Mobile device, access network node and method

Abstract

A method is provided that is performed by a user equipment (UE). The method includes sending a wake-up indication to an access network node to request the access network node to trigger a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) that connects to the access network node, and communicating with the access network node based on the desired behavior. The wake-up indication is sent using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to communication systems. The disclosure has particular relevance, but not limitation, to wireless communication systems and devices operating in accordance with 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®) standards or equivalents or derivatives thereof (including LTE-Advanced, next-generation or 5G networks, future generations, and beyond). The disclosure has particular relevance, but not necessarily limitation, to wake-up signals and discontinuous reception. [Background technology]

[0002] Recent developments in 3GPP standards are referred to as the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network and the Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), commonly referred to as "4G." Additionally, the terms "5G" and "new radio (NR)" refer to evolving communications technologies expected to support a variety of applications and services. Various details of 5G networks are described, for example, in the "NGMN 5G White Paper" V1.0 by the Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) Alliance, available at https: / / www.ngmn.org / / 5g-white-paper.html. 3GPP intends to support 5G through the so-called 3GPP Next Generation (NextGen) radio access network (RAN) and 3GPP NextGen Core network.

[0003] Under 3GPP standards, a NodeB (or eNB in ​​LTE, gNB in ​​5G) is a radio access network (RAN) node (or simply "access node," "access network node," or "base station") through which communication devices (user equipment or "UE") connect to a core network and communicate with other communication devices or remote servers. For simplicity, this application uses the terms RAN node or base station to refer to any such access node.

[0004] There is a need for improved wireless communication networks with improved energy efficiency. Reducing the amount of energy required to operate a communication network beneficially reduces the environmental impact of system operation and reduces operational costs. Furthermore, for battery-powered devices (such as UEs), reduced power consumption extends the device's battery life.

[0005] One way to achieve a more efficient communication network is to reduce the energy requirements of the radio access network portion of the system. The energy consumption of a radio access network includes a dynamic portion associated with the transmission and reception of data and a static portion associated with the operation of radio access devices even when there is no ongoing data transmission or reception. The static portion may include, for example, the power required to operate a UE in a mode in which the UE can receive and decode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmitted by a base station. Energy saving modes may be configured for one or more devices in the system (such as a UE). For example, a UE may be configured to operate in an energy saving mode (which may also be referred to as a sleep mode) in which the UE is configured to communicate less frequently or not attempt to transmit or receive signals during a specific period of time.

[0006] However, when implementing energy saving methods in a radio access network, there are several considerations that need to be taken into account. For example, it is important to consider the impact of the energy saving methods on system performance (e.g., latency). There is a need for efficient configuration of activation and deactivation (e.g., wake-up) of energy saving modes that ensures that devices can still communicate reliably and with acceptable latency. More generally, there is a need for more efficient and reliable methods and apparatus for increasing the energy efficiency of wireless communication systems. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0007] [Non-Patent Document 1] "NGMN 5G White Paper" V1.0 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] The present disclosure aims to provide apparatus and methods that at least partially address the above needs and / or problems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method including: sending a wake-up indication to an access network node to request the access network node to trigger a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) connecting to the access network node; and communicating with the access network node based on the desired behavior, wherein the wake-up indication is sent using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request.

[0010] The wake-up indication may be sent based on at least one of an energy saving technique and whether the UE is synchronized with an access network node.

[0011] The desired behavior may include at least one of transmitting or receiving a particular signal or channel, changing the periodicity of transmitting or receiving a signal or channel, or transitioning the access network node from an energy saving behavior to a legacy behavior.

[0012] The wake-up indication may be included in a field of a MAC control element (CE), and another wake-up indication may be included in another field of the MAC CE and / or a field of another MAC CE.

[0013] The method may further include receiving, from the access network node, configuration information for transmitting a wake-up indication, and transmitting the wake-up indication based on the configuration information.

[0014] The configuration information may instruct the access network node on the resources to use for transmitting the wake-up indication, which may be based on resources used for other transmission or reception of signals or channels.

[0015] The resources may be relative to other resources for other transmissions or receptions.

[0016] The configuration information may indicate an offset relative to another resource for another transmission or reception.

[0017] The offset may be at least one of a fixed offset, a quasi-static offset, or a dynamic offset.

[0018] Other resources may be for wake-up signals, paging occasions, UE discontinuous reception (DRX) on duration, or Configured Grant-Physical Uplink Shared Channel (CG-PUSCH).

[0019] The configuration information may be transmitted in at least one of a cell-specific manner, a UE-specific manner, or a transmission associated with a group of UEs.

[0020] The configuration information may be transmitted in at least one of system information, Layer 1 signaling, Layer 2 signaling, or Layer 3 signaling.

[0021] The configuration information indicates at least one of the length or duration of the resource to be used for transmitting the wake-up indication or the starting position in the time and / or frequency domain to be used for transmitting the wake-up indication.

[0022] The configuration information may be transmitted along with configuration information for discontinuous reception or discontinuous transmission procedures performed by the UE.

[0023] The method may further include performing a feedback procedure for the desired behavior.

[0024] In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by an access network node, the method including receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a wake-up indication to request the access network node to trigger a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) connecting to the access network node; and communicating with the UE based on the desired behavior, wherein the wake-up indication is received using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request.

[0025] In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) comprising: means for transmitting a wake-up indication to an access network node to request the access network node to adopt a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) connecting to the access network node; and means for communicating with the access network node based on the desired behavior, wherein the UE is configured to transmit the wake-up indication using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request.

[0026] In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides an access network node comprising: means for receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a wake-up indication to request the access network node to trigger a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) connecting to the access network node; and means for communicating with the UE based on the desired behavior, wherein the access network node is configured to receive the wake-up indication using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0027] Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a mobile (“cellular” or “wireless”) communications system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a typical frame structure that may be used in the communication system of FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a DRX cycle. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating how a MAC CE includes a WUS. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 illustrates a method for a UE to transmit a PRACH preamble corresponding to a WUS. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 illustrates a method for a UE to transmit a corresponding scheduling request to a WUS. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 illustrates a method for providing a UE with a configuration for uplink WUS. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of a UE for the communication system of FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram showing the main components of a base station for the communication system of FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028] overview An exemplary communication system will now be generally described, by way of example, with reference to FIGS.

[0029] FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a mobile (“cellular” or “wireless”) communications system 1 to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable.

[0030] In communication system 1, user equipment (UE) 3-1, 3-2, 3-3 (e.g., mobile phones and / or other mobile devices) can communicate with one another via radio access network (RAN) nodes 5 that operate according to one or more compatible radio access technologies (RATs). In the illustrated example, the RAN nodes 5 comprise NR / 5G base stations or "gNBs" 5 that operate one or more associated cells 9. Communications via base stations 5 are typically routed through a core network 7 (e.g., a 5G core network or an evolved packet core network (EPC)).

[0031] As one skilled in the art will appreciate, although FIG. 1 shows three UEs 3 and one base station 5 for illustrative purposes, the system, when implemented, will typically include other base stations 5 and UEs 3.

[0032] Each base station 5 controls, directly or indirectly via one or more other nodes (e.g., home base stations, relay stations, remote radio heads, distributed units, etc.), one or more associated cells 9. It will be appreciated that the base stations 5 may be configured to support 4G, 5G, 6G, and / or any other 3GPP or non-3GPP communication protocols.

