User equipment and access network nodes

Abstract

A communication system is disclosed in which the access network node transmits to the UE information identifying the respective cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) and / or discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for each block of a plurality of blocks, each block being associated with at least one cell of a plurality of cells operated by the access network node. The access network node may also transmit to the UE information identifying the respective block associated with each cell of the plurality of cells.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to communication systems and their components. The present disclosure has a specific but non-exclusive relevance to wireless communication systems and their devices operating according to 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark)) standards or standards equivalent thereto or derived therefrom (including LTE-Advanced, next-generation or 5G networks, future generations, and thereafter). The present disclosure is particularly related to, but not necessarily exclusive to, the effects of using discontinuous reception (DRX) and discontinuous transmission (DTX) in a network to reduce energy consumption in the network, and such network energy saving (NES) techniques.

Background Art

[0002] Recent developments in 3GPP standards are referred to as the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network's Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and are generally also referred to as "4G". More recently, the terms "5G" and "new radio" (NR) have begun to be used to refer to evolving communication technologies expected to support various applications and services. Various details of 5G networks are described, for example, in Non-Patent Document 1. 3GPP intends to support 5G with so-called 3GPP Next Generation (NextGen) Radio Access Network (RAN) and 3GPP NextGen core network.

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

[0004] For simplicity, this application uses the terms mobile device, user device, or UE to refer to any communication device capable of connecting to a core network via one or more base stations. While this application may refer to mobile devices in its description, it will be understood that the technology described may be implemented on any (mobile and / or generally stationary) communication device capable of connecting to a communication network to transmit / receive data, whether such communication device is controlled by human input or software instructions stored in memory.

[0005] In current 5G architectures, the gNB structure can be divided into two or more parts. In some RAN implementations, there are two parts, known as the Central Unit (CU or gNB-CU), sometimes referred to as the “control unit,” and the Distributed Unit (DU or gNB-DU), connected by an F1 interface. This makes it possible to use a “split” architecture. Typically, a “split” architecture separates a “higher” CU layer (such as the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, for example, but not limited to these) and a “lower” DU layer (such as the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, the Media Access Control (MAC) layer (sometimes referred to as the “medium,” and the Physical (PHY) layer), between a specific CU and one or more DUs connected to and controlled by that CU via an F1 interface. Therefore, for example, the upper-layer CU functions for several gNBs may be implemented centrally (e.g., by a single processing unit or in a cloud-based or virtualized system), while the lower-layer DU functions are maintained locally and separately for each gNB.

[0006] More recently proposed RAN distributed architectures introduce the concept of a Radio Unit (RU), sometimes referred to as a "remote unit," in addition to the CU and DU. In this architecture, the RU is responsible for handling the digital front end (DFE), digital beamforming capabilities, and typically the lower parts of the PHY layer, while the DU typically handles the upper parts of the PHY layer and the RLC and MAC layers. In this architecture, the CU continues to be responsible for controlling one or more DUs (each DU corresponding to a different gNB) and handling upper-layer signaling (typically the RRC and PDCP layers).

[0007] The actual functional partitioning between CUs and DUs (and potentially RUs where applicable) in these distributed architectures is flexible, allowing for optimization of functionality for different use cases. In effect, split architectures enable 5G networks to use different distributions of the protocol stack between CUs and DUs (and potentially RUs) depending, for example, midhaul availability and network design.

[0008] The choice of how to partition functions in the architecture depends, among other factors, on the wireless network deployment scenario, constraints, and intended supported use cases. Key considerations include the need to support specific service quality for each service provided and for real-time / non-real-time applications, the need to support specific user density and load demands in a given geographical area, and the available carrier networks with different performance levels.

[0009] As cellular communication systems develop, the need for wireless communication networks with improved energy efficiency is increasing. Reducing the amount of energy required to operate a communication network beneficially reduces the environmental impact of operating the system and lowers operating costs. Furthermore, in the case of battery-powered devices (such as UEs), reduced power consumption extends the battery life of the device.

[0010] 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 related to the transmission and reception of data, and a static portion related to the operation of radio access devices that are performed even when there is no ongoing transmission or reception of data. The static portion may include, for example, the power required to operate the UE in a mode in which the UE is able to 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 (sometimes called sleep mode) in which the UE performs a reduced number of transmissions or is configured not to attempt to transmit or receive signals during a particular period of time. Such operation is generally referred to as DRX / DTX, representing discontinuous reception (DRX) and discontinuous transmission (DTX).

[0011] Numerous proposals have been made for UE DTX / DRX operation, with attention drawn to such discontinuous operation of one or more cells provided by a base station, referred to as "cell DTX / DRX." In cell DTX / DRX, the RAN node operating the cell ceases transmitting and receiving within that cell for a specific period of time, and the UEs serviced by the cell should know when the RAN node is active (and therefore able to communicate with the UE) and when the RAN node is inactive (and therefore unable to communicate with the UE). [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0012] [Non-Patent Document 1] Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance,'NGMN 5G White Paper'V1.0,February 17,2015<https: / / www.ngmn.org / 5g-white-paper.html> [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0013] Nevertheless, there are still several issues related to cell DTX / DRX that need to be addressed. These include, but are not limited to, how to perform activation / deactivation of cell DTX and / or DRX configurations at the UE, what happens in the event of a discrepancy between the base station's understanding and the UE's understanding of whether a cell DTX and / or DRX configuration is active or not, and how to ensure that the base station can properly distinguish between legacy UEs and UEs that can operate in a way that takes call DTX / DRX into account.

[0014] Therefore, these and other NES / Cell DTX / DRX-related issues need to be addressed. This specification aims to disclose apparatus and methods that contribute to addressing at least one or more of the above needs and / or problems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0015] The various functional means described below, which are part of the UE, may be provided by memory and one or more processors that execute instructions stored in memory. Similarly, the various functional means described below, which are part of the access network node, may be provided by memory and one or more processors that execute instructions stored in memory.

[0016] The various examples described below can be implemented by computer program products that include computer-implementable instructions for causing a programmable computer to perform one of the methods described below. These computer-implementable instructions may be provided as signals or on a tangible computer-readable medium. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0017] Here, examples of apparatus and methods will be described with reference to the attached drawings. [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram illustrating a mobile ("cellular" or "wireless") communication system. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of a frame configuration that can be used in the communication system shown in Figure 1. [Figure 3] This figure shows a typical resource grid that may be used in the communication system shown in Figure 1. [Figure 4] Figure 1 is a simplified diagram of a slot containing multiple CORESETs that may be used in the communication system shown. [Figure 5] Figure 1 is a simplified diagram illustrating the relationship between PDCCH candidates that can be used in the communication system and the grouping of various different resources. [Figure 6]FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a DRX / DTX cycle or pattern that can be used in the communication system of FIG. 1. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a simplified sequence diagram showing a processing procedure that can be adopted in the communication system of FIG. 1. [Figure 8] FIG. 3 is a simplified sequence diagram showing a procedure for cell DTX / DRX that can be adopted in the communication system of FIG. 1. [Figure 9] FIG. 4 is a simplified sequence diagram showing an RRC configuration that can be adopted in the communication system of FIG. 1. [Figure 10] FIG. 5 is a simplified sequence diagram showing a UE capability indication procedure that can be adopted in the communication system of FIG. 1. [Figure 11] FIG. 6 is a simplified sequence diagram showing some UE fallback behaviors that can be adopted in the communication system of FIG. 1. [Figure 12] FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram showing the main components of a UE for the communication system of FIG. 1. [Figure 13] FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram showing the main components of a base station for the communication system of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] SUMMARY Next, an exemplary communication system will be described in general terms, by way of example only, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

[0019] FIG. 1 schematically shows a mobile ("cellular" or "wireless") communication system 1 to which the examples described herein are applicable.

[0020] In communication system 1, user equipment (UE) 3-1, 3-2, 3-3 (such as mobile phones and / or other portable or fixed devices) can communicate with each other via radio access network (RAN) nodes 5 operating according to one or more compatible radio access technologies (RATs). In the illustrated example, RAN node 5 includes base stations 5 or "gNB" 5 operating one or more associated cells 9. Communication via base stations 5 is typically routed through a core network 7 (such as a 5G / 6G or later generation core network or evolved packet core network (EPC)).

[0021] As those skilled in the art will understand, three UE3 and one base station 5 are shown in Figure 1 for illustrative purposes, but the system, when implemented, typically includes other base stations 5 and UE3.

[0022] Each base station 5 controls one or more associated cells 9 directly or indirectly through one or more other nodes (such as home base stations, relays, remote radio heads, distributed units, etc.). It will be understood that base stations 5 may be configured to support 4G, 5G, 6G and / or later generations, and / or any other 3GPP or non-3GPP communication protocols.

