PDCCH Blind-Decoding Timing and Sleep Control for Lower Terminal Power
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Solution Overview
Problem
Terminals consume power during blind-decoding of physical downlink control channels (PDCCH) in wireless communication systems, necessitating a method to reduce power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A method for a terminal to perform blind-decoding of PDCCH, followed by identifying whether downlink control information (DCI) is acquired, and if not, entering a sleep mode, while also considering pre-configured operations or slot offset values indicated by DCI to optimize power usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the terminal performs blind-decoding of PDCCH continuously to ensure reliable reception of DCI, then the reliability of control information reception is improved, but the power consumption of the terminal increases
Solution Approach 1:
The terminal performs blind-decoding at specific periodic intervals rather than continuously. The network configures discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles with active periods for PDCCH monitoring and sleep periods for power saving, allowing the terminal to periodically wake up to check for scheduling information and then return to sleep mode when no data is present
Solution Approach 2:
The terminal autonomously determines whether to perform blind-decoding based on wake-up signals (WUS) or go-to-sleep signals received from the network. When a wake-up signal is detected, the terminal activates and performs blind-decoding; when no wake-up signal is present or a go-to-sleep signal is received, the terminal skips blind-decoding and enters sleep mode, making autonomous power management decisions
2Adaptability or versatility
If the terminal performs symbol buffering to support cross-slot scheduling, then the flexibility of scheduling is improved, but the power consumption and processing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The terminal performs symbol buffering in advance during the active period to prepare for potential cross-slot scheduling. By pre-buffering the downlink data symbols received in the current slot, the terminal can defer processing and actual data reception to a later slot without losing data, enabling flexible scheduling decisions while maintaining readiness for data arrival
Solution Approach 2:
The terminal dynamically adjusts its buffering and processing behavior based on the presence of wake-up signals and scheduling decisions. When a wake-up signal is received, the terminal activates buffering and processing functions; when no wake-up signal is present, the terminal deactivates these functions to save power, making the buffering operation conditional and adaptive rather than continuous
3Loss of information
If the terminal performs blind-decoding at every slot to ensure no DCI is missed, then the completeness of information reception is improved, but the power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The network introduces wake-up signals (WUS) or go-to-sleep signals as intermediary indicators between the scheduling decisions and the terminal's blind-decoding actions. These signals serve as mediators that inform the terminal whether it needs to perform blind-decoding in the upcoming slot, allowing the terminal to avoid unnecessary blind-decoding operations while ensuring it doesn't miss important DCI messages
Solution Approach 2:
The network sends wake-up signals or go-to-sleep signals in advance of the actual data transmission slots. This preliminary notification allows the terminal to proactively prepare for or skip blind-decoding operations, ensuring complete information reception when needed while avoiding power-wasting blind-decoding when no data is scheduled
Data Source
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AI summary
A communication technique for convergence of IoT technology and a 5G communication system for supporting a higher data transfer rate beyond a 4G system, and a system therefor. The disclosure can be applied to intelligent services (e.g., smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart or connected cars, health care, digital education, retail business, and services associated with security and safety) based on 5G communication technology and IoT-related technology. According to the disclosure, a method of a terminal of a wireless communication system includes: identifying k' corresponding to a slot offset value based on a time-domain resource allocation table configured for the terminal; receiving, from a base station, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signal for scheduling data transmission in a k-th slot; and blind-decoding the received PDCCH signal in a (k+k')-th slot, wherein k' corresponds to a minimum value among slot offset values configured as the time-domain resource allocation table.