[0033] The UEs 3 and their serving base stations 5 are connected via a suitable air interface (such as, for example, the so-called "Uu" interface). Neighboring base stations 5 may be connected to each other via a suitable inter-base station interface (such as the so-called "X2" interface, "Xn" interface, etc.).

[0034] The core network 7 includes several logical nodes (or "functions") for supporting communications in the communication system 1. In this example, the core network 7 comprises a control plane function (CPF) 10 and one or more user plane functions (UPFs) 11. The CPF 10 includes one or more Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) 10-1, one or more Session Management Functions (SMFs), and several other functions 10-n.

[0035] The base stations 5 are connected to core network nodes via appropriate interfaces (or "reference points"), such as the N2 reference point between the base stations 5 and the AMF 10-1 for communication of control signaling, and the N3 reference point between the base stations 5 and each UPF 11 for communication of user data. The UEs 3 are each connected to the AMF 10-1 via a logical non-access stratum (NAS) connection over the N1 reference point (similar to the S1 reference point in LTE). It will be appreciated that the N1 communications are transparently routed via the base stations 5.

[0036] The one or more UPFs 11 are connected to an external data network (eg, an IP network such as the Internet) via a reference point N6 for the communication of user data.

[0037] The AMF 10-1 performs mobility management related functions, maintains non-NAS signaling connections with each UE 3, and manages UE registrations. The AMF 10-1 is also responsible for managing paging. The SMF 10-2 provides session management functions (which form part of the MME function in LTE) and also combines some control plane functions (provided by the Serving Gateway and Packet Data Network Gateway in LTE). The SMF 10-2 also allocates IP addresses to each UE 3.

[0038] The base stations 5 of the communication system 1 are configured to operate at least one cell 9 on an associated TDD carrier operating in an unpaired spectrum. It will be appreciated that the base stations 5 may also operate at least one cell 9 on an associated FDD carrier operating in a paired spectrum.

[0039] The base station 5 is also configured for the transmission of control information and user data via several downlink (DL) physical channels and for the transmission of several physical signals, and the UE 3 is configured for the reception of control information and user data via several DL physical channels and for the transmission of several physical signals, the DL physical channels corresponding to resource elements (REs) carrying information originating from higher layers and the DL physical signals corresponding to REs used by the physical layer and not carrying information originating from higher layers.

[0040] The physical channels may include, for example, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The PDSCH carries data that shares the capacity of the PDSCH on a time and frequency basis. The PDSCH can carry various data items, including, for example, user data, UE-specific higher-layer control messages mapped down from higher channels, system information blocks (SIBs), and paging. The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) to support several functions, including, for example, scheduling downlink transmissions on the PDSCH and uplink data transmissions on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PBCH provides a master information block (MIB) to the UE. The PBCH, in conjunction with the PDCCH, also supports time and frequency synchronization, which aids in cell acquisition, selection, and reselection. The UE 3 may receive a synchronization signal block (SSB), and the UE 3 may assume that the reception opportunities for the PBCH, primary synchronization signal (PSS), and secondary synchronization signal (SSS) are within consecutive symbols, forming an SS / PBCH block. The base station 5 may transmit several synchronization signal (SS) blocks corresponding to different DL beams. The total number of SS blocks may be limited, for example, to a 5 ms duration as an SS burst.The periodicity of SSB transmissions may be indicated to the UE using any suitable signaling (e.g., per serving cell using ssb-periodicityServingCell). The SSB periodicity value may be, for example, 20 ms or greater. For initial cell selection, the UE 3 may be configured to assume that SS bursts occur with a periodicity of 2 frames. The UE 3 may also be provided with an indication of which SSBs within a 5 ms duration will be transmitted (e.g., using ssb-PositionsInBurst).

[0041] DL physical signals may include, for example, reference signals (RS) and synchronization signals (SS). Reference signals (sometimes known as pilot signals) are signals having a predefined special waveform known to both the UE 3 and the base station 5. Reference signals may include, for example, cell-specific reference signals, UE-specific reference signals (UE-RS), downlink demodulation signals (DMRS), and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS).

[0042] Similarly, UE 3 is configured to transmit control information and user data via several uplink (UL) physical channels corresponding to REs carrying information originated from higher layers and UL physical signals corresponding to REs used in the physical layer that do not carry information originated from higher layers, and base station 5 is configured to receive control information and user data via several UL physical channels corresponding to REs carrying information originated from higher layers and UL physical signals corresponding to REs used in the physical layer that do not carry information originated from higher layers. The physical channels may include, for example, a PUSCH, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and / or a physical random access channel (PRACH). The UL physical signals may include, for example, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for UL control / data signals and / or a sounding reference signal (SRS) used for UL channel measurement.

[0043] Frame structure 2, which illustrates a typical frame structure that may be used in communication system 1, base stations 5 and UEs 3 of communication system 1 communicate with each other using resources organized in the time domain into frames of 10 ms in length. Each frame comprises 10 equally sized subframes of 1 ms in length. Each subframe is divided into one or more slots comprising 14 Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of equal length.

[0044] As can be seen in FIG. 2, communication system 1 supports multiple different numerologies (subcarrier spacing (SCS), slot length, and therefore OFDM symbol length). Specifically, each numerology is identified by a parameter μ, where μ = 0 represents 15 kHz (corresponding to LTE SCS). Currently, SCS for other values ​​of μ can actually be derived from μ = 0 by scaling up by a power of 2 (i.e., SCS = 15 × 2 μkHz). The relationship between the parameter μ and SCS (Δf) is shown in Table 1.

[0045] [Table 1]

[0046] System Information and SIB It will be appreciated that transmissions in the cell 9 of the base station 5 may include one or more broadcast transmissions and one or more unicast transmissions for reception by the UEs 3. The system information (SI) transmitted in the cell may include a "minimum SI (MSI)" and an "other SI (OSI)." The OSI may be broadcast on demand, for example, using the downlink shared channel (DL-SCH). The OSI may be broadcast upon request from a UE 3 in a radio resource control (RRC) idle or RRC inactive state. The OSI may also be requested by a UE 3 in an RRC connected state, for example, via one or more dedicated RRC transmissions.

[0047] The SI may include information to enable (e.g., configure) the UE 3 to complete cell selection, to enable the UE 3 to complete a cell reselection procedure, or to enable the UE 3 to receive one or more paging messages transmitted within the cell. The SI may be broadcast using a Master Information Block (MIB) and one or more System Information Blocks (SIBs).

