Discontinuous reception inactivity timer for PDCCH repetition

1. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

monitor for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) based on a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, the DRX configuration having an inactivity timer;

determine whether the PDCCH corresponds to a linked PDCCH candidate and a new transmission is scheduled, wherein the linked PDCCH candidate is comprised of two or more PDCCH repetitions; and

in response to the PDCCH corresponding to the linked PDCCH candidate and the new transmission being scheduled, start the inactivity timer in a first symbol after an end of at least one of the two or more PDCCH repetitions.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inactivity timer is started in the first symbol after the end of a first PDCCH repetition.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inactivity timer is started in the first symbol after the end of a last PDCCH repetition.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive, from a base station, the DRX configuration via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the PDCCH corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate comprises at least one of:

two or more linked PDCCH candidates are always received together,

a bit in downlink control information (DCI) indicating that the DCI corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate,

a different radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) is used for scrambling of the DCI when the DCI corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate, or

a different scrambling identifier is used for PDCCH scrambling or for demodulated reference signal (DMRS) scrambling.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least a first repetition is within an active time and at least a second repetition is outside of the active time.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein all repetitions of the linked PDCCH candidate are monitored.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein repetitions within the active time are monitored.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein repetitions of the linked PDCCH candidate are not monitored.

11. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

monitoring for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) based on a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, the DRX configuration having an inactivity timer;

determining whether the PDCCH corresponds to a linked PDCCH candidate and a new transmission is scheduled, wherein the linked PDCCH candidate is comprised of two or more PDCCH repetitions; and

in response to the PDCCH corresponding to the linked PDCCH candidate and the new transmission being scheduled, starting the inactivity timer in a first symbol after an end of at least one of the two or more PDCCH repetitions.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the inactivity timer is started in the first symbol after the end of a first PDCCH repetition.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the inactivity timer is started in the first symbol after the end of a last PDCCH repetition.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving, from a base station, the DRX configuration via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining whether the PDCCH corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate comprises at least one of:

two or more linked PDCCH candidates are always received together,

a bit in downlink control information (DCI) indicating that the DCI corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate,

a different radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) is used for scrambling of the DCI when the DCI corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate, or

a different scrambling identifier is used for PDCCH scrambling or for demodulated reference signal (DMRS) scrambling.

16. An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

configure a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration having an inactivity timer; and

transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) based on the DRX configuration, wherein the UE determines whether the PDCCH corresponds to a linked PDCCH candidate and a new transmission is scheduled and in response to the PDCCH corresponding to the linked PDCCH candidate and the new transmission being scheduled, starts the inactivity timer in a first symbol after an end of at least one of the two or more PDCCH repetitions, wherein the linked PDCCH candidate is comprised of two or more PDCCH repetitions.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the inactivity timer is started in a first symbol after an end of a first PDCCH repetition.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the inactivity timer is started in a first symbol after an end of a last PDCCH repetition.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the DRX configuration is transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

21. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the PDCCH corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate based on at least one of:

two or more linked PDCCH candidates are always received together,

a bit in downlink control information (DCI) indicating that the DCI corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate,

a different radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) is used for scrambling of the DCI when the DCI corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate, or

a different scrambling identifier is used for PDCCH scrambling or for demodulated reference signal (DMRS) scrambling.

22. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein at least a first repetition is within an active time and at least a second repetition is outside of the active time.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein all repetitions of the linked PDCCH candidate are monitored.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein repetitions within the active time are monitored.

25. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein repetitions of the linked PDCCH candidate are not monitored.

26. A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

configuring a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration having an inactivity timer; and

transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) based on the DRX configuration, wherein the UE determines whether the PDCCH corresponds to a linked PDCCH candidate and a new transmission is scheduled and in response to the PDCCH corresponding to the linked PDCCH candidate and the new transmission being scheduled, starts the inactivity timer in a first symbol after an end of at least one of the two or more PDCCH repetitions, wherein the linked PDCCH candidate is comprised of two or more PDCCH repetitions.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the inactivity timer is started in a first symbol after an end of a first PDCCH repetition.

28. The method of claim 26 , wherein the inactivity timer is started in a first symbol after an end of a last PDCCH repetition.

29. The method of claim 26 , wherein the DRX configuration is transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

30. The method of claim 26 , wherein the PDCCH corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate based on at least one of:

two or more linked PDCCH candidates are always received together,

a bit in downlink control information (DCI) indicating that the DCI corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate,

a different radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) is used for scrambling of the DCI when the DCI corresponds to the linked PDCCH candidate, or

a different scrambling identifier is used for PDCCH scrambling or for demodulated reference signal (DMRS) scrambling.