GB2629019A

GB2629019A - Apparatus, methods and computer programs relating to activation or deactivation of a configured scheduling session

Info

Publication number: GB2629019A
Application number: GB2305516.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bhatoolaul David; Johannes Kaikkonen Jorma; Venkatraman Ganesh; Lee Sunyoung
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-04-14
Filing date: 2023-04-14
Publication date: 2024-10-16
Also published as: GB202305516D0; WO2024213305A1

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus comprising: means for receiving a wake up signal (WUS) from a base station, said WUS comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated A1; and means for using the received WUS to change the status of a configured scheduling session from the one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated, in dependence on said information A2. The change of status may be in response to the received wake up signal, without receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) message comprising downlink control information (DCI). The apparatus may comprise means for monitoring for a PDCCH after the WUS has been received. The information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session may comprise DCI. The configured scheduling session may comprise one of a downlink semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) session or an uplink configured grant (CG) session.

Description

APPARATUS, METHODS AND COMPUTER PROGRAMS RELATING TO ACTIVATION OR DEACTIVATION OF A CONFIGURED SCHEDULING SESSION Field This disclosure relates to apparatus, methods and computer programs and in particular but not exclusively to apparatus, methods and computer programs relating to activation or deactivation of a configured scheduling session.

Background

A communication system can be seen as a facility that enables communications between two or more communication devices, or provides communication devices access to a lc) data network.

A communication system may be a wireless communication system. Examples of wireless communication systems comprise public land mobile networks (PLMN) operating based on radio access technology standards such as those provided by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) or ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), satellite communication systems, non-terrestrial networks, networks providing unlicensed operations, and different wireless local networks, for example wireless local area networks (WLAN). Wireless communication systems operating based on a radio access technology can typically be divided into cells and are therefore often referred to as cellular systems.

A communication system and associated devices typically operate in accordance with one or more radio access technologies defined in a given specification of a standard, such as the standards provided by 3GPP or ETSI, which sets out what the various entities associated with the communication system and the communication devices accessing or connecting to the communication system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Communication protocols and/or parameters which shall be used by communication devices for accessing or connecting to a communication system are also typically defined in standards. Examples of a standard are the so-called 5G (5th Generation) standards provided by 3GPP. Summary According to an aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for receiving a wake up signal from a base station, said wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated; and means for using the received wake up signal to change the status of a configured scheduling session from the one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated, in dependence on said information.

The wake up signal may be a low power signal.

The change in status may be in response to the received wake up signal, without receiving a physical downlink control channel message comprising downlink control information.

The apparatus may comprise means for monitoring for a physical downlink control S channel after the wake up signal has been received.

The apparatus may comprise means for causing a change from a sleep mode in response to receiving the wake up signal.

The wake up signal may comprise a payload, said information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session being provided in the payload.

The information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session may comprise downlink control information.

The information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session may comprise one or more of the following: time domain resource information; information indicating which configured scheduling session is to be activated; modulation coding scheme information; transport block rate information; start offset time; periodicity; time domain allocation; frequency domain resource information; or frequency domain allocation.

The start offset time periodicity may be time domain offset information.

The information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session may comprise information indicating which one or more sub-groups of confiQured scheduling session services is to be activated or deactivated.

The apparatus may comprise means for receiving configuration information providing configuration information associated with the wake up signal and configuration information associated with the configured scheduling session.

The apparatus may comprise means for causing the apparatus to be in a low power mode The configured scheduling session may comprises one of a downlink semi-persistent scheduling session or an uplink configured grant session.

The apparatus may be or provided in a user equipment.

According to another aspect, there is provided a method comprising: receiving a wake up signal from a base station, said wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated; and using the received wake up signal to change the status of a configured scheduling session from the one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated, in dependence on said information.

The wake up signal may be a low power signal.

The method may comprise monitoring for a physical downlink control channel after the wake up signal has been received.

The method may comprise causing a change from a sleep mode in response to receiving the wake up signal.

The start offset time periodicity may be time domain offset information.