[0048] The MSI comprises a MIB and a system information block 1 (SIB1). The MIB includes information for the UE 3 to use to receive SIB1, such as the subcarrier spacing of SIB1. The MIB provides information corresponding to a control resource set (CORESET) and a search space. SIB1 may be referred to as the "remaining MSI (RMSI)." SIB1 may be transmitted in a dedicated RRC message, while other SIBs (e.g., SIB2-SIB9) may be transmitted using one or more other appropriate RRC transmissions. The MIB and SIB1 may provide the UE 3 with an indication of scheduling information for receiving and decoding other SIBs, such as SIB2-SIB9, and may provide information for the UE 3 to use to receive one or more paging messages. The OSI may include, for example, SIB2-SIB9 transmitted using the DL-SCH in an SI message. Mapping of SIB2-SIB9 to corresponding SI messages may be provided to the UE 3 by the base station 5. The MIB and SIB1 to SIB9 are described in more detail, for example, in 3GPP TS 38.331. For example, SIB2 provides information for intra-frequency, inter-frequency, and inter-system cell reselection, SIB3 provides cell-specific information for intra-frequency cell reselection, and SIB4 provides information for inter-frequency cell reselection. SIB5 provides information for inter-system cell reselection for 4G (LTE). SIB6 and SIB7 provide information for the earthquake and tsunami warning system (ETWS). SIB8 provides information for commercial mobile alert service (CMAS) notifications, for example, to provide warning text messages to UE3. SIB9 includes information on universal time (UTC), global positioning system (GPS) time (e.g., for GPS initialization), and local time.

[0049] The SIBs may be broadcast periodically (e.g., according to a predetermined periodic pattern) or may be provided “on-demand,” e.g., in response to a request from UE 3. For example, MIB may be transmitted with a period of 80 ms and a repetition occurring within 80 ms, and SIB1 may be transmitted with a period of 160 ms and a variable transmission repetition period (e.g., 20 ms) within 160 ms. SIB1 can be used to instruct UE 3 which SIBs are transmitted periodically and which SIBs are available on-demand in response to a request from UE 3. UE 3 may be configured to request on-demand SIBs using MSG1 (random access preamble (RA)), which may be referred to as an MSG1-based on-demand SI request, or to request on-demand SIBs using MSG3 (RRC connection request), which may be referred to as an MSG3-based on-demand SI request.

[0050] A physical broadcast channel (PBCH) can be used to broadcast the MIB. The base station 5 may transmit the PBCH along with a synchronization signal (SS) (e.g., a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS)) in an SS / PBCH block. The SS / PBCH block comprises four orthogonal frequency-division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols that are mapped to the PSS, SSS, and PBCH associated with a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS). In the frequency domain, the SS / PBCH block consists of 240 consecutive subcarriers. When the UE 3 is in RRC connected mode, the base station 5 may provide the UE 3 with an indication of the resources used for the SS / PBCH, for example, using dedicated signaling (e.g., for the anchor NES cell or non-anchor NES cell). SIB1 may be transmitted using a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). OSI may be transmitted similarly, for example, using the PDSCH. When one or more beamformed transmissions are transmitted in a cell served by base station 5, only a portion of the SI (e.g., a portion of the SIB) may be transmitted using a particular beam or using a particular transmission / reception point (TRP).

[0051] Discontinuous Reception A device (such as, for example, a UE 3) may be configured to operate using a discontinuous reception (DRX) method. In the DRX method, the UE 3 is configured with a DRX cycle that includes periods during which the UE 3 is configured to receive communications and periods during which the UE 3 is not configured to receive communications (such as, for example, transmissions from a base station 5). The periods during which the UE 3 is not configured to receive communications may be periods during which physical layer processing is turned off. Advantageously, energy consumption of the UE 3 is reduced during periods during which the UE 3 is not configured to receive communications.

[0052] The UE 3 may be provided with a configuration for DRX by the network (e.g., by or via the base station 5). The DRX configuration provided to the UE 3 (e.g., using a DRX configuration information element (IE) included in a communication from the base station 5 to the UE 3) may include an indication of a period during which the UE 3 should be configured not to receive and decode downlink communications, and an indication of a period during which the UE 3 should be configured to receive downlink communications (e.g., multicast or unicast transmissions from the base station 5). The DRX configuration may include a time offset for the DRX cycle, which may be useful for controlling the relative timing of the DRX cycles of different UEs 3 (e.g., to synchronize or offset the DRX cycles). The DRX configuration may include an indication of a period during which the UE should remain configured to receive communications following reception of a PDCCH.

[0053] The periods during which the UE 3 is configured to receive communications during a DRX cycle may be referred to as “ON” periods or “DRX active time,” and the periods during which the UE 3 is not configured to receive communications may be referred to as “OFF” periods, “sleep periods,” or “DRX inactive time.” An illustration of an ON period having duration t1 and an OFF period having duration t2 within a recurring DRX cycle is shown in FIG.

[0054] DRX may be configured for each UE 3 by the network (e.g., via any suitable signaling from the base station 5). For example, the timing and / or duration of the ON period in the DRX cycle may vary for different UEs 3. During the OFF period, the UE 3 may be configured not to monitor the PDCCH but may initiate uplink communication based on configured resources (e.g., using the PUCCH, random access channel (RACH), scheduling request (SR), or configured grant PUSCH (CG-PUSCH)). During the OFF period, the system may be configured such that no transmission / reception occurs between the UE 3 and the base station 5 in the corresponding cell. Nevertheless, the base station 5 may be configured to reduce or limit transmission / reception in the cell during the OFF period of the DRX cycle. For example, the base station 5 may be configured to not transmit only a subset of periodic signals or channels, such as common channels / signals and UE-specific channels / signals that would normally be transmitted within the cell.

[0055] DRX may be used when the UE 3 is in RRC idle mode or when the UE 3 is in RRC connected mode. For example, DRX may be used to control monitoring of paging messages transmitted by the base station 5 when the UE 3 is in RRC idle mode. This advantageously prevents the UE 3 from monitoring all PDCCH transmission opportunities, thereby reducing the energy usage of the UE 3. Similarly, DRX may be used to reduce the energy usage of the UE 3 when the UE 3 is in an RRC connected state, for example by configuring periods during which the UE 3 does not need to monitor the PDCCH.

[0056] Within a DRX cycle, if UE3 is in an RRC connected state, UE3 periodically monitors the PDCCH during ON periods and does not monitor the PDCCH outside the ON periods (i.e., during DRX inactive periods), thereby beneficially reducing the power consumption of UE3.

[0057] Outside the DRX active period, the base station 5 may be configured to reduce (e.g., temporarily increase the periodicity) or disable transmissions and channels such as SSB / SI / paging / RACH to reduce energy consumption at the base station 5. As will be described in more detail below, if the UE 3 determines to transmit / receive DL / UL signals and channels outside the DRX active period, it may use the uplink WUS to request transmission / reception of the corresponding DL / UL signals and channels.

[0058] The DRX configuration may include a long DRX cycle in which the time between ON periods is relatively long (t2 shown in FIG. 3 is relatively large) and a short DRX cycle in which the time between ON periods is relatively short (t2 shown in FIG. 3 is relatively small). A long DRX cycle improves system energy efficiency (because the UE 3 is in the ON state for a smaller overall percentage of time), but may increase communication latency because the base station 5 cannot communicate with the UE 3 via downlink transmission when the UE 3 is in a sleep state (DRX inactive state). When the UE 3 is configured to use DRX after an inactive period following a data transfer, the UE 3 may be configured to initially use the short DRX cycle configuration (alternatively, the UE 3 may be controlled to start DRX using the short DRX configuration following a data transfer based on signaling from the base station 5, such as a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or any other appropriate signaling indicating that the UE 3 should start DRX). After a further period (which may be referred to as a short DRX cycle timer), the UE 3 may then operate using the long DRX cycle configuration. The short and long DRX configurations may be indicated to the UE 3 (or may be pre-configured in the UE 3) using any suitable signaling, for example, from the base station 5.

