IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,758,545
Granted Patent B2
US 11,758,545 · App. 16/652,330 · Granted Sep 12, 2023

Base station and state control method

Inventors: Teruaki Toeda (Tokyo, JP); Anil Umesh (Tokyo, JP); Tooru Uchino (Tokyo, JP); Akihito Hanaki (Tokyo, JP); Hiroshi Ou (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: NTT DOCOMO, INC.
H04W72/23H04W52/0212H04W76/28
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,758,545
App. No.
16/652,330
Granted
Sep 12, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

In one aspect of the present invention, a first base station for communicating with user equipment together with a second base station according to dual connectivity includes a data storage unit configured to store data to be transmitted from the first base station to the user equipment; a reception unit configured to receive from the second base station information indicating whether data to be transmitted from the second base station to the user equipment exist; and a state control unit configured to, when information indicating that data to be transmitted from the second base station to the user equipment exist is received, prevent the user equipment from releasing a radio resource or transitioning to a discontinuous reception state, even if the amount of to-be-transmitted data stored in the data storage unit is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold.

Claims (16)

1. A first base station, comprising:

a reception unit configured to receive information indicating whether data to be transmitted from a second base station to a terminal exist from the second base station, when the data to be transmitted to the terminal are distributed by the second base station; and

a control unit configured to perform discontinuous reception (DRX) control for the terminal, when information indicating the data to be transmitted from the second base station to the terminal exist is received,

wherein the information indicating whether the data to be transmitted from the second base station to the terminal exist is represented by one bit and is transmitted being attached to the data to be distributed by the second base station, and

wherein the control unit is further configured to control transmission of downlink control information to prevent the terminal from transitioning to a DRX state.

2. The first base station as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

a data storage unit configured to store the data to be transmitted to the terminal which are distributed by the second base station,

wherein when the information indicating the data to be transmitted to the terminal exist is received, the control unit prevents the terminal from transitioning to a discontinuous reception state, even if an amount of to-be-transmitted data stored in the data storage unit is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold, and

when information indicating the data to be transmitted from the second base station to the terminal do not exist is received and when the amount of to-be-transmitted data stored in the data storage unit is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the control unit cancels preventing the terminal from transiting to the discontinuous reception state.

3. The first base station as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the control unit prevents a timer for managing time when the terminal transitions to the discontinuous reception state from expiring by transmitting downlink control information to the terminal.

4. The first base station as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the control unit prevents a timer for managing time when the terminal transitions to the discontinuous reception state from expiring by transmitting downlink control information to the terminal.

5. A state control method in a first base station, comprising the steps of:

receiving information indicating whether data to be transmitted from a second base station to a terminal exist from the second base station, when the data to be transmitted to the terminal are distributed by the second base station; and

performing discontinuous reception (DRX) control for the terminal, when information indicating the data to be transmitted from the second base station to the terminal exist is received,

wherein the information indicating whether the data to be transmitted from the second base station to the terminal exist is represented by one bit and is transmitted being attached to the data to be distributed by the second base station, and

wherein the method further comprises performing control of transmission of downlink control information to prevent the terminal from transitioning to a DRX state.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 14, 2020
From: TOEDA, TERUAKI; UMESH, ANIL; UCHINO, TOORU; HANAKI, AKIHITO; OU, HIROSHI
To: NTT DOCOMO, INC.
Reel/Frame 052398/0275 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20200236658A1 · Jul 23, 2020