[0023] The UE3 and their serving base stations 5 are connected via appropriate air interfaces (e.g., so-called "Uu" interfaces). Adjacent base stations 5 can be connected to each other via appropriate base station-base station interfaces (so-called "X2" interfaces, "Xn" interfaces, etc.).

[0024] The core network 7 includes several logical nodes (or "functions") to support communication in the communication system 1. In this example, the core network 7 includes a control plane function (CPF) 10 and one or more network node entities (e.g., user plane function (UPF)) 11 for user data communication. The CPF 10 includes one or more network node entities (e.g., Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)) 10-1 for control signaling communication, one or more network node entities (e.g., Session Management Function (SMF)) 10-2 for session management, and a number of other functions 10-n (e.g., an Authentication Server Function (AUSF) to facilitate security processes).

[0025] Base station 5 is connected to the core network nodes via appropriate interfaces (or "reference points"), such as the N2 reference point between base station 5 and AMF10-1 for control signaling communications, and the N3 reference point between base station 5 and each UPF11 for user data communications. Each UE3 is connected to AMF10-1 via a non-access stratum (NAS) connection through an appropriate reference point (for example, the N1 reference point (similar to the S1 reference point in LTE)). It will be understood that N1 communications are routed transparently through base station 5.

[0026] Each UPF11 is connected to an external data network 20 (such as an IP network like the Internet) via an appropriate reference point (such as an N6 reference point) for the communication of user data.

[0027] The AMF10-1 performs mobility management-related functions, maintains NAS connectivity with each UE3, and manages UE registration. The AMF10-1 is also responsible for managing paging. The AMF10-1 receives user information transmitted over the network and forwards that information to the SMF10-2. The AMF10-1 is also responsible for managing paging.

[0028] The SMF10-2 provides session management functionality (which forms part of the MME functionality in LTE) and, additionally, combines several control plane functions (provided by the serving gateway and packet data network gateway in LTE). Using user information provided via the AMF10-1, the SMF10-2 determines which session manager is best assigned to the user. The SMF10-2 can effectively be considered the gateway from the user plane to the control plane of the network. The SMF10-2 also assigns an IP address to each UE3.

[0029] The base station 5 of the communication system 1 is configured to operate at least one cell 9 on an associated time-division duplex (TDD) carrier operating on an unpaired spectrum, and / or at least one cell 9 on an associated frequency-division duplex (FDD) carrier operating on a paired spectrum.

[0030] Furthermore, base station 5 is configured to transmit control information and user data via multiple downlink (DL) physical channels, and UE3 is configured to receive control information and user data. DL physical channels correspond to resource elements (RE) that carry information transmitted from higher layers.

[0031] DL 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 PDSCH's capacity on a time and frequency basis. The PDSCH can carry various types of data, such as user data, UE-specific upper-layer control messages mapped from higher channels, system information blocks (SIBs), and paging. The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) to support several functions, including scheduling downlink transmissions on the PDSCH and uplink data transmissions on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PBCH provides the Master Information Block (MIB) to the UE3. It also supports time and frequency synchronization in conjunction with the PDCCH, which assists in cell acquisition, selection, and re-selection.

[0032] Furthermore, base station 5 transmits physical signals of the DL that do not carry data, such as a reference signal (RS) and a synchronization signal (SS). The reference signal (sometimes known as a pilot signal) is a signal with a predetermined special waveform known to both UE3 and base station 5. The reference signal may include, for example, a cell-specific reference signal, a UE-specific reference signal (UE-RS), a downlink demodulation signal (DMRS), and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0033] Similarly, UE3 is configured to transmit control information and user data via multiple uplink (UL) physical channels corresponding to REs that carry information transmitted from higher layers, and UL physical signals used in the physical layer that correspond to REs that do not carry information transmitted from higher layers, and base station 5 is configured to receive them. The physical channels may include, for example, PUSCH, physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and / or physical random-access channel (PRACH). The UL physical signals may include, for example, demodulation reference signals (DMRS) for UL control / data signals, and / or sounding reference signals (SRS) used for UL channel measurement.

[0034] The base station 5 is also configured to periodically transmit a synchronization signal block (SSB) in one or more cells 9 on which the base station 5 operates. The SSB includes both a synchronization signal (for example, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS)) and a PBCH that carries a MIB that provides at least some of the minimum system information (for example, parameters required to obtain a system information block 1 (SIB1) that carries other minimum system information) for accessing the corresponding cell 9.

[0035] Each UE3 is configured to search for the SSB when scanning for cells to camp on and to decode the associated PBCH before proceeding to decode other system information transmitted over the PDSCH. Each UE3 is also configured to perform measurements on specific resources configured for the SSB, such as reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and / or signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) measurements.

[0036] Frame structure Referring to Figure 2, which shows a typical frame structure that can be used in communication system 1, the base station 5 and UE3 of communication system 1 communicate with each other in the time domain using resources organized into frames of this length, in this case 10 ms. Each frame contains 10 subframes of equal size, each 1 ms long. Each subframe is divided into one or more slots, each containing 14 (or possibly 12) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of equal length.

[0037] As shown in Figure 2, communication system 1 supports multiple different numerologies (subcarrier spacing (SCS), slot length, and thus OFDM symbol length). Specifically, each numerology is identified by the parameter μ, where μ=0 represents 15kHz (corresponding to LTE SCS). Currently, the 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). μ (kHz). The relationship between the parameter μ and SCS(Δf) is shown in Table 1. [Table 1]

[0038] Figure 3 shows the resource grid of the subframe shown in Figure 2 (which may correspond to one or more slots). As shown, the subcarrier spacing and the number of OFDM symbols within the subframe vary depending on the numerology. One block shown in Figure 3 corresponds to one RE, which is the smallest unit of the resource grid and consists of one subcarrier in the frequency domain and one symbol in the time domain. Resource block 25 is defined only for the frequency domain and is defined as 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain within a single symbol.

[0039] Control information In the communication system, base station 5 is configured to transmit control information to UE3 using one or more control resource sets (CORESET). A CORESET is a set of time-frequency resources on which UE3 can look up DCI transmitted by the base station over the PDCCH. A CORESET is similar to the control domain at the start of a subframe in previous generations of communication technologies. However, unlike previous generations where the frequency domain of the control domain typically covered the entire system bandwidth, the frequency domain location of a CORESET is localized to a specific region within the frequency domain and has a variable width that can be set to any appropriate value (typically, a multiple of 6 resource blocks, with each resource block containing 12 subcarriers within the frequency domain).

[0040] Figure 4 is a simplified diagram of the slots containing multiple CORESETs in the communication system of Figure 1, and Figure 5 is a simplified diagram of the relationships between PDCCH candidates and various different groupings of resources in the communication system of Figure 1.

[0041] As shown in Figure 4, the base station 5 of the communication system 1 can configure UE3 using one or more CORESETs 410, which include a set of time-frequency resources on which UE3 can search for DCI transmitted by base station 5 over the PDCCH. Each CORESET may be up to three OFDM symbols in length. The CORESET configured for UE3 typically includes one or more UE-specific CORESETs configured, for example by RRC signaling, and one or more common CORESETs configured by system information, for example by a master information block (MIB). For example, base station 5 is configured to use an MIB to set up an initial CORESET (CORESET 0) for searching for a PDCCH that provides scheduling for a physical PDSCH that provides system information block type 1 (SIB1).

[0042] Therefore, base station 5 may transmit a DCI for a specific UE3 in a PDCCH using the UE-specific CORESET resources defined for that UE3.

[0043] As shown in Figure 5, a PDCCH consists of several (typically 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16) control channel elements (CCEs), depending on the required aggregation level (L ∈ {1, 2, 4, 8, or 16}). Each CCE consists of several (usually one, two, or three) resource element group bundles (REG bundles), and each REG bundle contains several resource element groups (REGs) composed of REs. Each RE is effectively the smallest unit of the resource grid and consists of one subcarrier in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. A REG corresponds to one resource block in the frequency domain (i.e., 12 REs / subcarriers) and one OFDM symbol in the time domain.

[0044] For transmission over a PDCCH corresponding to one of the PDCCH candidates in one of the search spaces configured for a given UE3, several different DCI formats can be used by the base station 5, depending on the requirements. For example, the base station 5 may transmit DCI using one or more of the currently standardized DCI formats, such as those listed in Table 2. [Table 2]

[0045] Different DCI formats may or may not have the same DCI size. Furthermore, DCIs can be addressed (scrambled) using different radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs) that the UE3 can monitor. Typically, the UE3 can monitor up to three different DCI sizes for a DCI format using cell RNTIs (C-RNTIs), which are typically used as identifiers for scheduling purposes. In addition, the UE3 can typically monitor one additional DCI size using other RNTIs for specific purposes (e.g., slot format indication RNTIs (SFI-RNTIs), interruption RNTIs (INT-RNTIs), etc.). This constraint is sometimes referred to as the "3+1" size budget and is imposed because DCIs scrambled with C-RNTIs are generally more time-critical than DCIs scrambled with RNTIs used for other specific purposes, and therefore require the UE3 to decode them quickly so that scheduled data transmissions can be processed.