[0059] The UE 3 may be configured to provide assistance information (UE assistance information) to the network for use by the network in configuring the DRX cycle. The assistance information may be transmitted from the UE 3 to the base station 5, for example, according to an RRC reconfiguration procedure.

[0060] Although DRX has been described above in relation to discontinuous reception performed by the UE 3, corresponding procedures for discontinuous reception and / or discontinuous transmission may also be performed by the base station 5, as will be explained in more detail below.

[0061] Wake-up signal In a modification of the DRX method described above, a wake-up signal (WUS) may be used. The WUS may be used to instruct the UE 3 when it should enter an ON state to receive transmissions from the base station 5 and when it should remain in a sleep state even during the ON period of a DRX cycle. The UE 3 may be configured to remain in a DRX inactive mode during an ON period of a DRX cycle if it does not receive a WUS instructing it to enter the ON state during that period (or if it receives an implicit or explicit instruction from the base station 5 instructing it to remain in a sleep state during that period). Alternatively, the UE 3 may be configured to enter an ON state during an ON period of a DRX cycle if it does not receive a WUS, or to remain in a DRX inactive state during that period only if it receives an explicit or implicit instruction from the base station 5 to remain in the DRX inactive state during that period. The UE 3 may receive an indication in downlink control information (DCI) from a base station 5 that the UE 3 should operate in sleep mode during an ON period of a DRX cycle. Similarly, the UE 3 may receive an indication in downlink control information (DCI) from that base station 5 that the UE 3 should "wake up" and enter a DRX active state during a subsequent ON period of the DRX cycle in order to receive transmissions from the base station 5 during the ON period. Thus, the WUS can advantageously be used to prevent the UE 3 from entering a DRX active state during an ON period of a DRX cycle when the UE 3 does not need to receive transmissions from the base station 5 during that period, thereby reducing energy consumption of the UE 3.

[0062] The UE 3 may be configured to indicate to the network (e.g., via transmission to the base station 5) whether the UE 3 supports use of WUS. The UE 3 may include the indication in any suitable UE capability information transmitted from the UE 3 to the base station 5. The UE 3 may similarly be configured to indicate to the network whether the UE 3 supports DRX.

[0063] As will be described in more detail below, the UE 3 may monitor the WUS based on a WUS configuration provided in system information (SI). The WUS configuration may include a time offset between the end of the WUS and the start of the first paging occasion (PO) that the UE 3 should monitor to receive transmissions from the base station 5. The time offset may be, for example, a number of subframes. The paging occasion is a subframe in which a paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) transmitted on the PDCCH or machine type communication PDCCH (MPDCCH) may be present.

[0064] The UE 3 may also be configured to receive a group WUS (GWUS). The UE 3 may monitor the GWUS using corresponding GWUS parameters provided to the UE 3 in the system information. Upon detecting a GWUS or WUS, the UE 3 enters a DRX active state for a corresponding period of the DRX cycle based on the GWUS or WUS, as described above.

[0065] Uplink WUS The WUS was described above in connection with a wake-up signal transmitted from the base station 5 to the UE 3. This type of WUS may be referred to as a downlink WUS. However, a WUS may also be transmitted from the UE 3 to the base station 5 to “wake up” the base station 5 (e.g., to request a transition of the cell from no or reduced transmit / receive activity to active transmission and reception of a channel / signal). This type of WUS may be referred to as an uplink WUS. An uplink WUS may be transmitted from the UE 3 to the base station 5, for example, to trigger or request transmission of an SSB, SIB1, and / or reference signal by the base station 5. For example, the base station 5 may be configured for discontinuous transmission or reception as described above in connection with the UE 3, and an uplink WUS may be used to request or trigger transmission or reception of signals not normally transmitted or received by the base station 5 during discontinuous transmission / reception.

[0066] The uplink WUS may be for triggering (or controlling or requesting) a change in SSB transmission by the base station 5. For example, the base station 5 may be configured for operation without SSB / SIB1 for in-band carrier aggregation, in which case the UE 3 is configured to retrieve (and synchronize based on) separate in-band cell system information transmitting SSB and SIB1. It will be understood that the UE 3 may be configured with multiple carriers, and a set of allowed band combinations is specified for carrier aggregation (CA). Carrier aggregation may be inter-band, intra-band, or inter-band.

[0067] A carrier aggregation method may include operation of a primary cell (Pcell) and a secondary cell (Scell) by one or more base stations 5. An intra-band SSB-less Scell ​​may be configured in the communication system. Inter-band carrier aggregation with SSB-less carriers may be supported, in which case synchronization may be achieved using other cells configured for SSB transmission. Activation of inter-band SSB-less Scell ​​operation may include a mechanism for a UE 3 or a base station 5 to trigger normal SSB and / or reference signal transmission by the base station 5 (e.g., via an uplink trigger signal). The uplink trigger signal may be received either on the inter-band SSB-less cell or on another carrier or cell. RACH transmission may also be supported in the SSB-less Scell. Dynamic Pcell switching may be configured in the communication system, in which a common Pcell is dynamically designated for a group of UEs 3. The SSB period may be, for example, 150 ms. The UE 3 may be configured to obtain system information from other associated carriers / cells, synchronize using other associated carriers / cells, and / or synchronize from one or more signals transmitted in the cells. The transmission of SSBs / SIBs by the base station 5 may be on-demand (e.g., upon request from the UE 5). The uplink WUS may be used to request (or trigger) the transmission of a particular SSB or SIB by the base station 5.

[0068] Uplink Wake-up Signaling and MAC CE Now, with reference to FIG. 4, a method for transmitting an uplink WUS using a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) will be described.

[0069] As shown in FIG. 4, in step S401, the UE 3 transmits a MAC CE including a WUS to the base station 5. In step S402, the base station performs communication based on the received WUS. For example, as described above, the base station 5 may initiate transmission of a specific SSB or SIB based on the received WUS during a period when the base station 5 normally does not transmit SSBs or SIBs. However, it will be understood that the uplink WUS may be used to control, trigger, or request any other suitable transmission to or from the base station 5.

[0070] Advantageously, the use of MAC CE provides flexibility in triggering / requesting specific actions of the base station 5. For example, the MAC CE WUS may be used to trigger or request the base station 5 to transmit / receive a particular signal or channel, or to request a periodic change of a signal or channel transmitted by the base station 5. The MAC CE may be used independently to direct the requested base station 5 action, or may be used in conjunction with additional signaling (such as, for example, a PRACH) to trigger or request the desired action of the base station 5.

[0071] Multiple fields of a single MAC CE may be used to indicate multiple corresponding actions to be taken by the base station 5 (e.g., multiple corresponding downlink transmissions), or multiple MAC CEs may be used to indicate multiple corresponding actions to be taken by the base station 5 (e.g., multiple corresponding downlink transmissions).

