sends a request to the wireless network node to reduce power for communication with the wireless network node. Based on the request, the UE electronic device communicates at a reduced power level for communications with the wireless network node.

Claims (36)

1. A method, comprising:

determining, using a user equipment electronic device (UE), that a maximum power availability for a transmission between the UE and a wireless network node is not appropriate to current conditions;

sending, using the UE, a request to the wireless network node to reduce power for communication with the wireless network node, wherein the request comprises a request to change an aggregation factor to increase slot aggregation for communications with the wireless network node; and

communicating, using the UE, at a reduced power level for the communications with the wireless network node.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network node comprises a Next Generation NodeB (gNB).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the request further comprises sending UE capabilities for the UE to indicate the reduced power level.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the UE capabilities are set by determining the maximum power availability is inappropriate prior to establishing communication with the wireless network node.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the maximum power availability is not appropriate comprises determining whether an event occurs during communication between the UE and the wireless network node.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the event comprises the UE overheating.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the event comprises that a human body has entered into proximity of the UE in a communication path between the UE and the wireless network node and the human body is likely to be exposed to wireless signals above a maximum permissive exposure (MPE) limit unless the reduced power level is used.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reduced power level comprises a reduced duty cycle for uplink communications between the UE and the wireless network node.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reduced power level comprises a reduced peak power used in uplink communications between the UE and the wireless network node.

10. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more antennas configured to communicate with one or more wireless network nodes;

one or more processors;

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

request, via the one or more antennas, a power reduction for an uplink to a wireless network node of the one or more wireless network nodes below a maximum transmission level, wherein the request is sent via a radio resource control (RRC) message, and wherein the request comprises a request to change an aggregation factor to increase slot aggregation for communications with the wireless network node;

receive an indication from the wireless network node comprising instructions on how to reduce power; and

reduce transmission power based at least in part on the instructions.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

detect a parameter for the electronic device surpassing a threshold; and

based on the surpassed threshold, determine that a power back-off is to be requested, wherein requesting the power reduction is based at least in part on the determination that the power back-off is to be requested.

12. The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the parameter comprises a temperature for the electronic device, exposure of a person in a path of the uplink, or amount of power available for the electronic device; or any combination thereof.

13. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein requesting the power reduction comprises:

requesting an allocation from the wireless network node to send the RRC message; and

sending the RRC message during an allocated slot.

14. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein requesting the power reduction further comprises a power back-off signal having an indication of an amount of reduction of peak transmission power levels for the electronic device.

15. The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the indication from the wireless network node at least partially converts the power back-off signal from the amount of reduction of peak transmission power levels to a reduced duty cycle.

16. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the RRC message comprises assistance information indicating an amount of power reduction for the uplink.

17. Tangible, non-transitory, and computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed by a processor, are configured to cause the processor to:

determine that a parameter of a user equipment (UE) device has crossed a threshold;

based on the parameter crossing the threshold, determine that a power reduction is to occur; and

send a request, via an antenna, to a wireless network node of a wireless network to reduce transmission power for the UE device to the wireless network node, wherein the request is included in a power headroom report (PHR) for the wireless network, and wherein the request comprises a request to change an aggregation factor to increase slot aggregation for communications with the wireless network node.

18. The tangible, non-transitory, and computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the request comprises assistance information indicating a degree of transmission power reduction.

19. The tangible, non-transitory, and computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the assistance information is included in a PHR MAC control element (CE) with a single entry of a PHR for a single cell of the wireless network.

20. The tangible, non-transitory, and computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the assistance information is included in a PHR MAC control element (CE) with a multiple entries of PHRs for various wireless network cells.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 4, 2019
From: SUN, YAKUN; IOFFE, ANATOLIY S.; HAGHANI, EHSAN; NABAR, ROHIT U.
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 050910/0021 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 62910849 · Oct 4, 2019
Provisional Application 62755199 · Nov 2, 2018
Related Publication 20200145927A1 · May 7, 2020
Cited By (1)
US 12,414,047