Mobile Wireless Control Indicators to Reduce PDCCH Blind Decoding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication devices face high power consumption due to unnecessary blind decoding attempts of control channels, particularly in transitioning to 5G-NR, which lacks effective mechanisms to reduce these decoding efforts.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a control indicator system where base stations transmit per-UE or per-group indications to wireless devices, signaling the presence or absence of PDCCH, allowing devices to skip unnecessary decoding and enter a sleep state when no PDCCH is scheduled, thereby reducing blind decoding attempts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If blind decoding of PDCCH is performed in every slot to ensure reliable control channel reception, then control channel reliability is improved, but power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The network transmits a control indicator in advance (in a first slot) before the actual PDCCH transmission slot (second slot). This preliminary indication allows the UE to prepare appropriately - performing blind decoding only when the indicator signals PDCCH presence, thereby avoiding unnecessary decoding operations while maintaining reliable reception when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables the UE to autonomously determine whether to perform blind decoding based on the received control indicator. The device serves itself by making intelligent decisions about when to activate its decoding functionality, transitioning between active and sleep states based on the indicator value, thus optimizing its own power consumption while maintaining reliability.
2Loss of time
If control indicator information is transmitted in the same slot as PDCCH to reduce latency, then response time is improved, but device complexity increases due to tight timing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The transmission process is divided into two separate slots: the first slot carries the control indicator, and the second slot carries the actual PDCCH. This segmentation allows the UE to first check the indicator and then decide whether to perform blind decoding in the second slot, reducing timing constraints and complexity compared to same-slot transmission while still maintaining low latency through the use of mini-slots or short transmission time intervals.
Data Source
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AI summary
A wireless communication device (UE) may receive control indicator information (CII) indicating whether one or more candidate physical control channels (PCCs) are available to the UE for decoding. The UE may perform respective blind decoding if the CII indicates that the one or more candidate PCCs are available, to decode a respective PCC intended for the UE. The UE may receive the CII in the same slot in which PCCs are transmitted, or it may receive the CII in another slot, which may be a narrowband slot. The UE may receive the PCCs in the same slot in which corresponding physical data channels (PDCs) are transmitted, or it may receive the PCCs in another slot, e.g. a slot immediately preceding the slot in which the corresponding PDCs are transmitted. By eliminating unnecessary blind decoding and receiving the CII over narrowband, power consumption of the UE may be greatly reduced.