[0072] Beneficially, the use of the MAC CE to transmit the WUS allows one or more different requests to trigger one or more desired behaviors (e.g., transmission) of the base station 5, in addition to providing any other information that may be required in a particular network configuration or deployment scenario. A further advantage of using the MAC CE to carry the UL WUS on the PUSCH is that a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback mechanism can be used. For example, if the WUS in the MAC CE is used to request the base station 5 to "wake up" and enter a state in which it can receive UL signals on specific resources (e.g., pre-configured resources), HARQ feedback from the UE 3 can be used to confirm that the base station 5 is aware of the subsequent UL transmission from the UE 3.

[0073] Further examples of uplink wake-up signals In the above examples, the uplink WUS is described as being transmitted using MAC CE, but this does not necessarily have to be the case. Alternatively, a different signal or channel may be used to "wake up" the base station 5 (e.g., to request / trigger a transmission by the base station, or to request / trigger the base station to receive an uplink transmission from the UE 3).

[0074] For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when UL synchronization should be achieved (e.g., the timing advance timer expires), the UE 3 may transmit a PRACH preamble that functions as a WUS. As shown in FIG. 5, in step S501, the timing advance timer expires in the UE 3. In step S502, the UE 3 transmits a PRACH preamble corresponding to the WUS to the base station 5. Thus, upon receiving the PRACH preamble, the base station 5 can determine to perform a specific transmission / reception requested or triggered by the UE 3 using the WUS (via the PRACH preamble). In step S503, the base station 5 performs the corresponding transmission and / or reception requested or triggered by the UE 3 using the WUS.

[0075] Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6, if the UE 3 is synchronized, the UE 3 may transmit a scheduling request including an uplink WUS to trigger or request transmission or reception of a specific signal or channel. As shown in FIG. 6, in step S601, the UE 3 transmits a scheduling request corresponding to the WUS to the base station 5. Thus, upon receiving the scheduling request, the base station 5 can determine to use the WUS (via the scheduling request) to perform the specific transmission / reception requested or triggered by the UE 3. In step S602, the base station 5 performs the corresponding transmission and / or reception requested or triggered by the UE 3 using the WUS.

[0076] Uplink wake-up signal configuration The configuration of an uplink WUS will now be described. It will be understood that the method for configuring a WUS can be used for any of the uplink WUSs described above.

[0077] An overview of a method for providing uplink WUS configuration information to a UE 3 is shown in Figure 7. In step S701, WUS configuration information is transmitted to the UE 3. In step S702, the UE 3 determines to transmit a WUS to the base station 5. In step S703, the UE 3 transmits the WUS to the base station based on the WUS configuration information. As mentioned above, the UL WUS may be for triggering or requesting transmission or reception by the base station 5 or a specific signal. In the example of Figure 7, the configuration for the UL WUS is provided to the UE 3 by the base station 5, but the configuration for the UL WUS may alternatively be pre-configured in the UE 3.

[0078] The UL WUS configuration information transmitted in step S701 may include a configuration of resources (e.g., time and / or frequency resources) for the UL WUS in a channel-specific manner, e.g., different WUS / channels may be configured with different communication resources.

[0079] The UL WUS configuration information may include a configuration of time and / or frequency resources for the UL WUS that are close (e.g., close or contiguous in time or frequency) to resources of one or more other downlink or uplink transmissions (e.g., downlink WUS, paging occasions, UE DRX active periods, or CG-PUSCH). In other words, the configuration for the UL WUS may be based on the communication resources configured for the other downlink or uplink transmissions. This beneficially helps to avoid frequent transitions between active and inactive states by the UE 3 or the base station 5 (e.g., between a DRX inactive state and a DRX active state of the UE 3). Advantageously, for example, overlap between resources for the UL WUS and resources configured for the UE's DRX active period further enhances system energy efficiency because UL WUS transmissions can occur during periods when the UE 3 is already scheduled to be in DRX active mode, rather than during periods when the UE 3 is scheduled to be in energy-saving DRX idle mode.

[0080] The configuration for the UL WUS may be based on a fixed (e.g., predefined or preconfigured) offset (time or frequency offset) relative to the resource configurations of other signals or channels. Alternatively, the configuration for the UL WUS may be based on a semi-static or dynamically configured offset (time or frequency offset) relative to the communication resources configured for other signals or channels. The configuration of the UL WUS may be performed by the base station 5 based on a set of rules (e.g., predefined rules) and using an offset relative to the resource configurations for other signals or channels (e.g., downlink WUS).

[0081] When the UL WUS configuration is configured based on the resource configuration of another signal or channel, the UL WUS configuration information may include the length or duration of the communication resources and one or more fixed offsets of the UL WUS to indicate the starting position of the UL WUS relative to the other signal or channel. The other signal or channel may be referred to as a reference resource. Alternatively, the UL WUS configuration information may indicate the starting position of time and / or frequency resources indicated in system information (e.g., SIBs). The configuration may be cell-specific or group-specific, for example, if the corresponding SIB is group- or area-specific.

[0082] The UL WUS configuration information may be indicated to the UE 3 together with signaling for configuration or adaptation of other parameters, such as adaptation or configuration parameters of discontinuous transmission or discontinuous reception, in which case the UL WUS configuration information may be UE-specific or group-specific.

[0083] The UL WUS configuration information may be indicated to the UE 3 in a group-specific manner using L1 / L2 signaling. The UL WUS configuration information may be indicated to the UE 3 in a UE-specific manner using L1 / L2 / L3 signaling.

[0084] A portion of the UL WUS configuration information may be indicated to the UE 3 in the system information (e.g., using a SIB), and another portion of the UL WUS configuration information may be indicated to the UE 3 in a group-specific or UE-specific manner.

[0085] In a further alternative, a dynamically or semi-statically defined configuration for the UL WUS may be used that is not based on resources configured for other communications (such as reference signals, for example).

[0086] In the example shown in FIG. 7, the UL WUS configuration information is shown as being transmitted from the base station 5 to a single UE 3, but this is not necessarily the case. The UL WUS configuration information may be transmitted in a cell-specific manner (e.g., using SIBs), for example, using common resources for UEs 3 within a cell. Alternatively, the UL WUS configuration information may be transmitted in a group-specific manner (e.g., using downlink control information (DCI) or MAC CE) using common resources configured for a group of UEs 3. In a further alternative, the UL WUS configuration information may be transmitted in a UE-specific manner (e.g., using DCI, MAC CE, or RRC signaling). All or part of the configuration for the UL WUS may be static, semi-static, or dynamic. When multiple UL WUSs are configured (e.g., to trigger / request transmission or reception of corresponding respective signals by the base station 5), each of the UL WUSs need not necessarily be configured in the same way. For example, the UL WUS configuration information for one of the UL WUSs may be configured using UE-specific signaling, while the UL WUS configuration information for another of the UL WUSs may be provided using cell-specific signaling.

[0087] The UL WUS configuration information transmitted in step S701 may be indicated implicitly or explicitly (or in a hybrid explicit-implicit manner) by the base station 5. If the UL WUS configuration information transmitted in step S701 is indicated in an explicit-implicit manner, part of the UL WUS configuration information may be provided in system information or any other suitable group-specific or UE-specific L1 / L2 / L3 signaling, and the resource configuration for the UL WUS may be determined by the UE 3 based on predefined rules.

