IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,438,685
Granted Patent B2
US 12,438,685 · App. 17/775,080 · Granted Oct 7, 2025

Signaling of dormant bandwidth part

Inventors: Ravikiran Nory (San José, CA); Ajit Nimbalker (Fremont, CA)
Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
H04L5/0098H04W72/0453H04W72/23
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,438,685
App. No.
17/775,080
Granted
Oct 7, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method performed by a user equipment, UE, in a wireless communication network is provided. The method includes receiving a bandwidth part, BWP, configuration associated with a BWP of a secondary serving cell, Scell, of the UE. The UE determines whether the BWP of the Scell of the UE is a dormant BWP based on a received higher layer parameter in a Scell configuration that indicates an identifier of the dormant BWP. In response to determining whether the BWP of the Scell is a dormant BWP, the UE determines a set of actions performable by the UE based on whether the BWP is a dormant BWP; and performs the set of actions.

Claims (55)

1. A method performed by a user equipment, UE, in a wireless communication network, the UE being configured with at least a first UE-specific radio resource control configured bandwidth part, BWP, of a secondary serving cell, Scell, of the UE, the method comprising:

receiving at least a second BWP configuration associated with a BWP of the Scell of the UE;

determining whether the first or the second BWP is a dormant BWP based on a received higher layer parameter in an Scell configuration that indicates a BWP identifier of the at least first or second BWP as the dormant BWP, wherein the Scell configuration comprises a dormant BWP; Id field as part of ServingCellConfig information to indicate the BWP that is the dormant BWP; and

receiving a message from a network node operating in the wireless communication network, the message comprising an indicator that data is not scheduled and causing the UE to switch from the first or second BWP identified as the dormant BWP to the other of the first or second BWP.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving another message from a network node operating in the wireless communication network, the message instructing the UE to switch to the first or second BWP of the Scell identified as the dormant BWP; and

responsive to receiving the message, switching to the first or second BWP of the Scell identified as the dormant BWP.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

determining a set of actions performable by the UE based on the first or second BWP identified as the dormant BWP; and

performing the set of actions.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of actions comprises a second set of actions, the method further comprising:

receiving an activation command on a primary cell, Pcell, indicating activation of the Scell;

responsive to receiving the activation command, performing a first set of actions comprising PDCCH monitoring;

receiving a dormancy indication command on the Pcell that comprises an indication of the Scell;

responsive to receiving the dormancy indication command, switching to the first or second BWP identified as the dormant BWP on the Scell and performing the second set of actions.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a size of a BWP indicator field in the Scell configuration that includes the BWP identifier, wherein the BWP indicator field is in downlink control information (DCI) and determining the size of the BWP indicator field in the DCI for the SCell considers only the BWPs that are not dormant BWPs.

6. The method of claim 1 , discarding at least a resource allocation for a downlink or an uplink data transmission for the Scell in a DCI if the DCI also indicates switching to the dormant BWP for the Scell.

7. A method performed by a network node in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

configuring a UE with at least a first UE-specific radio resource control configured bandwidth part, BWP, of a secondary serving cell, Scell, of the UE;

identifying one of the at least a first BWP or a second BWP of the Scell as a dormant bandwidth part, BWP;

identifying a linkage between the dormant BWP and another BWP that includes at least one same configuration as the dormant BWP; and

transmitting a command, that includes an indication of the linkage, to cause the UE to switch between the BWP identified as the dormant BWP and another BWP of the Scell.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying the dormant BWP comprises signaling the BWP Id in a dormantBWP-Id field of a ServingCellConfig information.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the command comprises a dormancy indication command to cause the UE to switch the BWP identified as the dormant BWP and transmitting the command on a primary cell, Pcell, of the UE.

10. A user equipment, UE, configured to operate in a wireless communication network, the UE being configured with at least a first UE-specific radio resource control configured bandwidth part, BWP, of a secondary serving cell, Scell, of the UE, the UE comprising:

processing circuitry; and

memory coupled to the processing circuitry and having instructions stored therein that are executable by the processing circuitry to cause the UE to perform operations comprising:

receiving at least a second a bandwidth part, BWP, configuration associated with a BWP of the Scell, of the UE;

determining whether the first or the second BWP is a dormant BWP based on a received higher layer parameter in an Scell configuration that indicates an identifier of the at least first or second BWP as the dormant BWP; and

discarding at least a resource allocation for a downlink or an uplink data transmission for the Scell in a downlink control information (DCI) if the DCI also indicates switching to the dormant BWP for the Scell.

11. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the Scell configuration comprises a dormantBWP-Id field of a ServingCellConfig information to indicate the BWP which is the dormant BWP.

12. A network node configured to operate in a wireless communication network, the network node comprising:

processing circuitry; and

memory coupled to the processing circuitry and having instructions stored therein that are executable by the processing circuitry to cause the network node to perform operations comprising:

configuring a UE with at least a first UE-specific radio resource control configured bandwidth part, BWP, of a secondary serving cell, Scell, of the UE;

identifying one of the at least a first BWP or a second BWP of the Scell as a dormant bandwidth part, BWP; and

transmitting a command to cause the UE to switch between the BWP identified as the dormant BWP and another BWP of the Scell, wherein the command includes a field, associated with resource allocation, that comprises an indicator that data is not scheduled.

13. The network node of claim 12 , wherein determining the dormant BWP comprises signaling the BWP Id in a dormantBWP-Id field of a ServingCellConfig information.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a size of a BWP indicator field in the Scell configuration that includes the BWP identifier, wherein determining the size of the BWP indicator field comprises considering the dormant BWP in the determination of the size based on a size of the BWP identifier, a payload size of the DCI field used for Scell dormancy indication, or a higher layer indication whether to consider the dormant BWP.

15. The UE of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving a message from a network node operating in the wireless communication network, the message instructing the UE to switch to the BWP of the Scell; and

responsive to receiving the message, switching to the BWP of the Scell, wherein the BWP is determined as the dormant BWP.

16. The UE of claim 15 , further comprising:

determining a set of actions performable by the UE based on the BWP being determined as the dormant BWP; and

performing the set of actions.

17. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the set of actions comprises a second set of actions, the method further comprising:

receiving an activation command on a primary cell, Pcell, indicating activation of the Scell;

responsive to receiving the activation command, performing a first set of actions comprising PDCCH monitoring;

receiving a dormancy indication command on the Pcell that comprises an indication of the Scell;

responsive to receiving the dormancy indication command, switching to the BWP identified as the dormant BWP on the Scell and performing the second set of actions.

18. The network node of claim 12 , wherein the command comprises a dormancy indication command to cause the UE to switch the BWP identified as the dormant BWP and transmitting the command on a primary cell, Pcell, of the UE.

19. The network node of claim 12 , further comprising:

identifying a linkage between the dormant BWP and another BWP that includes at least one same configuration as the dormant BWP, wherein the command includes an indication of the linkage.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 6, 2022
From: NORY, RAVIKIRAN; NIMBALKER, AJIT
To: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)
Reel/Frame 059843/0440 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62932411 · Nov 7, 2019
Related Publication 20220399982A1 · Dec 15, 2022
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Cited By (1)
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