[0046] To take into account the constraints imposed by the DCI size budget, the sizes of some DCI formats can be aligned by differently determining padding, truncation, and / or frequency domain resource allocation fields.

[0047] UE3 can monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more control resource sets (CORESET) on the active DL bandwidth portion, and monitoring means decoding each PDCCH candidate according to the monitored DCI format. The number of blind decodes (BDs) may be limited per carrier of the serving cell. The number of BDs may refer to the number of PDCCH candidates being monitored, or the number of PDCCH candidates that the UE can decode within a particular time frame, such as a slot or a span of consecutive symbols within a slot. For example, with a 15 kHz subcarrier spacing (SCS), the maximum number of BDs per serving cell per slot supported by UE3 may be 44 BDs.

[0048] General DTX / DRX UE3 can be configured to operate using a discontinuous reception (DRX) method. In the DRX method, UE3 is configured with a DRX configuration that includes a DRX pattern and periodicity (DRX cycles) and optionally a number of DRX cycles. The DRX pattern defines an "on duration" in which UE3 is configured to receive transmits and an "off duration" in which UE3 is not configured to receive transmits (e.g., a transmit from base station 5). During the off duration, physical layer processing can be turned off within UE3. Advantageously, the energy consumption of UE3 is reduced during periods when UE3 is not configured to receive transmits.

[0049] UE3 is typically provided with its DRX configuration by or via base station 5. The DRX configuration provided to UE3 (for example, using an information element (IE) included in a transmission from base station 5 to UE3) may include, as described above, an instruction for the period during which UE3 should be configured not to receive and decode downlink transmissions (off duration) and an instruction for the period during which UE3 should be configured to receive downlink transmissions (for example, multicast or unicast transmissions from base station 5) (on duration). The DRX configuration may also include a time offset, which may be useful for controlling the relative timing of DRX configurations of different UE3s (for example, to synchronize or offset DRX patterns). The DRX configuration may also include an instruction for a time period during which UE should remain configured to receive transmissions following the reception of a PDCCH.

[0050] The on-duration is sometimes referred to as the "DRX active time," and the off-duration is sometimes referred to as the "sleep period" or "DRX inactive time." An example of a DRX pattern with an on-duration of t1 and an off-duration of t2, which is repeated according to the DRX cycle, is shown in Figure 6.

[0051] DRX can be configured per UE3 by the network (e.g., via any appropriate signaling from base station 5). For example, the timing and / or duration of the on-duration in a DRX cycle may differ for different UE3s. During the off-duration, a UE3 may be configured not to monitor PDCCH, but may initiate uplink transmission based on configured resources (e.g., using PUCCH, random access channel (RACH), scheduling request (SR), or configured grant PUSCH (CG-PUSCH)). During the off-duration, the system may be configured so that there is no transmission / reception between UE3 and base station 5 in the corresponding cell. Nevertheless, base station 5 may be configured for reduced or limited transmission / reception within the cell during the off-duration of a DRX cycle. For example, base station 5 may be configured to transmit only a subset of periodic signals or channels, such as common channels / signals or UE-specific channels / signals that are normally transmitted in the cell.

[0052] DRX may be used when UE3 is in RRC idle mode or when UE3 is in RRC connected mode. For example, DRX may be used when UE3 is in RRC idle mode to control monitoring of paging messages transmitted by base station 5. This advantageously prevents UE3 from monitoring all PDCCH transmission opportunities, thereby reducing UE3's energy consumption. Similarly, DRX may be used when UE3 is in RRC connected state to reduce UE3's energy consumption by configuring periods when UE3 does not need to monitor PDCCH (referred to as connected mode DRX or "C-DRX").

[0053] Within a C-DRX cycle, when UE3 is in an RRC connected state, UE3 periodically monitors PDCCH during the on-duration and does not monitor PDCCH outside of the on-duration (i.e., during DRX inactive periods), thereby beneficially reducing UE3's power consumption. Currently, during C-DRX inactive periods, UE3 can initiate uplink transmissions based on configured resources (e.g., using PUCCH, random access channel (RACH), scheduling request (SR), or configured grant PUSCH (CG-PUSCH)).

[0054] The DRX configuration may also include long DRX cycles, where the on-duration time is relatively long (t2 is relatively long, as shown in Figure 6), and short DRX cycles, where the on-duration time is relatively short (t2 is relatively short, as shown in Figure 6). Long DRX cycles improve the energy efficiency of the system (because the overall proportion of time UE3 is ON is smaller), but communication latency may increase because base station 5 cannot communicate with UE3 via downlink transmission when UE3 is in a sleep state (DRX inactive state). If UE3 is configured to use DRX after an inactive period following data transfer, UE3 may initially be configured to use a short DRX cycle configuration, and after a further period (which may be defined by a short DRX cycle timer), UE3 may operate using a long DRX cycle configuration. Short and long DRX configurations may be indicated to UE3 using any appropriate signaling from base station 5 (or alternatively, pre-configured in UE3), for example.

[0055] While DRX was discussed above in reference to discontinuous reception performed by UE3, a similar DTX pattern can be defined to control discontinuous transmission of data by UE3. When defined, the UE DTX pattern typically overlaps with the UE DRX pattern, and therefore, when UE3 is not receiving data, it is also usually not transmitting data.

[0056] Cell DTX / DRX As described above, base station 5 can also operate one or more of its cells in DTX / DRX mode in substantially the same way as UE DTX / DRX, stopping base station transmission and reception during periods when base station 5 is inactive or in sleep mode (off duration) and resuming transmission and reception with UE3 during periods when base station 5 is active (on duration). The cell DTX / DRX configuration can be defined by several parameters, such as periodicity (DRX cycle), start slot / offset, on duration (t1), off duration (t2), and number of cycles, as shown in Figure 4.

[0057] Periodic cell DTX / DRX configurations may be explicitly signaled to UE3. For example, in communication system 1, one or more periodic cell DTX / DRX configurations containing one or more periodic cell DTX / DRX patterns may be configured by UE-specific (dedicated) signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). However, it will be recognized that cell DTX mode and cell DRX mode can be configured and operated separately (e.g., one (RRC) configuration set may be provided for DL ​​and another configuration set may be provided for UL). Nevertheless, (common) cell DTX / DRX can also be configured and operated together. It will be understood that the network may or may not allow legacy UEs to access cells with cell DTX / DRX. Cell DTX / DRX can be configured per serving cell and can be applied to different cells in carrier aggregation (CA).

[0058] As a baseline, a given cell DTX / DRX configuration can be implicitly activated / deactivated by configuration signaling (e.g., activated immediately when configured by an RRC configuration and deactivated when the RRC configuration is released). Nevertheless, it may be beneficial for periodic cell DTX / DRX configurations to be explicitly activated / deactivated by L1 (or possibly L2) signaling and / or UE-specific signaling.

[0059] Specifically, the communication system favorably supports dynamic signaling by base station 5 (e.g., such as layer 1 (L1) / physical (PHY) layer signaling) for at least the activation / deactivation of cell DTX and / or cell DRX configurations in UE3 (e.g., with respect to enabling / disabling cell DTX / DRX). In exemplary communication system 1, this is achieved by L1 signaling addressable to one or more UEs (e.g., using group common signaling) using PDCCH for cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation (without hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback in this example). Specifically, instructions for activating / deactivating cell DTX / DRX are provided using DCI based on a new DCI format for cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation. The new DCI format will be referred to herein, for convenience, as “DCI Format 2_X,” but may be referred to differently when implemented. DCI Format 2_X may be similar to DCI Formats 2_0, 2_1, 2_2, and 2_3, which are designed to address groups of UE3s, and can accommodate the payloads of each UE in the group (for example, such that the payload of a particular UE3 has a specific location in the DCI, so that each UE3 can extract its own information while ignoring information directed at other UE3s).

[0060] DCI format 2_X is configured to ensure that the DCI size budget and the number of required BDs do not increase. Furthermore, the PDCCH monitoring configuration for the new DCI format may be identical to the PDCCH monitoring configuration for existing DCI formats (e.g., DCI format 2_6) if the UE monitors both DCI formats. New DTX / DRX activation / deactivation specific RNTIs may be used for base station scrambling / UE monitoring of DCI format 2_X. Nevertheless, existing RNTIs can potentially be reused.

