Multi-Panel UE Discontinuous Reception for Power Saving
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current 3GPP New Radio (NR) technologies lack effective mechanisms for power saving in User Equipments (UEs) operating at higher carrier frequencies above 6 GHz, particularly in managing beamforming capabilities, leading to unnecessary latency and power consumption when switching between multiple transmit and receive antenna panels.
Innovation Solution
Implementing discontinuous reception rules for multi-panel devices, allowing UEs to deactivate unused antenna panels based on inactivity timers and configuration information, enabling power savings while maintaining low latency beam management by prioritizing TCI states and adjusting DRX cycles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the UE continuously monitors all TCI states for beam management, then the beam management reliability is improved, but the power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles where the UE alternates between active monitoring periods and sleep periods. During active periods, the UE monitors TCI states for beam management; during sleep periods, the UE deactivates panels to save power. This periodic action allows the system to maintain beam management reliability when needed while reducing power consumption during inactive periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts the monitoring behavior of different TCI states based on activity detection. When activity is detected on a particular TCI state, the UE activates monitoring for that state; when no activity is detected for a configured duration, the UE deactivates monitoring. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to optimize between reliability and power consumption based on actual traffic conditions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the UE switches between multiple antenna panels for beamforming, then the beam management capability is improved, but the latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-configures multiple TCI states with associated beamforming parameters before they are needed. When beam switching is required, the UE can quickly activate a pre-configured TCI state without performing full beam training procedures. This preliminary configuration reduces the latency associated with panel switching while maintaining the ability to adapt to different beam requirements.
3Measurement precision
If the UE monitors all configured TCI states continuously, then the detection precision is improved, but the power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the TCI states into different groups or categories, allowing the UE to selectively monitor only relevant TCI states during active periods rather than continuously monitoring all states. This segmentation enables the system to maintain detection precision for active beams while reducing power consumption by excluding inactive beams from continuous monitoring.
Data Source
AI summary
Method, apparatus, and computer program product for a user equipment in a wireless communications system to receive configuration information that has one or more TCI-states. With this configuration information, the user equipment can then determine inactivity on TCI-states. Based on that determination, the user equipment enables either a discontinuous monitoring or a cessation of monitoring on those TCI-states. Each TCI-state corresponds to a radio beam and also corresponds to an antenna panel. By reducing such monitoring, the use equipment can deactivate antenna panels corresponding to the TCI-states. The determination can be done through the use of a timer with various time thresholds based on the TCI-state. The activity being transmitted on those beam can be scheduling received by the user equipment from a network element such as a base station. The TCI-states can also be grouped and the functionality of the invention dealt with on a group basis.