The information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session 20 may comprise information indicating which one or more sub-groups of configured scheduling session services is to be activated or deactivated.

The method may comprise receiving configuration information providing configuration information associated with the wake up signal and configuration information associated with the configured scheduling session.

The method may comprise causing an apparatus to be in a low power mode.

The configured scheduling session may comprises one of a downlink semi-persistent scheduling session or an uplink configured grant session.

The method may be performed by an apparatus. The apparatus may be or provided in a user equipment.

According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive a wake up signal from a base station, said wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated; and use the received wake up signal to change the status of a configured scheduling session from the one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated, in dependence on said information.

The wake up signal may be a low power signal.

The apparatus may be caused to monitor for a physical downlink control channel after the wake up signal has been received.

The apparatus may be caused to cause a change from a sleep mode in response to receiving the wake up signal.

The start offset time periodicity may be time domain offset information.

The information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session may comprise information indicating which one or more sub-groups of configured scheduling session services is to be activated or deactivated.

The apparatus may be caused to receive configuration information providing configuration information associated with the wake up signal and configuration information associated with the configured scheduling session.

The apparatus may be caused to cause the apparatus to be in a low power mode.

The apparatus may be or provided in a user equipment.

According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for causing a wake up signal to be transmitted to a user equipment, the low power wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session of the user equipment from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated. The wake up signal may comprise a payload, said information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session being provided in the payload.

The information relating to the change of status of the configured scheduling session may comprise one or more of the following: time domain resource information; information indicating which configured scheduling session is to be activated; modulation coding scheme information; transport block rate information; start offset time; periodicity; time domain allocation; frequency domain resource information; or frequency domain allocation.

The start offset time periodicity may be time domain offset information.

The information relating to the change of status of the configured scheduling session may comprise information indicating which one or more sub-groups of configured scheduling session services is to be activated or deactivated.

The apparatus may comprise means for causing configuration information to be transmitted to the user equipment, said configuration information associated with the wake up signal and configuration information associated with the configured scheduling session.

The apparatus may comprise means for causing the apparatus to be in a low power mode The configured scheduling session may comprise one of a downlink semi-persistent scheduling session or an uplink configured grant session.

The apparatus may be or provided in a base station.

According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: cause a wake up signal to be transmitted to a user equipment, the low power wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session of the user equipment from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated.

The start offset time periodicity may be time domain offset information.

The information relating to the change of status of the configured scheduling session may comprise information indicating which one or more sub-groups of confiuured scheduling session services is to be activated or deactivated.

The apparatus may be caused to cause configuration information to be transmitted to the user equipment, said configuration information associated with the wake up signal and configuration information associated with the configured scheduling session.

The apparatus may be caused to cause the apparatus to be in a low power mode.

The configured scheduling session may comprise one of a downlink semi-persistent scheduling session or an uplink configured grant session.

The apparatus may be or provided in a base station.

According to another aspect, there is provided a method comprising: causing a wake up signal to be transmitted to a user equipment, the low power wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session of the user equipment from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated.

The start offset time periodicity may be time domain offset information.

The method may comprise causing configuration information to be transmitted to the user equipment, said configuration information associated with the wake up signal and configuration information associated with the configured scheduling session.

The method may comprise causing the apparatus to be in a low power mode.

The method may be performed by an apparatus. The apparatus may be or provided in a base station.

According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform any of the methods set out previously.

According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which when executed cause any of the methods set out previously to be performed. According to an aspect there is provided a computer program comprising computer executable code which when cause any of the methods set out previously to be performed.

According to an aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing at least one of the above methods.

According to an aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform any of the methods set out previously.

According to an aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which when executed cause any of the methods set out previously to be performed.

According to an aspect, there is provided a non-volatile tangible memory medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing at least one of the above methods.

In the above, many different aspects have been described. It should be appreciated that further aspects may be provided by the combination of any two or more of the aspects described above.

Various other aspects are also described in the following detailed description and in the attached claims.