[0061] Group-common (e.g., L1) signaling supports the activation / deactivation of each configuration for each of multiple “blocks,” where each block corresponds to a different cell “group” (where each “group” may contain one or more cells). Specifically, DCI format 2_X supports providing each instruction for activating / deactivating the DTX / DRX configuration for each of multiple “cell DTX / DRX” blocks (e.g., block number 1, block number 2, ..., block number N). For each block, DCI format 2_X may include each DCI field that supports separate activation / deactivation for the DTX and DRX configurations for one or more cells corresponding to that block.

[0062] Beneficial, as will be explained in more detail later, the mapping of UE3s to each DTX / DRX block (each corresponding to a different cell group) can be configured by dedicated (e.g., RRC) signaling sent from base station 5 to each UE3.

[0063] While communication system 1 is primarily described in the context of dynamic signaling in the form of L1 / PHY / PDCCH signaling, it will be understood that, alternatively or additionally, layer 2 (L2) / MAC layer signaling may be used for dynamic activation / deactivation of cell DTX and / or cell DRX (e.g., by appropriately configured MAC control element (CE)-based instructions). It will also be understood that the provision of this signaling, the type of signaling used, and / or the specific information to be signaled may depend on the capabilities of UE3 to support cell DTX / DRX, or on specific cell DTX / DRX capabilities (e.g., indicated by UE capability information provided to base station 5 by UE3).

[0064] Furthermore, while DTX / DRX configurations can be implicitly activated / deactivated by UE-specific signaling (e.g., RRC reconfiguration messages), communication system 1 can define multiple DTX and / or DRX patterns for each cell, each of which can be explicitly activated / deactivated by UE-specific signaling. For example, for each defined pattern (or each DTX / DRX pattern pair), an appropriate field in the configuration (e.g., RRC reconfiguration) message can be used to explicitly indicate whether the pattern is enabled / disabled (or activated / deactivated).

[0065] Mapping of UE and block numbers As described above, the mapping of UE3 to each block (which may correspond to different cell groups) can be configured by dedicated (e.g., RRC) signaling transmitted from base station 5 to each UE3. Here, the mapping is explained as an example with reference to Figure 7, a simplified sequence diagram showing the procedure that may be employed in communication system 1.

[0066] As shown in Figure 7, a cell group (which may contain one or more cells) is assigned a DTX / DRX block number in S710 (for example, one of the numbers 0 through 7 if there are eight blocks). Thus, each cell in a cell group is assigned substantially the same block number. Illustrative examples of possible mappings are shown in the following mapping table (Table 3) for illustrative purposes only. [Table 3]

[0067] Each UE3 configured to communicate with at least one cell within a cell group is assigned (mapped) to the DTX / DRX block number assigned to that cell group (see S712a-S712c). If a UE3 is configured to communicate with multiple cells, and at least two of those cells are associated with different block numbers, then it will be understood that the UE3 may be assigned (mapped) to multiple blocks.

[0068] The "N" (e.g., 8) possible block values ​​(or multiple block values) used by DCI format 2_X for activation / deactivation applicable to a given UE3 may be specified, for example, by RRC signaling, for example, by an information element (IE) / field in an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0069] A block value for a particular UE may be shown as part of a dedicated IE for mapping cell indexes to block numbers for DCI format 2_X (e.g., CellIndexAndBlockMappingforDCI2X IE), which maps one or more lists of one or more cell identifiers / indexes (e.g., in the form of a list of one or more cell indexes (e.g., a CellIndexList IE containing a sequence of one or more CellIndex IEs) to a particular block number (e.g., in a BlockNumber IE indicating a particular block from a set of possible blocks (e.g., BLOCK0, BLOCK1, BLOCK2, BLOCK3, BLOCK4, BLOCK5, BLOCK6, BLOCK7)).

[0070] As a mere example, here is an example of the simplified abstract syntax notation number One (ASN.1) notation for such an IE / field (with descriptive comments):

number

[0071] It will be understood that the size of the block number sequence corresponds to the number of blocks, which is 8 in this example (but could be any appropriate number).

[0072] It will be understood that the total number of blocks can itself be composed of a group of possible values ​​(for example, {2, 4, 8, etc.}).

[0073] DCI for activation / deactivation (DCI Format 2_X) As described above, the DCI format for cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation (referred to for convenience as "DCI format 2_X") is used to provide instructions for cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation. The possible information carried by DCI using DCI format 2_X will be described here only as an example, with reference to Figure 8, a simplified sequence diagram showing different procedures for cell DTX / DRX that may be employed in communication system 1.

[0074] As shown in Figure 8, when a decision is made to activate or deactivate the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration (as seen in S810), the contents of the DCI field may change depending on how the cell DTX and cell DRX are configured, respectively (e.g., by RRC signaling such as an RRC(re)configuration message).

[0075] For example, as seen in S812a, if the cell DTX configuration and cell DRX configuration are completely independent of each other (e.g., having separate pattern definitions for themselves), the DCI field (e.g., an activation / deactivation field) may include a single bit for activating / deactivating the cell DTX configuration and another single bit for activating / deactivating the cell DRX configuration (as seen in S814a). Nevertheless, it will be understood that it is possible for two or more (independent) cell DTX configurations and (independent) cell DRX configurations to be configured (e.g., via dedicated (RRC) signaling). In such a case, there may be a bit for each independent cell DTX configuration and a bit for each independent cell DRX configuration.

[0076] As seen in S812b, if the cell DTX configuration and cell DRX configuration are jointly configured as an aligned / paired cell DRX / DTX configuration (for example, such that only the start offset of the DTX pattern is different from the start offset of the DRX pattern), then the DCI field (for example, such as an activation / deactivation field) may include a single bit for activating / deactivating the aligned / paired cell DRX / DTX configuration (as seen in S814b).

[0077] In each of the above examples, it will be understood that for each cell DTX, cell DRX pattern, and / or joint cell DTX / DRX pattern, a bit value set to "1" may indicate activation, a bit value set to "0" may indicate deactivation, and vice versa.

[0078] In the case of multi-cell DTX and / or DRX pattern configurations, it will also be understood that one or more bitmaps may be used in the DCI field (e.g., an activation / deactivation field). For example, to support the activation / deactivation of up to two independently configured DTX / DRX patterns (e.g., in S814a), a 4-bit DCI field (or two 2-bit fields) may be used, with 2 bits corresponding to the activation / deactivation of up to two cell DTX patterns and 2 bits corresponding to the activation / deactivation of up to two cell DRX patterns. Similarly, a 3-bit DCI field may be used to support the activation / deactivation of up to three jointly configured DTX / DRX patterns (where the cell DTX / DRX configuration pair is jointly activated / deactivated).

[0079] Nevertheless, having a different set of bits for each cell DTX, cell DRX pattern, and / or joint cell DTX / DRX pattern has advantages in terms of the simplicity and ease of implementation, but smaller DCI fields with fewer bits than the maximum number of cell DTX, cell DRX patterns, and / or joint cell DTX / DRX patterns may potentially be used. For example, a 2-bit DCI field may be used to support the activation / deactivation of up to three jointly configured cell DTX / DRX patterns, where each of the four different possible bit combinations indicates either the activation (and possibly the other implicit deactivation) of each different cell DTX / DRX pattern, or that the cell DTX / DRX pattern is not activated (or all cell DTX / DRX patterns are deactivated). Each bit combination can correspond to a respective index (i.e., #0 to #3) corresponding to either no cell DTX / DRX or activation of a particular cell DTX / DRX pattern, as shown, for example, in Table 4. [Table 4]

[0080] Other possible DCI fields PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) Beneficially, the DCI format can be configured to provide support for the possibility of high-priority UL transmissions (e.g., via PUCCH) during periods when the cell DRX is inactive (i.e., when base station 5 is not expected to receive them). That is, the DCI format may include an optional field for indicating one or more resources available for UL transmissions from UE3. The indication may be, for example, one or more resources pre-configured in UE3, or a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) index (e.g., 3 bits) having enough bits to point to a row in a standardized lookup table (e.g., together with a first CCE used by PDCCH). Beneficially, a specified UL (e.g., PUCCH) resource may have the same time-domain allocation across DTX / DRX blocks in which the DCI constitutes the cell DTX / DRX (e.g., having the same start symbol and number of symbols).

[0081] It will be understood that a default allocation or fallback PUCCH resource can be indicated for use during periods of inactivity. Furthermore, if base station 5 operates a cell group containing multiple different cells, it can assign a different PRI index to each cell within the cell group (i.e., it can assign multiple instructions, each having at least one instruction per cell). Alternatively, a single PRI index may be used for all cells within the cell group. It will also be understood that base station 5 can use both of these options (multiple instructions or a single instruction) and may be able to determine which option to use at a given time.