[0088] UL WUS configuration information may be transmitted using Layer 1 (L1) / Layer 2 (L2) / Layer 3 (L3) signaling. The information may be transmitted either on the energy saving carrier (e.g., utilizing DRX) or on a different carrier, together with or separately from other signal / channel configuration or adaptation information. For example, UL WUS configuration information may be transmitted using a neighboring carrier or using an anchor carrier (which may be configured for additional transmission / reception compared to the corresponding energy saving carrier).

[0089] User Equipment FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of the UE 3 shown in FIG.

[0090] As shown in FIG. 8 , the UE 3 includes a transceiver circuit 310 operable to transmit signals to and receive signals from a base station 5 via one or more antennas 330 (e.g., comprising one or more antenna elements). The UE 3 includes a controller 370 that controls the operation of the UE 3. The controller 370 is associated with a memory 390 and is connected to the transceiver circuit 310. Although not necessary for its operation, the UE 3 may, of course, have all the usual functionality of a conventional UE 3 (e.g., a user interface 350, such as a touchscreen / keypad / microphone / speaker, for enabling direct user control and interaction), which may be provided by any one or any combination of hardware, software, and firmware, as appropriate. Software may be pre-installed in the memory 390 and / or downloaded, for example, via a telecommunications network or from a removable data storage device (RMD).

[0091] Controller 370, in this example, is configured to control the overall operation of UE 3 via program or software instructions stored in memory 390. As shown in Figure 8, these software instructions include, among other things, an operating system 410 and a communications control module 430.

[0092] The communications control module 430 is operable to control communications between the UE 3 and its serving base station 5 (as well as other communications devices connected to the base station 5, such as further UEs and / or core network nodes). The communications control module 430 is configured to generally handle uplink communications over associated uplink channels (e.g., over a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a random access channel (RACH), and / or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)), including both dynamic and semi-static signaling (e.g., like an SRS). The communications control module 430 is also configured to generally handle reception of downlink communications over associated downlink channels (e.g., over a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)), including both dynamic and semi-static signaling (e.g., like a CSI-RS). The communications control module 430 is responsible for, for example, determining where to monitor downlink control information (e.g., the location of the CSS / USS, CORESET, and associated PDCCH candidates to monitor), determining resources to be used by the UE 3 for transmission / reception of UL / DL communications (including interleaved resources and resources subject to frequency hopping), managing frequency hopping at the UE side, determining how slots / symbols are configured (e.g., for UL, DL, or SBFD communications, etc.), determining which bandwidth portions are configured for the UE 3, determining how uplink transmissions should be coded, appropriately applying any SBFD-specific communications configurations, etc. Communications control module 43 may be configured to control communications (e.g., to transmit uplink WUS according to any of the methods described above) according to any of the methods described above.

[0093] base station FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the main components of a base station 5 for the communication system 1 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 9, the base station 5 includes a transceiver circuit 510 for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from communication devices (such as UE 3) via one or more antennas 530 (e.g., single or multi-panel antenna arrays / large-scale antennas), and a core network interface 550 (e.g., comprising N2, N3, and other reference points / interfaces) for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from network nodes in the core network 7. Although not shown, the base station 5 may also connect to other base stations via appropriate interfaces (e.g., the so-called "Xn" interface in NR). The base station 5 includes a controller 570 that controls the operation of the base station 5. The controller 570 is associated with a memory 590. Software may be pre-installed in the memory 590 and / or downloaded, for example, via the communication system 1 or from a removable data storage device (RMD). The controller 570 is configured, in this example, to control the overall operation of the base station 5 by means of program or software instructions stored in memory 590 .

[0094] As shown in FIG. 9, these software instructions include, among other things, an operating system 610 and a communications control module 630 .

[0095] The communications control module 630 is operable to control communications between the base station 5, the UE 3, and other network entities connected to the base station 5. The communications control module 630 is configured to generally control the reception and decoding of uplink communications over associated uplink channels (e.g., over the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), random access channel (RACH), and / or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)), including both dynamic and semi-static signaling (e.g., such as SRS). The communications control module 630 is also configured to generally handle the transmission of downlink communications over associated downlink channels (e.g., over the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)), including both dynamic and semi-static signaling (e.g., such as CSI-RS). The communications control module 630 is responsible for managing full-duplex communications (e.g., SBFD), including separation of UL and DL communications over different physical antenna elements, where appropriate. The communications control module 630 is responsible for, for example, determining where the UE 3 should be configured to monitor downlink control information (e.g., locations of CSS / USS, CORESET, and associated PDCCH candidates to monitor), determining resources (including interleaved resources and resources subject to frequency hopping) to be scheduled for UE transmission / reception of UL / DL communications, managing frequency hopping at the base station side, appropriately configuring slots / symbols (e.g., for UL, DL, or SBFD communications, etc.), configuring bandwidth portions for the UE 3, providing related configuration signaling to the UE 3, etc.The communications control module 43 may be configured to control communications according to any of the methods described above (e.g., to receive uplink WUS as described above and to transmit and / or receive corresponding signals from UE5).

[0096] Modifications and Alternatives As those skilled in the art will appreciate, several modifications and alternatives can be made to the above embodiments while still benefiting from the disclosure embodied therein.

[0097] For example, for clarity, terminology specific to a cellular communication generation (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, etc.) may be used to refer to a particular communication entity, but it will be understood that the technical features described for a given entity are not limited to devices of that particular communication generation. The technical features may be implemented in any functionally equivalent communication entity regardless of the terminology used to refer to them.

[0098] In the above description, the UE and base station are described for ease of understanding as having several separate functional components or modules. While these modules may be provided in this manner in certain applications, for example, where an existing system is modified to implement the present disclosure, in other applications, for example, in systems designed from the beginning with the features of the present invention in mind, these modules may be incorporated into the overall operating system or code and therefore may not be identifiable as separate entities.

[0099] In the above embodiments, several software modules have been described. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the software modules may be provided in compiled or uncompiled form, and may be supplied as a signal over a computer network or on a recording medium. Furthermore, the functions performed by some or all of this software may be performed using one or more dedicated hardware circuits. However, the use of software modules is preferred because it facilitates updating the base station or UE to update its functionality.

[0100] Each controller may comprise any suitable form of processing circuitry, including, for example, but not limited to, one or more hardware-implemented computer processors, microprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), arithmetic logic units (ALUs), input / output (IO) circuitry, internal memory / cache (program and / or data), processing registers, communication buses (e.g., control buses, data buses, and / or address buses), direct memory access (DMA) facilities, hardware or software-implemented counters, pointers, and / or timers, etc. Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail herein.

[0101] The base station may comprise a "distributed" base station having a central unit "CU" and one or more individual distributed units (DUs).

[0102] User Equipment (or "UE," "mobile station," "mobile device," or "wireless device") in this disclosure is an entity that connects to a network via an air interface.

[0103] It should be noted that the present disclosure is not limited to dedicated communication devices, but can be applied to any device having communication capabilities as described in the following paragraphs.

[0104] The terms "User Equipment" or "UE" (as this term is used by 3GPP), "mobile station," "mobile device," and "wireless device" are generally intended to be synonymous with each other and include standalone mobile stations such as terminals, cell phones, smartphones, tablets, cellular IoT devices, IoT devices, and machines. It will be understood that the terms "mobile station" and "mobile device" also encompass devices that remain stationary for extended periods of time.