Brief description of Figures

Some examples will now be described in further detail, by way of illustration only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a 5G system; Figure 2 shows a schematic representation of an apparatus; Figure 3 shows a schematic representation of a user equipment; Figure 4 shows a procedure for configured scheduling (CS) for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (SPS); Figure 5 shows a first procedure for configured scheduling (CS) for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) using a low power wake up signal (LP-WUS); Figure 6 shows a second procedure for configured scheduling (CS) for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) using a low power wake up signal (LP-WUS); Figure 7 shows a first procedure for configured scheduling (CS) for uplink with type Figure 8 illustrates DCI fields forming the standard DCI 1 0 format; Figure 9 shows a method of some embodiments; and Figure 10 shows another method of some embodiments.

Detailed description

In the following certain embodiments are explained with reference to communication devices capable of communication via a wireless cellular system and mobile communication systems serving such communication devices. Before explaining in detail, the exemplifying embodiments, certain general principles of a wireless communication system, access systems thereof, and communication devices are briefly explained with reference to Figures 1, 2 and 3 to assist in understanding the technology underlying the described examples.

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a communication system operating based on a 5th generation radio access technology (generally referred to as a 5G system (5GS)). The 5GS may comprise a (radio) access network ((R)AN), a 5G core network (5GC), one or more application functions (AF) and one or more data networks (DN). A user equipment may access or connect to the one or more DNs via the 5GS.

The 5G (R)AN may comprise one or more base stations or radio access network (RAN) nodes, such as a gNodeB (gNB). A base station or RAN node may comprise one or more distributed units connected to a central unit.

The 5GC may comprise various network functions, such as an access and mobility management function (AMY), a session management function (SMF), an authentication server function (AUSF), a user data management (UDM), a user plane function (UPF), a network data repository, a network exposure function (NEF), a service communication proxy (SCP), edge application server discovery function (EASDF), policy control function (PCF), network slice access control function (NSACF), network slice specific authentication and authorization function (NSSAAF), and/or network slicing selection function (NSSF) . Figure 2 illustrates an example of an apparatus 200. The apparatus 200 may be provided in a communications device and/or in a network entity. The apparatus 200 may have at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor cause one or more functions to be performed. In this example, the apparatus may comprise at least one random access memory (RAM) 211a, and/or at least one read only memory (ROM) 211b. The apparatus may comprise at least one processor 212, 213 and/or an input/output interface 214. The at least one processor 212, 213 may be coupled to the at least one memory which in this example is the RAM 211a and the ROM 21 lb. The at least one processor 212, 213 may be configured to execute an appropriate software code 215. The software code 215 may, for example, allow the apparatus to perform one or more steps of one or more of the present aspects.

Figure 3 illustrates an example of a communication device 300. The communication device 300 may be any device capable of sending and receiving radio signals. Other non-limiting examples of a communication device 300 comprise a mobile station (MS) or mobile device such as a mobile phone or what is known as a 'smart phone', a computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (e.g., USB dongle), a personal data assistant (PDA) or a tablet provided with wireless communication capabilities, a machine-type communications (MTC) device, a Cellular Internet of things (CIoT) device or any combinations of these or the like.

The communication device 300 may send or receive, for example, radio signals carrying communications. The communications may be one or more of voice, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia, data, machine data and so on.

The communication device 300 may receive radio signals over an air or radio interface 307 via a transceiver apparatus 306. The transceiver apparatus 306 may be provided for example by means of a radio part and associated antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement may be arranged internally or externally to the mobile device and may include a single antenna or multiple antennas. The antenna arrangement may be an antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements.

The communication device 300 may be provided with at least one processor 301, and/or at least one memory. The at least one memory may be at least one ROM 302a, and/or at least one RAM 302b. Other possible components 303 may be provided for use in software and hardware aided execution of tasks it is designed to perform, including control of access to and communications with access systems, such as the 5G RAN and other communication devices. The at least one processor 301 is coupled to the RAM 302b and the ROM 302a. The at least one processor 301 may be configured to execute instructions of software code 308. Execution of the instructions of the software code 308 may for example allow the communication device 300 to perform one or more operations. The software code 308 may be stored in the ROM 302a. It should be appreciated that in other embodiments, any other suitable memory may be alternatively or additionally used.