[0082] Therefore, if a PUCCH UL transmission is required during a serving cell's inactivity period, for example, for a high-priority scheduling request (SR) or for a HARQ acknowledgment / negative acknowledgement (ACK / NACK), the PRI shown during DCI can be used by UE3 to identify the correct PUCCH resource.

[0083] One or more of the UE3s may be configured to perform uplink TX switching, which allows the UE3 to dynamically switch its UL transmission between different carriers / cells. For a UE3 configured for uplink switching, the indicated PRI may also be used for PUCCH switching (e.g., when the new / target cell on which the UL switching is performed is active and not in cell DRX). The UE3 may be configured for uplink switching by appropriate parameters (e.g., "uplinkTxSwitching") in the uplink configuration provided as part of the serving cell configuration for the UE, using appropriate signaling (e.g., RRC reconfiguration).

[0084] CORESET / Common Search Space (CSS) Instructions / Index Beneficial in this regard, the DCI format can be configured to provide support for default or fallback PDCCH monitoring during periods of cell DTX inactivity (i.e., when base station 5 is not expected to be transmitting).

[0085] In detail, PDCCH monitoring opportunities may be configured to allow for longer intervals (e.g., between monitoring opportunities) and / or shorter time lengths (e.g., relatively short cell DTX cycles with relatively long cell DTX inactivity durations compared to the "normal" cell DTX pattern) for PDCCH monitoring to take place during cell DTX inactivity periods. Communication system 1 supports the configuration of a common search space (CSS) (e.g., a cell DTX / DRX search space) in which PDCCH should be monitored, and the transmission of joint instructions for the CSS (to the group of UEs) to reduce time domain transmission time / monitoring opportunities for the group of UEs. The indicated CSS may then be monitored for fallback only during cell DTX / DRX inactivity periods.

[0086] In detail, the DCI format may include optional fields to indicate a CORESET and / or common search space (CSS) set that can be used for default or fallback PDCCH monitoring during periods of cell DTX inactivity.

[0087] If base station 5 operates a cell group containing multiple different cells, it will be understood that each cell in the cell group may be provided with a different CORESET / SS index (i.e., multiple instructions may be provided, each with at least one instruction per cell). Alternatively, a single CORESET / SS index may be used for all cells in the cell group. It will also be understood that base station 5 may use both of these options (multiple instructions or a single instruction) and may be able to determine which option to use at a given time.

[0088] Monitoring of cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation during cell DTX inactivity period Beneficially, the DCI format may be configured to provide support for an indication (e.g., a 1-bit field / flag) of whether monitoring of cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation can be skipped during the inactive period of the cell DTX for a group of cells (i.e., whether the cell DTX / DRX search space is monitored or not). If no indication is set (to show that monitoring can be skipped), cell DTX / DRX activation is monitored during the inactive period of the cell DTX for a group of cells.

[0089] RRC configuration As described above, when an RRC configuration message constitutes a cell DTX / DRX, the cell DTX / DRX configuration can be immediately activated as a baseline. Beneficially, in communication system 1, an RRC configuration message can be configured to define one or more cell DTX / DRX patterns for each cell (e.g., a cell group). Furthermore, the RRC configuration message can be configured to indicate whether each cell's DTX / DRX pattern is "enabled" or "disabled". Next, with reference to Figure 9, a simplified sequence diagram showing possible RRC configurations in communication system 1, the procedures for possible RRC configurations will be described only as examples.

[0090] Specifically, as shown in Figure 9, when an RRC configuration message is sent, the RRC configuration can be configured to include a list of configured cells (e.g., "ConfiguredCellList" IE) containing configuration information for each cell. For each cell, a cell DTX Config / DRX Config sequence can be configured, where each element in the sequence represents a corresponding instance of the DTX / DRX pattern configuration (e.g., in an information element defining "1 to n instances of sequence {rrcDtxDrxPatternConfig}"). It is understood that there may be one or more elements in the sequence following an appropriate maximum value (e.g., n=3, n=4, etc.). For each instance, the RRC configuration can be configured to indicate whether the pattern is enabled or disabled (e.g., {enabled, disabled}). Furthermore, the definition of each pattern may include one or more of the following: -Cell DTX cycle (for example, defined by periodicity, start slot / offset, and on duration), -Cell DRX cycles (for example, defined by periodicity, start slot / offset, and on duration), -Short cell DTX / DRX cycles (for example, defined by periodicity, start slot / offset, on-duration, and validity timer).

[0091] The validity timer, as shown as part of a short-cycle cell DTX / DRX, may indicate the amount of time (i.e., until the validity timer expires) that the short-cycle cell DTX / DRX remains valid. It should be understood that the validity timer can be treated as not set if its "length" is zero. A short-cycle DTX / DRX cycle is valid during the inactive duration of a normal ("long") DTX / DRX cycle and can persist for a specified number of inactive durations of the normal ("long") cell DTX / DRX cycle before deactivating itself. Therefore, the validity timer can take the form of a counter value corresponding to an integer duration of the inactive duration of the long cell DTX / DRX cycle in which the short-cycle DTX / DRX remains valid.

[0092] It will be understood that patterns for short-cell DTX / DRX cycles may be characterized by a relatively short on-duration with a relatively long inactive duration (for example, compared to the on-duration and inactive durations for other configured "normal" cell DTX or DRX cycles). It will also be understood that the same short-cell DTX / DRX pattern may be configured for both cell DTX and cell DRX, or a different pattern may be configured for a short-cell DTX cycle than for a short-cell DRX cycle, or a pattern may be configured for only one of short-cell DTX or short-cell DRX.

[0093] UE ability indication Beneficial, to support cell DTX / DRX, UE3 having the UE capabilities required to support cell DTX / DRX / NES may be configured to demonstrate this UE capability independently, for example, when requested to do so by base station 5 and / or when triggered internally by UE3. A procedure for a possible UE capability will be described here only as an example, with reference to Figure 10, a simplified sequence diagram showing a UE capability instruction procedure that may be employed in communication system 1.

[0094] As shown in Figure 10, in this example, base station 5 sends a UE capability query in S1010 requesting UE capability information related to the NES, and the UE responds in S1012 with a UE capability instruction that includes one or more feature group indicators (FGIs) indicating capability.

[0095] An FGI for NES may include, for example, one or more of the following: - A first indicator ("Indicator 1") to show that the cell DTX / DRX cycle is supported. - A second indicator ("Indicator 2") to indicate that short cell DTX / DRX cycles are supported, and / or - A third indicator ("Indicator 3") to show that the cell DTX / DRX command MAC CE is supported.

[0096] UE ability indication It will be understood that in some cases, a misdetection of a group common DCI (such as DCI format 2_X) for a cell DTX / DRX may result in a discrepancy between UE3 and base station 5 regarding whether (and / or the timing of such activation) a cell DTX / DRX is activated. To benefit from resolving this discrepancy between UE3 and base station 5, UE3 may be configured in a "fallback" behavior. Such fallback behavior may be beneficial, for example, in scenarios where UE3 does not detect a radio link (RL) failure but cannot receive uplink grants for multiple requested retransmissions, or in scenarios where UE3 cannot detect the expected feedback from base station 5 regarding its uplink transmission.

[0097] Here, we will only describe possible UE fallback behaviors as examples, referring to Figure 11, a simplified sequence diagram showing several UE fallback behaviors that may be adopted in communication system 1. It will be understood that any of the described fallback behaviors can be implemented together or individually.

[0098] As shown in Figure 11, in S1110, UE3 can initiate a scheduling request (SR) for example via the cell DTX / DRX fallback PUCCH (as described above, for example, with reference to the PUCCH resource indicator (PRI)) or via a configuration grant indicating "cell DTX / DRX fallback". Thus, base station 5 is notified of the UE's cell DTX / DRX mismatch. In response, base station 5 can retransmit the cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation DCI to the UE one or more times.

[0099] As shown in Figure 11, in S1114, UE3 may start a cell DTX / DRX fallback timer (TFB) corresponding to the specified "fallback" period (this may be done in addition to or without sending an SR). As seen in S1122, during this specified fallback period, base station 5 may retransmit cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation DCIs in a fallback search space (for example, the fallback search space described above with respect to "CORESET / common search space (CSS) instruction / index"). As seen in S1116, UE3 may deactivate the cell DTX / DRX and perform continuous reception from base station 5 (for example, to receive any DCIs transmitted by base station 5) (S1118). As seen in S1120, regardless of whether the cell DTX / DRX is deactivated and continuous reception is performed in S1116, UE3 can monitor the cell DTX / DRX fallback search space for a suitable DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_6) for fallback (S1122). It will be understood that a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_6) may only contain an "activate / deactivate" field as a fallback DCI. It will also be understood that base station 5 may retransmit the cell DTX / DRX activate / deactivate DCI (e.g., DCI format 2_X) in the fallback search space, and for example, base station 5 may choose to reuse the group common cell DTX / DRX activate / deactivate search space for fallback and retransmit the "cell activate / deactivate" DCI one or more times.

