DRX Wake-Up Signals with Beam Feedback for Fast Beam Management

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional DRX procedures in wireless communications systems are inefficient due to deficient wake-up signaling techniques, leading to increased power consumption and communication latency, especially in millimeter wave frequencies where beam pairs degrade during sleep states.

Innovation Solution

Implementing beam-swept wake-up signals (WUSs) with beam sweeping configurations and WUS-based beam feedback reporting, allowing UEs to identify optimal beams for communication during DRX on-durations through UL resources configured for fast beam management.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Use of energy by moving object

If conventional wake-up signaling is used during DRX off-duration, then power consumption is reduced by keeping UE in sleep state, but beam pair degradation occurs and communication reliability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepower consumptionVSAvoidcommunication reliability
Core Design Contradiction:
Use of energy by moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by performing beam management and wake-up signal monitoring during the DRX on-duration before the sleep state begins. The UE monitors for WUS and performs beam management procedures while still in active state, so that when the UE enters sleep state, the beam pairs are already optimized and validated. This ensures communication reliability is maintained during sleep without requiring continuous monitoring that would increase power consumption.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If beam management is performed continuously to maintain beam quality, then communication reliability is improved, but power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebeam qualityVSAvoidpower consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements periodic action by configuring beam management and WUS monitoring to occur only during DRX on-durations at specific periodic intervals, rather than continuously. The UE enters sleep state during DRX off-durations and wakes up periodically to perform beam management and monitor for WUS. This periodic approach maintains beam quality and communication reliability while significantly reducing power consumption compared to continuous operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #19Periodic action

3Measurement precision

If wake-up signal monitoring is performed during DRX on-duration, then beam pair identification is improved, but communication latency increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebeam pair identificationVSAvoidcommunication latency
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by performing beam pair identification and validation during the DRX on-duration before data transmission begins. The UE monitors for WUS and performs beam management procedures while in active state, so that when data needs to be transmitted, the optimal beam pair is already identified and ready. This eliminates the need for additional beam management latency during actual data transmission, thus improving measurement precision without significantly increasing overall communication latency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3984328B1Discontinuous reception wake-up procedure with fast beam management
Publication Date: 2025.08.13 QUALCOMM INC
  • EP3984328B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3984328B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3984328B1 patent drawingFigure 3A~3B

AI summary

A user equipment (UE) may provide feedback regarding beam pairs used for wake-up signal (WUS) transmissions via uplink resources configured for WUS-based beam management feedback. A correspondence between WUSs and uplink resources for feedback may be semi-statically configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, may be dynamically indicated by each WUS, etc. In some examples, uplink resources for different UEs may be distinctive (e.g., UE-specific). In some cases, each beam used to transmit the wake-up message (e.g., each WUS) may have separate uplink resources, or all beams may share the same uplink resource (e.g., or some combination of uplink resources). As such, the UE and base station may identify one or more beams of sufficient quality (e.g., for control channel transmissions during a discontinuous reception (DRX) on-duration) based on the feedback (e.g., beam report) conveyed by the UE via the configured uplink resources for WUS-based fast beam management techniques.