[0105] The UE may be, for example, an item of production or manufacturing equipment and / or an item of energy-related machinery (e.g., equipment or machinery such as boilers, engines, turbines, solar panels, wind turbines, hydroelectric generators, thermal generators, nuclear generators, batteries, nuclear systems and / or related equipment, heavy electrical machinery, pumps including vacuum pumps, compressors, fans, blowers, hydraulic equipment, pneumatic equipment, metalworking machinery, manipulators, robots and / or application systems thereof, tools, dies or molds, rolls, conveying equipment, elevators, material handling equipment, textile machinery, sewing machinery, printing and / or related machinery, paper converting machinery, chemical machinery, mining and / or construction machinery and / or related equipment, machinery and / or implements for the agricultural, forestry and / or fisheries industries, safety and / or environmental protection equipment, tractors, precision bearings, chains, gears, power transmission equipment, lubrication equipment, valves, pipe fittings, and / or application systems for any of the foregoing equipment or machinery, etc.).

[0106] A UE may be, for example, an item of transportation equipment (e.g., transportation equipment such as rail cars, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, trains, buses, carts, rickshaws, ships or other watercraft, aircraft, rockets, satellites, drones, balloons, etc.) A UE may be, for example, an item of information and communications equipment (e.g., information and communications equipment such as electronic computers and related equipment, communications and related equipment, electronic components, etc.).

[0107] The UE may be, for example, a refrigerator, a refrigerator application product, an item of trade and / or service industry equipment, a vending machine, an automated service machine, an office machine or equipment, a home appliance and electronic device (e.g., household appliances such as audio equipment, video equipment, loudspeakers, radios, televisions, microwave ovens, rice cookers, coffee machines, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, electronic fans or related equipment, vacuum cleaners, etc.).

[0108] The UE may be, for example, an electrical application system or device (such as, for example, an electrical application system or device, such as an x-ray system, a particle accelerator, a radioisotope device, a sonic device, an electromagnetic application device, a power application device, etc.).

[0109] The UE may be, for example, an electronic lamp, lighting fixture, measuring instrument, analyzer, tester, or surveying or detecting equipment (e.g., surveying or detecting equipment such as a smoke alarm, human alarm sensor, motion sensor, radio tag, etc.), a watch or clock, laboratory equipment, optical device, medical equipment and / or system, weapon, cutlery, hand tool, etc.

[0110] The UE may be, for example, a wirelessly equipped personal digital assistant or related equipment (such as a wireless card or module designed to be attached to or inserted into another electronic device (e.g., a personal computer, an electrical measuring instrument)).

[0111] The UE may be part of a device or system that uses various wired and / or wireless communication technologies to provide the applications, services, and solutions described below with respect to the "Internet of Things" (IoT).

[0112] Internet of Things devices (or "Things") may be equipped with appropriate electronics, software, sensors, network connections, etc. that enable these devices to collect and exchange data with each other and other communicating devices. IoT devices may comprise automated equipment that follows software instructions stored in internal memory. IoT devices may operate without the need for human supervision or interaction. IoT devices may also remain stationary and / or inactive for extended periods of time. IoT devices may be implemented as part of (typically) stationary equipment. IoT devices may also be incorporated into non-stationary equipment (e.g., vehicles) or attached to animals or people being monitored / tracked.

[0113] It will be appreciated that IoT technologies may be implemented on any communication device that can connect to a communication network to send / receive data, whether such communication device is controlled by human input or by software instructions stored in memory.

[0114] It will be appreciated that IoT devices may also be referred to as Machine-Type Communication (MTC) devices or Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication devices. It will be appreciated that a UE may support one or more IoT or MTC applications. Some examples of MTC applications are listed in the table below. This list is not exhaustive and is intended to illustrate some examples of machine-type communication applications.

[0115] [Table 2]

[0116] The applications, services, and solutions may be MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) services, emergency wireless communication systems, PBX (Private Branch eXchange) systems, PHS / digital cordless telecommunications systems, POS (Point of sale) systems, incoming advertising systems, MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service), V2X (Vehicle to Everything) systems, train radio systems, location-related services, disaster / emergency wireless communication services, community services, video streaming services, femtocell application services, VoLTE (Voice over LTE) services, billing services, wireless on-demand services, roaming services, activity monitoring services, telecommunications carrier / communication NW selection services, function restriction services, PoC (Proof of Concept) services, personal information management services, ad hoc networks / DTN (Delay Tolerant Networking) services, etc.

[0117] Furthermore, the above-mentioned UE categories are merely examples of applications of the technical concepts and embodiments described in this document, and it goes without saying that these technical concepts and embodiments are not limited to the above-mentioned UEs and may be modified in various ways. Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail here.