[0100] Base station 5 may also retransmit the group common DCI for cell DTX / DRX activation / deactivation in the normal common search space if it is within or about to enter the cell DTX / DRX active duration before the cell DTX / DRX fallback timer expires. Base station 5 may transmit the DCI in the fallback search space if it is within the cell DTX / DRX inactive duration.

[0101] UE3 stops monitoring fallback search spaces (such as the fallback search space mentioned above in relation to "CORESET / common search space (CSS) instruction / index") when the cell DTX / DRX fallback timer expires.

[0102] It will be understood that base station 5 may retransmit the group common DCI multiple times via the fallback search space (e.g., DCI format 2_X).

[0103] User equipment Figure 12 is a schematic block diagram showing the main components of UE3 as shown in Figure 1.

[0104] As shown in the figure, UE3 has a transceiver circuit 1231 capable of transmitting and receiving signals to and from base station 5 via one or more antennas 1233 (e.g., having one or more antenna elements). UE3 has a controller 1237 that controls the operation of UE3. Controller 1237 is associated with memory 1239 and coupled to transceiver circuit 1231. Although not necessarily required for its operation, UE3 can of course have all the usual functions of a conventional UE3 (e.g., user interface 1235 such as a touchscreen / keypad / microphone / speaker to enable direct control and interaction with the user), which can be provided, as appropriate, by one or any combination of hardware, software, and firmware. The software may be pre-installed in memory 1239 and / or downloaded, for example, via communication system 1 or from a removable data storage device (RMD).

[0105] In this example, the controller 1237 is configured to control the overall operation of UE3 by program instructions or software instructions stored in memory 1239. As shown, these software instructions include, among other things, the operating system 1241 and the communication control module 1243.

[0106] The communication control module 1243 is operable to control communication between the UE3 and its serving base station or multiple base stations 5 (and other communication devices connected to base stations 5, such as further UEs and / or core network nodes). The communication control module 1243 is configured for the overall handling of uplink communication over relevant uplink channels (e.g., over physical uplink control channels (PUCCH), random access channels (RACH), and / or physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH)), including both dynamic and semi-static signaling (e.g., SRS). The communication control module 1243 is also configured for the overall handling of downlink communication over relevant downlink channels (e.g., DCI over physical downlink control channels (PDCCH) and / or physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH)), including both dynamic and semi-persistent scheduling (e.g., SPS). The communication control module 1243 is responsible for, for example, determining where to monitor downlink control information (such as the search space, CORESET, and the locations of relevant PDCCH candidates to be monitored), determining which resources should be used by UE3 for transmitting / receiving UL / DL communications (including interleaved resources and resources subject to frequency hopping), managing frequency hopping on the UE side, determining how slots / symbols are configured (for example, for UL, DL, or full-duplex communications), determining which bandwidth portions are configured for UE3, and determining how uplink transmissions should be encoded.

[0107] It will be understood that the communication control module 1243 may include several submodules ("layers" or "entities") to support specific functions. For example, the communication control module 1243 may include a PHY submodule, a MAC submodule, an RLC submodule, a PDCP submodule, an RRC submodule, and so on.

[0108] The communication control module 1243 is configured to control communications in accordance with any of the proposals and options described, including, for example, the following, the options including the UE's contribution to the processing of cell DTX / DRX configuration (e.g., including one or more cell DTX / DRX patterns, configuring one or more appropriate DTX / DRX blocks in UE3), activation / deactivation of DTX / DRX (via DCI, MAC CE, and / or dedicated (e.g., RRC) signaling), fallback behavior in the context of cell DTX / DRX (e.g., monitoring a cell DTX / DRX-specific fallback search space, transmitting SRs, using a cell DTX / DRX fallback timer), receiving and interpreting cell DTX / DRX-related DCI and other signaling, and transmitting UE capability information to base station 5. The communication control module 1243 includes one or more cell DRX / DRX configurations 1245 provided by the serving base station 5 that identify cell DRX / DRX inactive and active periods for one or more DTX / DRX patterns. As those skilled in the art will understand, this information is required by the UE to control its operation in accordance with the above proposal. The communication control module 1243 also includes UE capability information 1246 that defines UE capabilities (including, for example, NES-related capabilities). The communication control module 1243 also includes various timers 1248 used to define the timings described above.

[0109] base station Figure 13 is a schematic block diagram showing the main components of a base station 5 for the communication system 1 shown in Figure 1. As shown, the base station 5 has a transceiver circuit 1351 that transmits and receives signals to and from communication devices (such as UE3) via one or more antennas 1353 (e.g., single or multi-panel antenna arrays / large antennas), and a core network interface 1355 that transmits and receives signals to and from network nodes in the core network 7 (e.g., with N2, N3 and other reference points / interfaces). Although not shown, the base station 5 may also be coupled to other base stations via appropriate interfaces (e.g., the so-called "Xn" interface in NR). The base station 5 has a controller 1357 that controls the operation of the base station 5. The controller 1357 is associated with memory 1359. Software may be pre-installed in memory 1359 and / or downloaded, for example, via the communication system 1 or from a removable data storage device (RMD). In this example, the controller 1357 is configured to control the overall operation of the base station 5 by program instructions or software instructions stored in memory 1359.

[0110] As shown, these software instructions include, among other things, the operating system 1361 and the communications control module 1363.

[0111] The communication control module 1363 is operable to control communication between the base station 5, the UE3, and other network entities connected to the base station 5. The communication control module 1363 is configured to generally control the reception and decoding of uplink communications via associated uplink channels (e.g., via the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), random-access channel (RACH), and / or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)), including both dynamic and quasi-static signaling (e.g., SRS). The communication control module 1363 is also configured to generally control the transmission of downlink communications via associated downlink channels (e.g., via the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)), including both dynamic scheduling and semi-persistent scheduling (e.g., SPS). The communication control module 1363 is responsible for, for example, determining where UE3 should be configured to monitor downlink control information (such as the search space, CORESET, and the locations of relevant PDCCH candidates to be monitored), determining resources to be scheduled for UE transmission / reception of UL / DL communications (including interleaved resources and resources subject to frequency hopping), managing frequency hopping on the base station side, appropriately configuring slots / symbols (for example, UL, DL, or full-duplex communications), configuring the bandwidth portion for UE3, and providing configuration signaling related to UE3.

[0112] It will be understood that the communication control module 1363 may include several submodules ("layers" or "entities") to support specific functions. For example, the communication control module 1363 may include a PHY submodule, a MAC submodule, an RLC submodule, a PDCP submodule, an RRC submodule, and so on.

[0113] The communication control module 1363 is configured to control communications in accordance with any of the proposed and optional features described, the options of which include the base station's contribution to the processing of cell DTX / DRX configuration (e.g., including one or more cell DTX / DRX patterns, configuring one or more appropriate DTX / DRX blocks for UE3), indicating DTX / DRX activation / deactivation (via DCI, MAC CE, and / or dedicated (e.g., RRC) signaling), supporting UE fallback behavior in the context of cell DTX / DRX (e.g., configuring and using a cell DTX / DRX specific fallback search space, receiving fallback SRs, configuring cell DTX / DRX fallback timers), generating and transmitting cell DTX / DRX-related DCI and other signaling, and requesting, receiving, and processing UE capability information at base station 5. The communication control module 1363 includes a cell DRX / DTX configuration 1365 that the base station transmits to the UE being served and is used by the base station 5 to define the cell DRX / DTX inactive and active periods for one or more DTX / DRX patterns. The communication control module 1363 also includes various timers 1368 used to define the timings described above.

[0114] Variations and alternative examples As those skilled in the art will understand, several modifications and substitutions can be made to the above examples while still benefiting from the advantages they offer.

[0115] While specific terms for cellular communication generations (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, etc.) may be used for clarity to refer to specific communication entities, it should be understood that the technical features described for a given entity are not limited to devices of that particular communication generation. These technical features can be implemented in any functionally equivalent communication entity, regardless of the differences in terminology used to refer to them.

[0116] In the above description, the UE and base station are described as having several separate functional components or modules for the sake of ease of understanding. These modules may be provided in this way for a specific application, for example, when an existing system is modified to implement a corresponding device, but for other applications, for example, in a system designed from the outset with the features of the present invention in mind, these modules may be incorporated into the operating system or the entire code, and therefore these modules may not be recognizable as separate entities.

