IP Library Granted Patent US 12,464,456
Granted Patent B2
US 12,464,456 · App. 17/765,542 · Granted Nov 4, 2025

Connected discontinuous reception for carrier aggregation

Inventors: Fangli Xu (Beijing, CN); Yuchul Kim (San Jose, CA); Haitong Sun (Cupertino, CA); Wei Zeng (Saratoga, CA); Dawei Zhang (Saratoga, CA); Haijing Hu (Los Gatos, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W52/0216H04W52/0235H04W76/28
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,464,456
App. No.
17/765,542
Granted
Nov 4, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for supporting multiple discontinuous reception configurations in a carrier aggregation scenario in a wireless communication system. An indication that a wireless device supports multiple discontinuous reception configurations for carrier aggregation operation may be provided by the wireless device to a cellular base station. Configuration information for carrier aggregation operation may be received by the wireless device from the cellular base station. The configuration information may include separate discontinuous reception configurations for each of multiple cell groups.

Claims (61)

1 . An apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to, when executing instructions stored in a memory, perform operations comprising:

providing, to a cellular base station, an indication that a wireless device supports multiple discontinuous reception (DRX) configurations for carrier aggregation; and

receiving, from the cellular base station, configuration information for carrier aggregation operation comprising:

a first DRX configuration for a first cell group served by the cellular base station and belonging to a first frequency range, the first DRX configuration comprising at least one first DRX parameter; and

a second DRX configuration for a second cell group served by the cellular base station and belonging to a second frequency range, the second DRX configuration comprising at least one second DRX parameter distinct from the at least one first DRX parameter;

receiving a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) indicating for the wireless device to stop respective DRX inactivity timers for the respective first and second cell groups; and

stopping, based at least in part on the received configuration information and MAC-CE, the respective DRX inactivity timers for the respective first and second cell groups.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether to operate in a DRX on or DRX off state independently for each of the first cell group and the second cell group.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

performing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) decoding according to a same carrier scheduling scheme when both the first cell group and the second cell group are in a DRX on state.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

performing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) decoding for the first cell group according to a same carrier scheduling scheme and performing PDCCH decoding for the second cell group according to a cross carrier scheduling scheme when the first cell group is in a DRX on state and the second cell group is in a DRX off state; and

performing PDCCH decoding for the first cell group according to a cross carrier scheduling scheme and performing PDCCH decoding for the second cell group according to a same carrier scheduling scheme when the first cell group is in a DRX off state and the second cell group is in a DRX on state.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the first cell group includes at least one cell in the first frequency range,

wherein the second cell group includes at least one cell in the second frequency range,

wherein the first frequency range and the second frequency range are non-contiguous.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting channel state information (CSI) and sounding reference signals (SRS) independently for each of the first cell group and the second cell group.

7 . A method, comprising:

providing, to a cellular base station, an indication that a wireless device supports multiple discontinuous reception (DRX) configurations for carrier aggregation operation;

receiving, from the cellular base station, configuration information for carrier aggregation operation comprising:

a first DRX configuration for a first cell group served by the cellular base station and belonging to a first frequency range, the first DRX configuration comprising at least one first DRX parameter; and

a second DRX configuration for a second cell group served by the cellular base station and belonging to a second frequency range, the second DRX configuration comprising at least one second DRX parameter distinct from the at least one first DRX parameter;

receiving a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) indicating for the wireless device to stop respective DRX inactivity timers for the respective first and second cell groups; and

stopping, based at least in part on the received configuration information and MAC-CE, the respective DRX inactivity timers for the respective first and second cell groups.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining whether to perform physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) decoding for each of the first cell group and the second cell group according to a same carrier scheduling scheme or a cross carrier scheduling scheme based at least in part on a current DRX state of the first cell group and the second cell group.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

searching for downlink control information (DCI) that has a DCI format that does not include a carrier indication field when performing PDCCH decoding for both the first cell group and the second cell group according to the same carrier scheduling scheme; and

searching for DCI that has a DCI format that does include a carrier indication field when performing PDCCH decoding for at least one of the first cell group or the second cell group according to the cross carrier scheduling scheme.

10 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining whether to perform physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) decoding for each of the first cell group and the second cell group according to a same carrier scheduling scheme or a cross carrier scheduling scheme based at least in part on an explicit indication received from the cellular base station.

11 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving another indication from the cellular base station to stop PDCCH monitoring for the first cell group, wherein the indication does not apply to the second cell group.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving a different indication from the cellular base station to start PDCCH monitoring for the first cell group immediately or according to the first DRX configuration, wherein the different indication does not apply to the second cell group.

13 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

providing wireless device assistance information to the cellular base station, wherein the wireless device assistance information indicates one or more preferred DRX parameters for one or more of the first cell group or the second cell group.

14 . A method, comprising:

receiving, from a wireless device, an indication that the wireless device supports multiple discontinuous reception (DRX) configurations for carrier aggregation operation;

providing, to the wireless device, configuration information for carrier aggregation operation comprising:

a first DRX configuration for a first cell group served by a cellular base station and belonging to a first frequency range, the first DRX configuration comprising at least one first DRX parameter; and

a second DRX configuration for a second cell group served by the cellular base station and belonging to a second frequency range, the second DRX configuration comprising at least one second DRX parameter distinct from the at least one first DRX parameter; and

providing, to the wireless device, a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) indicating for the wireless device to stop respective DRX inactivity timers for the respective first and second cell groups.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving wireless device assistance information, wherein the wireless device assistance information indicates one or more preferred DRX parameters for one or more of the first cell group or the second cell group; and

determining the DRX configurations for the wireless device based at least in part on the wireless device assistance information.

16 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

providing another indication to the wireless device of whether a same carrier scheduling scheme or a cross carrier scheduling scheme is activated for each of the first cell group and the second cell group.

17 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

determining whether to schedule each of the first cell group and the second cell group according to a same carrier scheduling scheme or a cross carrier scheduling scheme based at least in part on a current DRX state of the first cell group and the second cell group.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

providing scheduling information to the wireless device using a scheduling information format that does not include a carrier indication field when both of the first cell group and the second cell group are scheduled according to a same carrier scheduling scheme; and

providing scheduling information to the wireless device using a scheduling information format that does include a carrier indication field when at least one of the first cell group and the second cell group are scheduled according to a cross carrier scheduling scheme.

19 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

providing a different indication to the wireless device to start PDCCH monitoring for a specific cell group.

20 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

providing a different indication to the wireless device to enter a DRX off state for a specific cell group.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 31, 2022
From: XU, FANGLI; ZENG, WEI; KIM, YUCHUL; SUN, HAITONG; ZHANG, DAWEI; HU, HAIJING
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 059457/0146 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220346008A1 · Oct 27, 2022
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