User Equipment Paging Control for Battery Life Extension
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of devices communicating with cellular networks, particularly sensors and wearable devices, faces challenges in extending battery lifetime and reducing radio access network loads due to the energy consumption associated with listening for paging signals, especially in scenarios where high latency in downlink data transmissions is accommodated.
Innovation Solution
A signaling mechanism where user equipment (UE) informs the cellular network of its pageability status, allowing it to refrain from listening for pages, thereby reducing energy consumption and network loads, by including paging-related information in UE capability signaling messages, and the network controls whether to page the UE based on this information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If user equipment continuously monitors paging signals to receive downlink data, then downlink data delivery is ensured, but battery lifetime is reduced and energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies discontinuous reception (DRX) schemes that dynamically switch the user equipment between active monitoring periods and sleep periods. During DRX cycles, the UE wakes up at specific intervals to check for paging signals and then returns to low-power mode, making the monitoring behavior adaptive rather than continuous. This resolves the contradiction by ensuring downlink data can be delivered during active periods while significantly reducing energy consumption during sleep periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic paging monitoring where the user equipment wakes up at regular intervals defined by DRX cycles to listen for paging signals. Instead of continuous monitoring, the UE follows a periodic pattern of wake-up → monitor → sleep → repeat. This periodic action ensures that downlink data delivery opportunities are maintained while energy consumption is reduced through the repeated sleep-wake cycles.
2Reliability
If user equipment wakes up frequently to listen for paging signals, then downlink data reception is improved, but battery lifetime is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the DRX cycle duration for specific UE categories (such as NB-IoT devices) to reduce the frequency of wake-up events. By dynamically adjusting the DRX parameters based on UE type and traffic patterns, the system allows longer sleep periods while maintaining acceptable downlink data reception reliability. This resolves the contradiction by optimizing the balance between wake-up frequency and data reception needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the DRX cycle parameters (period length, wake-up时机) based on UE category and service requirements. For power-constrained devices like NB-IoT sensors, longer DRX cycles are configured, which reduces the number of wake-up events and extends battery lifetime while still allowing periodic downlink data reception. This parameter adaptation resolves the contradiction by tailoring the monitoring frequency to specific operational requirements.
3Reliability
If the cellular network pages all user equipment to ensure data delivery, then downlink data transmission reliability is improved, but radio access network load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different paging strategies to different UE categories based on their specific requirements. For example, NB-IoT devices with extended coverage requirements receive different paging treatment compared to standard LTE devices. The network configures category-specific DRX parameters and paging opportunities, allowing optimized load distribution where power-constrained devices use longer cycles reducing overall network paging load, while still maintaining reliable data delivery for each category.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements selective paging where the network pages only specific UE categories or individual UEs based on actual data arrival and service requirements, rather than broadcasting to all UEs. This partial action approach reduces the overall paging load on the radio access network by targeting only those UEs that actually need downlink data, while maintaining delivery reliability for paged UEs through their configured DRX wake-up opportunities.
Data Source
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AI summary
A signalling message including paging related information indicative of whether an user equipment (10, 19) is pageable or indicative of whether the UE (10, 19) will be paged is transmitted. The UE (10, 19) does not listen on a paging channel if the pageability information indicates that the UE (10, 19) is unpageable.