[0117] The above examples described several software modules. As those skilled in the art will understand, these software modules can be provided in compiled or uncompiled form, supplied as signals over a computer network, or supplied on a recording medium. Furthermore, the functions performed by some or all of this software can be performed using one or more dedicated hardware circuits. However, the use of software modules is preferred because it facilitates the updating of base stations or UEs to update their functions.

[0118] Each controller may include, but is not limited to, one or more hardware-implemented computer processors, microprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), arithmetic logic units (ALUs), input / output (IO) circuits, internal memory / cache (programs and / or data), processing registers, communication buses (such as control buses, data buses, and / or address buses), direct memory access (DMA) functions, hardware or software-implemented counters, pointers, and / or timers, and any other suitable form of processing circuitry. Various other modifications are obvious to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail here.

[0119] A base station may comprise a “distributed” base station having a central unit (CU) and one or more individual distributed units (DU).

[0120] In this disclosure, user equipment (or "UE," "mobile station," "mobile device," or "wireless device") is an entity connected to a network via a wireless interface.

[0121] Furthermore, as explained below, this disclosure is applicable not only to dedicated communication devices but also to any device having communication capabilities.

[0122] The terms “User Equipment” or “UE” (as used by 3GPP), “Mobile Station,” “Mobile Device,” and “Wireless Device” are generally considered synonymous with each other and include standalone mobile stations such as terminals, cell phones, smartphones, tablets, cellular IoT devices, IoT devices, and machines. The terms “Mobile Station” and “Mobile Device” will also be understood to include devices that remain stationary for extended periods.

[0123] UE may be items of equipment for production or manufacture and / or items of energy-related machinery, such as equipment or machinery (for example, 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 their application systems, tools, molds or dies, rolls, conveying equipment, elevators, material handling equipment, textile machinery, sewing machinery, printing and / or related machinery, paper conversion machinery, chemical machinery, mining machinery and / or construction machinery and / or related equipment, machinery and / or equipment for agriculture, forestry and / or fisheries, 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 aforementioned equipment or machinery, etc.).

[0124] UE may be an item of transport equipment (for example, transport equipment such as railway cars, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, trains, buses, carts, rickshaws, ships and other vessels, aircraft, rockets, satellites, drones, balloons, etc.). UE may also be an item of information and communication equipment (for example, information and communication equipment such as electronic computers and related equipment, communication and related equipment, electronic components, etc.).

[0125] UE may include, for example, refrigerators, refrigerator applications, commercial and / or service industry equipment items, vending machines, automated service machines, office machines or equipment, and household appliances and electronic devices (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.).

[0126] UE may be an electrical application system or device, for example, such as an X-ray system, particle accelerator, radioisotope equipment, sound wave equipment, electromagnetic application equipment, power application equipment, etc.

[0127] UE may include, for example, electronic lamps, lighting fixtures, measuring instruments, analyzers, testers, or measuring or detecting equipment (such as smoke detectors, human alarm sensors, motion sensors, wireless tags, etc.), watches or clocks, laboratory equipment, optical devices, medical equipment and / or systems, weapons, cutlery items, hand tools, etc.

[0128] The UE may be, for example, a wireless-equipped personal digital assistant or related device (such as a wireless card or module designed to be attached to or inserted into another electronic device, such as a personal computer or electrical measuring instrument).

[0129] UE may be part of a device or system that uses various wired and / or wireless communication technologies to provide the following applications, services, and solutions relating to the Internet of Things (IoT).

[0130] Internet of Things (IoT) devices (or "Things") may comprise appropriate electronics, software, sensors, network connectivity, and / or similar, enabling them to collect and exchange data with each other and with other communication devices. IoT devices may comprise automated equipment that follows software instructions stored in internal memory. IoT devices may operate without requiring human supervision or interaction. IoT devices may also remain stationary and / or inactive for long periods of time. IoT devices may (generally) be implemented as part of stationary equipment. IoT devices may also be embedded in non-stationary equipment (such as a vehicle) or attached to animals or people to be monitored / tracked.

[0131] It will be understood that IoT technology can be implemented on any communication device that can connect to a communication network to send / receive data, regardless of whether such communication device is controlled by human input or software instructions stored in memory.

[0132] It will be understood that IoT devices are sometimes referred to as Machine-Type Communication (MTC) devices or Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication devices. It will also be understood that a UE (User Environment) 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. [Table 5]

[0133] Applications, services, and solutions may include Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services, emergency radio communication systems, Private Branch eXchange (PBX) systems, PHS / digital cordless telecommunications systems, Point of Sale (POS) systems, incoming advertising systems, Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS), Vehicle to Everything (V2X) systems, train radio systems, location-related services, disaster / emergency wireless communication services, community services, video streaming services, femtocell application services, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services, billing services, wireless on-demand services, roaming services, activity monitoring services, telecommunications carrier / communication network selection services, function restriction services, Proof of Concept (PoC) services, personal information management services, and ad-hoc network / delay-tolerant networking (DTN) services.

[0134] Furthermore, the UE categories described above are merely examples of applications of the technical concepts and embodiments described herein. Of course, such technical concepts and embodiments are not limited to the UEs described above, and various modifications are possible.

[0135] Various other modifications are obvious to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail here.

[0136] Although the present disclosure has been described above with reference to embodiments, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described above. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications or alterations can be conceived within the scope of the claims, and these will naturally fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, each embodiment can be appropriately combined with at least one other embodiment.

[0137] Each drawing or figure is merely an example to illustrate one or more exemplary embodiments. Each figure does not have to be associated with only one specific exemplary embodiment, but may be associated with one or more other exemplary embodiments. As those skilled in the art will understand, various features or steps described with reference to any one of the figures may be combined with features or steps illustrated in one or more other figures, for example, to produce exemplary embodiments that are not explicitly shown or described. Not all features or steps shown in any one of the figures to illustrate an exemplary embodiment are necessarily required, and some features or steps may be omitted. The order of steps described in any of the figures may be changed as appropriate.