The at least one processor 301, the at least one ROM 302a, and/or the at least one RAM 302b can be provided on an appropriate circuit board, in an integrated circuit, and/or in chipsets.

This feature is denoted by reference 304.

The communication device 300 may optionally have a user interface such as keypad 305, touch sensitive screen or pad, combinations thereof or the like. Optionally, the communication device may have one or more of a display, a speaker and a microphone.

In the following examples, the term UE or user equipment is used. This term encompasses any of the example of communication device 300 previously discussed and/or any other communication device.

An example of wireless communication systems are architectures standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The current radio access technology being standardized by 3GPP is often referred to as 50 or NR. Other radio access technologies standardized by 3GPP include long term evolution (LTE) or LTE Advanced Pro of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UIVITS). Wireless communication systems generally include access networks, such as radio access networks operating based on a radio access technology that include base stations or a radio access network nodes. Wireless communication systems may also include other types of access networks, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or a WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) network.

It should be understood that example embodiments may also be used with standards for future radio access technologies such as 6G and beyond.

Some embodiments may relate to wake up signals WUS. Some embodiments may relate 30 to low power wake up signals (LP-W US).

Some embodiments may relate to the 3GPP Release 18 study item "Study on low-power Wake-up Signal and Receiver for NR" (RP-213645.

The aim may be to reduce the power consumption of UE types such as sensors, actuators and wearables, that require a long battery life.

Several methods have been proposed to improve power consumption, for example, eDRX (extended discontinuous reception), which extends the period that the UE sleeps between waking up to monitor for paging. However, some UEs requiring reduced power consumption are also latency sensitive, e.g sensors for fire detection and extinguishing.

Solutions such as eDRX solution may not be appropriate for latency sensitive applications as they may lead to long communication delays.

The wake-up signal (WUS) principle may enable the network to trigger a UE to wake-up exactly when needed in an event-driven manner. This may be done by transmitting a WUS which is monitored by a dedicated low-power WUS receiver of the UE. This may avoid the delays associated with techniques such as eDRX. When a UE receives the WUS, the logically separated WUS receiver can wake-up the main NR transceiver and normal communication can start.

The WUS receiver is expected to consume significantly less power, compared to the main NR transceiver. A simple (WUS) signal may be detected using dedicated hardware optimised 15 for low power consumption.

Some example uses of WUS comprise one or more of: reducing power consumption for idle/inactive mode UEs monitoring paging; reducing power consumption for connected mode UE PDCCH (physical downlink control channel) monitoring; providing cell specific synchronisation support; providing RRM (radio resource management) measurement support; and/or providing LP-WUS threshold detection support.

Some embodiments may relate to procedures to support WUS. The procedures may be L I (layer 1) procedures. Some embodiments may relate to protocol changes required to support 25 WUS. The protocol changes may be with respect to one or more higher layers as compared to

LI

LP-WUS may be used in connected mode to save power for XR (extended reality) use-cases. For example, one XR connected mode use-case is where the LP-WUS is being deployed as an early indicator of actual PDCCH candidates. This may be to enable the main radio to be temporarily powered down when it would otherwise be monitoring for candidates given the possibility of timing drift/jitter.

Some embodiments may relate to the issue of how to reduce the power consumed by the main radio, after it has received the basic RRC (radio resource control) configuration needed for either a DL SPS (downlink semi-persistent scheduling) session or a UL (uplink) type-2 configured grant session. For both these pre-configured grant style sessions, currently the UE main radio is still required to monitor for an activation DCI (downlink control information), that triggers subsequent periodic PDCCH-less transmissions/receptions.

Some embodiments may use a LP-WUS and an associated LP-WUR (low power wake up receiver) to reduce the power on a device. This may be when monitoring for the activation DCI.