[0118] This application claims the benefit of priority from UK Patent Application No. 2219592.9 filed on December 22, 2022, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0119] For example, all or part of the embodiments disclosed above can be described as follows, but are not limited to the following: (Appendix 1) 1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: sending a wake-up indication to an access network node to trigger or request the access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; communicating with an access network node using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; Including, the wake-up indication is transmitted to the access network node using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request; method. (Appendix 2) 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wake-up instruction is included in a MAC control element (CE) sent to the access network node. (Appendix 3) 3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the wake-up indication indicates at least one of time or frequency resources for the access network node to use to send the corresponding downlink transmission. (Appendix 4) 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the corresponding downlink transmission comprises a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a system information block (SIB). (Appendix 5) the wake-up indication indicates at least one of time or frequency resources for the access network node to use to receive a corresponding uplink transmission from the UE; The method further includes transmitting a corresponding uplink transmission to the access network node using time or frequency resources; 10. The method of any one of the preceding clauses. (Appendix 6) 5. The method of any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the wake-up instruction comprises an instruction that the access network node should modify a period of a signal transmitted by the access network node. (Appendix 7) 5. The method of any one of the preceding appendices, wherein the wake-up instruction is transmitted using a MAC transmission, the MAC transmission including a plurality of fields, each field indicating a respective one of at least one corresponding communication resource. (Appendix 8) 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE sends a plurality of wake-up instructions to an access network node, each of the wake-up instructions instructing the access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type. (Appendix 9) performing a feedback procedure for communicating with an access network node using at least one corresponding communication resource; 10. The method of any one of the preceding clauses, further comprising: (Appendix 10) receiving configuration information for sending a wake-up indication from an access network node; transmitting a wake-up instruction based on the configuration information; 10. The method of any one of the preceding clauses, further comprising: (Appendix 11) 1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving configuration information from the access network node for transmitting a wake-up indication to trigger or request the access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; sending a wake-up indication to an access network node based on the configuration information; communicating with an access network node using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; Including, the configuration information is based on communication resources used by the access network node for transmitting or receiving signals other than wake-up indications; method. (Appendix 12) 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information includes an indication of communication resources to be used for transmitting a wake-up signal to the access network node, and the communication resources to be used for transmitting the wake-up signal to the access network node are based on communication resources used for transmission from the access network node to the UE. (Appendix 13) 13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the configuration information indicates which communications resource should be used to transmit the wake-up signal to the access network node relative to another communications resource. (Appendix 14) 14. The method of any one of Supplementary Notes 11 to 13, wherein the configuration information is based on a discontinuous reception or transmission cycle associated with the UE or is based on a discontinuous reception or transmission cycle associated with an access network node. (Appendix 15) 15. The method of any one of Supplementary Notes 11 to 14, wherein the configuration information for transmitting the wake-up indication is transmitted to the UE in at least one of a cell-specific manner, a UE-specific manner, or a transmission associated with a group of UEs. (Appendix 16) the configuration information includes an explicit indication of communication resources for transmitting a wake-up indication; the configuration information includes an indication of at least one of a length or duration of a communication resource to be used for transmitting the wake-up instruction and a starting position in the time domain and / or frequency domain to be used for transmitting the wake-up instruction; 16. The method of any one of appendices 11 to 15. (Appendix 17) 17. The method of any one of Supplementary Notes 11 to 16, wherein the configuration information for sending the wake-up indication is transmitted to the UE together with configuration information for a discontinuous reception or discontinuous transmission procedure performed by the UE. (Appendix 18) 1. A method performed by an access network node, comprising: receiving a wake-up indication from a user equipment (UE) for triggering or requesting an access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; communicating with the UE using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; Including, the wake-up indication is received by the access network node using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request; method. (Appendix 19) the wake-up indication indicates at least one of time or frequency resources for the access network node to use to transmit the corresponding downlink transmission; The method further includes transmitting a corresponding downlink transmission. 18. The method described in Appendix 18. (Appendix 20) the wake-up indication indicates at least one of time or frequency resources for the access network node to use to receive a corresponding uplink transmission from the UE; The method further includes receiving a corresponding uplink transmission from the UE using the time or frequency resource. 19. The method of claim 18 or 19. (Appendix 21) the wake-up instruction comprises an instruction that the access network node should change a period of a signal transmitted by the access network node; The method further includes modifying a period of a signal transmitted by the access network node based on an indication that the access network node should modify the period of the signal; 21. The method of any one of appendices 18 to 20. (Appendix 22) 1. A method performed by an access network node, comprising: transmitting configuration information to a user equipment (UE) for use by the UE to transmit a wake-up indication to trigger or request the access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communications resource or transmission type; receiving a wake-up indication from the UE, the wake-up indication being sent by the UE to an access network node based on the configuration information; communicating with the UE using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; Including, the configuration information is based on communication resources used by the access network node for transmitting or receiving signals other than wake-up indications; method. (Appendix 23) A user equipment (UE), means for transmitting to the access network node a wake-up indication that triggers or requests the access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; means for communicating with an access network node using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; Equipped with the UE is configured to send a wake-up indication to the access network node using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request; UE. (Appendix 24) A user equipment (UE), means for receiving, from an access network node, configuration information for transmitting a wake-up indication for triggering or requesting the access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; means for sending a wake-up indication to an access network node based on the configuration information; means for communicating with an access network node using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; Equipped with the configuration information is based on communication resources used by the access network node for transmitting or receiving signals other than wake-up indications; UE. (Appendix 25) an access network node, means for receiving a wake-up indication from a user equipment (UE) for triggering or requesting an access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; means for communicating with the UE using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; Equipped with the access network node is configured to receive a wake-up indication using at least one of a medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or a dedicated scheduling request; Access network node. (Appendix 26) an access network node, means for transmitting configuration information to a user equipment (UE) for use by the UE to transmit a wake-up indication to trigger or request the access network node to communicate using at least one corresponding communications resource or transmission type; means for receiving from the UE a wake-up indication that is sent by the UE to an access network node based on configuration information; means for communicating with the UE using at least one corresponding communication resource or transmission type; Equipped with the configuration information is based on communication resources used by the access network node for transmitting or receiving signals other than wake-up indications; Access network node. [Explanation of symbols]

[0120] 1. Communication Systems 3. User Equipment 5 Radio Access Network Nodes 7 Core Network 9 cells 310 Transceiver Circuit 330 Antenna 350 User Interface 370 Controller 390 memory 410 Operating System 430 Communication Control Module 510 Transceiver Circuit 530 Antenna 550 Core Network Interface 570 Controller 590 memory 610 Operating System 630 Communication Control Module

Claims

1. 1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: sending a wake-up indication to an access network node requesting the access network node to trigger a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) connecting to the access network node; communicating with the access network node based on the desired behavior; Including, The wake-up instruction is Medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or Dedicated Scheduling Request transmitted using at least one of method.

2. The wake-up instruction is Energy-saving technologies, or Whether the UE is synchronized with the access network node transmitted based on at least one of The method of claim 1.

3. The desired behavior is: Sending or receiving a particular signal or channel; Changing the period of transmission or reception of a signal or channel; or Transitioning the access network node from energy saving behavior to legacy behavior at least one of:

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The wake-up instruction is included in a field of a MAC control element (CE), Another wake-up instruction is Another field of said MAC CE, or Another MAC CE field Included in at least one of 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. receiving configuration information for transmitting the wake-up indication from the access network node; transmitting the wake-up instruction based on the configuration information; The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

6. the configuration information instructing the access network node on resources to be used for transmitting the wake-up indication; the resources are based on resources used for other transmission or reception of signals or channels; The method of claim 5.

7. the resource is relative to another resource for the other transmission or reception; The method of claim 6.

8. the configuration information indicating an offset relative to the other resource for the other transmission or reception. The method of claim 7.

9. the offset is at least one of a fixed offset, a quasi-static offset, or a dynamic offset; The method of claim 8.

10. The other resource is Wake-up signal, Paging opportunities, UE discontinuous reception (DRX) on duration, or Configured Grant-Physical Uplink Shared Channel (CG-PUSCH) is for, 10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9.

11. The configuration information is cell-specific schemes, a UE-specific scheme, or Transmissions Associated with a Group of UEs transmitted in at least one of 11. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 10.

12. The configuration information is System information, Layer 1 signaling, Layer 2 signaling, or Layer 3 Signaling transmitted in at least one of 12. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 11.

13. The configuration information is the length or duration of the resource to be used to transmit said wake-up indication; or a starting position in the time domain and / or frequency domain to be used for transmitting said wake-up instruction; Indicate at least one of 13. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 12.

14. The configuration information is transmitted together with configuration information for a discontinuous reception or discontinuous transmission procedure performed by the UE.

14. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 13.

15. conducting a feedback procedure for said desired behavior 15. The method of any one of claims 1 to 14, further comprising:

16. 1. A method performed by an access network node, comprising: receiving a wake-up indication from a user equipment (UE) to request the access network node to trigger a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) connecting to the access network node; communicating with the UE based on the desired behavior; Including, The wake-up instruction is Medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or Dedicated Scheduling Request is received using at least one of method.

17. A user equipment (UE), means for sending a wake-up indication to an access network node to request the access network node to perform a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) connected to the access network node; means for communicating with the access network node based on the desired behavior; Equipped with The UE Medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or Dedicated Scheduling Request configured to transmit the wake-up indication using at least one of UE.

18. an access network node, means for receiving a wake-up indication from a user equipment (UE) to request the access network node to trigger a desired behavior of at least one of the access network node, at least one cell of the access network node, or at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) connecting to the access network node; means for communicating with the UE based on the desired behavior; Equipped with The access network node Medium access control (MAC) transmission, a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, or Dedicated Scheduling Request configured to receive the wake-up indication using at least one of Access network node.

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