[0138] Some or all of the above embodiments may also be described as follows, but are not limited to the following: (Note 1) A method performed by user equipment (UE), Receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from an access network node, which includes first information for configuring the UE with a discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration and / or discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for at least one cell operated by the access network node, and second information indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration should be activated, Based on the first and second pieces of information, configure the UE in a cell DTX configuration and / or a cell DRX configuration, Methods that include... (Note 2) The first piece of information is, Information about the on-duration timer for cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. Information regarding the periodicity of the cell DTX cycle and / or cell DRX cycle for cell DTX configurations and / or cell DRX configurations. Information regarding the start offset for cell DTX cycles and / or cell DRX cycles for cell DTX configurations and / or cell DRX configurations, or Information on slot offsets for cell DTX cycles and / or cell DRX cycles for cell DTX configurations and / or cell DRX configurations. including at least one of the following: The method described in Appendix 1. (Note 3) Receiving downlink control information (DCI) from the access network node, which includes third information indicating whether or not the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration should be activated. It further includes, The third piece of information has a different number of bits depending on whether it is common to both the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration, or whether it is independent of the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration. The method described in Appendix 1 or 2. (Note 4) If the third piece of information independently indicates the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration, then the third piece of information independently has at least one bit for each of the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration. If the third piece of information commonly indicates both the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration, then the third piece of information has at least one common bit for both the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration. The method described in Appendix 3. (Note 5) The RRC message contains a fourth piece of information to indicate the location of the block in DCI for the UE. The third piece of information is contained within the block in DCI. The method described in Appendix 3 or 4. (Note 6) The fourth piece of information included in the RRC message is per cell operated by the access network node. The method described in Appendix 4. (Note 7) DCI includes a fifth piece of information to indicate physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources for high-priority uplink transmissions during inactive periods of cell DTX and / or cell DRX cycles in cell DTX and / or cell DRX configurations. The method described in any one of the appendices 3 to 6. (Note 8) PUCCH resources are For each cell operated by an access network node, or At least one cell that operates commonly with access network nodes To be assigned The method described in Appendix 7. (Note 9) High-priority uplink transmission is Sending a scheduling request, or Sending a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) for acknowledgment (ACK) / negative ACK (NACK). including at least one of the following: The method described in Appendix 7 or 8. (Note 10) The PUCCH resource is used for PUCCH switching. The method described in any one of the appendices 7 to 9. (Note 11) DCI includes a sixth piece of information indicating at least one set of control resources and / or at least one common search space for monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and / or cell DRX cycle for the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. The method described in any one of the appendices 3 to 10. (Note 12) At least one control resource set and / or at least one common search space, Defined for each cell operated by an access network node, or Defined for at least one cell that operates commonly by access network nodes, The method described in Appendix 11. (Note 13) DCI includes a seventh piece of information indicating whether the UE should skip monitoring the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). The method described in any one of the appendices 3 to 12. (Note 14) The first piece of information includes information on the validity timers of the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. The method described in any one of the appendices 1 to 13. (Note 15) To transmit UE capability information to the access network node, including eighth piece of information indicating whether the UE supports cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. The method described in any one of the appendices 1 to 14, further including the method described in any one of the appendices 1 to 14. (Note 16) The eighth piece of information is, Information indicating whether the UE supports cell DTX and / or cell DRX cycles for cell DTX and / or cell DRX configurations. Information indicating whether the UE supports short cell DTX cycles and / or short cell DRX cycles for cell DTX configurations and / or cell DRX configurations, or Information indicating whether the UE supports the Cell DTX / DRX command Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). including at least one of the following: The method described in Appendix 15. (Note 17) If the UE does not receive downlink control information (DCI) that includes third information indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration should be activated, it will perform a fallback operation for cell DTX / DRX operation. The method described in any one of the appendices 1 to 16, further including the method described in any one of the appendices 1 to 16. (Note 18) The fallback behavior is, Receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) from an access network node, Send a scheduling request indicating a fallback for cell DTX / DRX, including, The method described in Appendix 17. (Note 19) The scheduling request is, A physical uplink control channel for the fallback operation of cell DTX / DRX, or Configuration Grant Sending using at least one of the following: The method described in Appendix 18. (Note 20) The fallback operation includes starting a fallback timer for the cell DTX / DRX and deactivating the cell DTX / DRX. The method described in Appendix 17. (Note 21) The fallback behavior is, Monitor the search space for fallbacks for cell DTX / DRX, Using the search space, receive fallback downlink control information for cell DTX / DRX, Includes, The fallback downlink control information includes a ninth piece of information indicating whether to activate or deactivate the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. The method described in Appendix 17. (Note 22) A method performed by an access network node, Sending a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to a UE including first information for configuring user equipment (UE) with a discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration and / or discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for at least one cell operated by an access network node, and second information indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration should be activated. Includes, The first and second pieces of information are used by the UE to configure the UE in a cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. method. (Note 23) User equipment (UE), Means for receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from an access network node, including first information for configuring a UE with a discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration and / or a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for at least one cell operated by the access network node, and second information for indicating whether or not the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration should be activated. Means for configuring the UE in a cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration based on the first and second information, A UE equipped with (Note 24) Access network node, Means for sending a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to a UE, which includes first information for configuring user equipment (UE) in a discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration and / or discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration of at least one cell operated by an access network node, and second information for indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration should be activated. Equipped with, The first and second pieces of information are used by the UE to configure the UE in a cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. Access network node.

[0139] This application claims priority based on UK Patent Application No. 2310797.2, filed on 13 July 2023, and incorporates all of its disclosures by reference herein. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0140] 1. Mobile ("cellular" or "wireless") communication systems 3. User equipment 5. Radio Access Network (RAN) Nodes 7 Core Network 9 cells 10. Control Plane Function (CPF) 10-1 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 10-2 Session Management Function (SMF) 11. User Plane Function (UPF) 20 External data network 1231 Transceiver Circuit 1233 Antenna 1235 User Interface 1237 Controller 1239 memory 1241 Operating Systems 1243 Communication control module 1245-cell DRX / DTX configuration 1246 UE capability information 1248 timer 1351 Transceiver Circuit 1353 Antenna 1355 Core Network Interface 1357 Controller 1359 memory 1361 Operating Systems 1363 Communication control module 1365-cell DRX / DTX configuration 1368 Timer

Claims

1. A method performed by user equipment (UE), Receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from an access network node, which includes first information for configuring the UE with a discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration and / or a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration of at least one cell operated by the access network node, and second information for indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration should be activated, Based on the first information and the second information, the UE is configured with the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration, Methods that include...

2. The first information mentioned above is, Information regarding the on-duration timer for the aforementioned cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration, Information regarding the periodicity of the cell DTX cycle and / or cell DRX cycle for the aforementioned cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration, Information regarding the start offset for the cell DTX cycle and / or cell DRX cycle for the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration, or Information regarding the slot offset for the cell DTX cycle and / or cell DRX cycle for the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. Including at least one of the following: The method according to claim 1.

3. Receiving downlink control information (DCI) from the access network node, which includes third information indicating whether or not the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration should be activated. It further includes, The third information has a different number of bits depending on whether the third information is shown in common to both the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration, or whether it is shown independently to the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration. The method according to claim 1 or 2.

4. If the third information independently indicates the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration, the third information independently has at least one bit for each of the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration. If the third information commonly indicates both the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration, the third information has at least one common bit for both the cell DTX configuration and the cell DRX configuration. The method according to claim 3.

5. The RRC message includes a fourth piece of information indicating the location of the block in the DCI for the UE, The third piece of information is included in the block within the DCI, The method according to claim 3 or 4.

6. The fourth piece of information included in the RRC message is per cell operated by the access network node. The method according to claim 4.

7. The DCI includes a fifth piece of information for indicating physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources for high-priority uplink transmissions during inactive periods of the cell DTX cycle and / or cell DRX cycle relating to the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6.

8. The aforementioned PUCCH resource is For each cell operated by the aforementioned access network node, or In at least one cell that operates in common with the aforementioned access network node To be assigned, The method according to claim 7.

9. The aforementioned high-priority uplink transmission is Sending a scheduling request, or Sending a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) for acknowledgment (ACK) / negative ACK (NACK). Including at least one of the following: The method according to claim 7 or 8.

10. The aforementioned PUCCH resource is used for PUCCH switching. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9.

11. The DCI includes a sixth piece of information indicating at least one set of control resources and / or at least one common search space for monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and / or cell DRX cycle relating to the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 10.

12. The at least one control resource set and / or the at least one common search space are Defined for each cell operated by the aforementioned access network node, or Defined for at least one cell that operates in common with the aforementioned access network nodes, The method according to claim 11.

13. The DCI includes a seventh piece of information indicating whether the UE should skip monitoring the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), The method according to any one of claims 3 to 12.

14. The first information includes information on the effectiveness timers of the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. Transmitting UE capability information to the access network node, which includes eighth information indicating whether the UE supports the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, further comprising:

16. The eighth piece of information mentioned above is, Information indicating whether the UE supports the cell DTX cycle and / or cell DRX cycle relating to the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration, Information indicating whether the UE supports short cell DTX cycles and / or short cell DRX cycles with respect to the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration, or Information indicating whether the aforementioned UE supports the Cell DTX / DRX command Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). Including at least one of the following: The method according to claim 15.

17. If the UE does not receive downlink control information (DCI) including third information indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration should be activated, it shall perform a fallback operation for cell DTX / DRX operation. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, further comprising:

18. The aforementioned fallback operation is, The access network node receives a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), Send a scheduling request indicating a fallback for cell DTX / DRX, including, The method according to claim 17.

19. The aforementioned scheduling request is A physical uplink control channel for the fallback operation of Cell DTX / DRX, or Configuration Grant Sending using at least one of the following: The method according to claim 18.

20. The aforementioned fallback operation includes starting a fallback timer for the cell DTX / DRX to deactivate the cell DTX / DRX. The method according to claim 17.

21. The aforementioned fallback operation is, To monitor the search space for fallback for the aforementioned cell DTX / DRX, Using the aforementioned search space, receive fallback downlink control information for the fallback of the cell DTX / DRX, Includes, The fallback downlink control information includes a ninth piece of information indicating whether to activate or deactivate the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration. The method according to claim 17.

22. A method performed by an access network node, Sending a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to the UE, which includes first information for configuring user equipment (UE) with a discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration and / or discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration of at least one cell operated by the access network node, and second information for indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration should be activated. Includes, The first information and the second information are used by the UE to configure the UE by the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. method.

23. User equipment (UE), means for receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from an access network node, the RRC message including first information for configuring the UE with a discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration and / or discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration of at least one cell operated by the access network node, and second information for indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration should be activated. Means for configuring the UE with the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration based on the first information and the second information, UE equipped with

24. Access network node, Means for transmitting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to the UE, the RRC message comprising: first information for configuring user equipment (UE) with a discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration and / or discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration of at least one cell operated by the access network node; and second information for indicating whether the cell DTX configuration and / or the cell DRX configuration should be activated. Equipped with, The first information and the second information are used by the UE to configure the UE by the cell DTX configuration and / or cell DRX configuration. Access network node.

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