Group Common PDCCH Slot Format Indication for UE Power Savings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication systems face inefficiencies in resource allocation on the air interface, particularly in how UEs decode control channels, leading to unnecessary power consumption and resource wastage due to blind decoding attempts.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a physical downlink control channel for UE groups, where a base station selects and indicates a slot format for UEs using a group ID and slot format indicator, allowing UEs to decipher the appropriate slot format and reduce unnecessary decoding attempts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If UEs perform blind decoding of PDCCH candidates in each sub-frame to determine control channel information, then the UE can successfully retrieve control information, but the UE consumes excessive battery power due to unnecessary decoding attempts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by introducing a group common PDCCH that is decoded before individual PDCCH candidates. The group common PDCCH provides advance information about the presence and location of control information, allowing UEs to skip unnecessary blind decoding attempts on individual PDCCH candidates. This preliminary decoding step reduces power consumption while ensuring reliable control information retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The group common PDCCH acts as an intermediary between the base station and individual PDCCH candidates. It provides a intermediate layer of control information that guides UEs on which individual PDCCH candidates to decode, thereby reducing the number of direct decoding attempts on individual candidates and lowering power consumption while maintaining reliability.
2Use of energy by moving object
If a group common PDCCH is implemented to reduce blind decoding attempts, then battery power is saved, but the implementation complexity of the control channel increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the control channel into two separate components: a group common PDCCH that provides general control information applicable to multiple UEs, and individual PDCCH candidates that provide UE-specific control information. This segmentation allows the system to reduce blind decoding attempts while managing complexity by separating common and specific control functions into distinct channels.
3Productivity
If multiple slot formats are defined for different UE groups, then radio resources are utilized more efficiently, but the signaling overhead to indicate slot formats increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by creating a group common PDCCH that serves multiple UEs simultaneously with a single control message. This multi-functional approach allows the same control channel to provide slot format information to multiple UEs in a UE group, reducing the need for separate signaling to each individual UE and thereby reducing overall signaling overhead while improving radio resource utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for allocating resources of an air interface. In one embodiment, a base station communicates with a plurality of User Equipment (UE) within a cell over an air interface. The base station selects a UE group from the UEs in the cell to share a physical downlink control channel, selects a slot format for the UE group, and identifies a slot format indicator for the UE group. The base station generates a group ID for the UE group so that a combination of the group ID and the slot format indicator indicates a slot format value that is mapped to the selected slot format for the UE group, provides the group ID to the UE group, and transmits the slot format indicator on the physical downlink control channel to the UE group.