With current DCI based scheduling, the DCI may be used by the network to configure a variety of characteristics that configure transmissions and reception for a UE. Different formats of DCI are defined for different applications. For example for PDSCH (physical downlink shared channel) and PUSCH (physical uplink shared channel) scheduling, i.e. the configured time, frequency resources, formats 00, 0_1 are for PUSCH and 10, 1_1 for PDSCH.

Current characteristics of PDCCH DCI that differentiate it from the PDSCH DCI or PUSCH DCI are: * Typically below 128 payload bits * The coding and modulation processing o designed to support robust, secure, easy to differentiate and fast decoding * The transmission locations o uses strictly defined coresets P 3 per each BWP (bandwidth part) (maximum 12 per UE spanning 4 BWPs) typically a multiple of 6 PRBs (physical resource block) in the frequency domain P typically 2 OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) symbols in the time domain o many mapping options for DCIs to coreset REs (resource elements) exist ^ multiple candidate positions within any one coreset different aggregation levels P REs can be contiguous or interleaved across coreset Direct replacement of any of these DCIs with a LP-WUS signal, might be, for example, any suitable DCI format. By way of example, this may be for the formats 26 and 2_7. This may assume comparable coverage, reliability and security with the LP-WUS may be achieved.

It may be the case that the number of UEs served by a single LP-WUS might need to be reduced to match the expected payload of the LP-WUS signal DL configured scheduling (SPS) will now be discussed with reference to Figure 4.

This form of configured scheduling (similar to LTE SPS) enables the gNB to schedule DL PDSCH without using a DCI for every transmission.

As referenced 400, the gNB provides SPS scheduling information via a RRC message to the UE. The gNB send RRC (RRC Setup or RRCReconfiguration) message configuring the parameters necessary for PDSCH scheduling As referenced 404, the UE monitors the PDCCH.

As referenced 404, the UE receives from the gNB a specially formatted DCIs to activate the SPS session. This activates the configured scheduling. In the downlink, activation of SPS is done via the PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI (configured scheduled radio network temporary identifier).

As indicated by 406 and 408, the UE is still monitoring for DCI on the PDCCH but no 15 longer for specific PDSCH grant information. For example, the UE may be monitoring for a deactivation DCI.

As referenced 410, the UE receives from the gNB a specially formatted DCIs to deactivate the SPS session. This is sent on the PDCCH. This deactivates the configured scheduling. In the downlink, deactivation of the SPS is done via the PDCCH addressed to CS-20 RNTI.

Retransmissions for the original transmission using SPS downlink assignment can also be scheduled using PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI (DCI format 1 0 or 1_1).

For activation and deactivation of this configured scheduling mode, DCI formats 1_0 and 1_1, are used but with a number of nulled fields. This may make those specific DCIs candidates for LP-WUS replacement. This may be the case where the LP-WUS is provided with a payload which is smaller than that which would be required for a full DCI. In alternative scenarios, the LP-WUS payload may be large enough to accommodate a full DCI.

A LP-WUS style signal may be used to signal to the main radio when a general PDCCH is due, thereby enabling the main radio to spend more time in a deep sleep low-power-consuming state. In this regard reference is made to Figure 5.

As referenced 500, the gNB provides SPS and LP-WUS scheduling information via a RRC message to the UE. The gNB sends the RRC (RRCSetup or RRCReconfiguration) message to configure the parameters necessary for PDSCH scheduling As referenced 502, the UE is in a sleep or low power mode where the main radio MR is off and the low power radio LR is on.

As referenced 504, the UE receives from the gNB a LP-WUS. The LP-WUS style signal indicates to the main radio when an actual "activation" PDCCH is due. This enables the main radio to spend more time in a deep sleep low-power-consuming state.

As referenced 506, the UE receives specially formatted DCIs to activate the SPS session. This activates the configured scheduling. In the downlink, activation of SPS is done via the PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI (configured scheduled radio network temporary identifier).

As indicated by 508, 510 and 512, UE is monitoring for DCI on the PDCCH. For 11) example, the UE may be monitoring for a deactivation DCI. As referenced 514, the UE receives from the gNB a specially formatted DCI to deactivate the SPS session. This is sent on the PDCCH. This deactivates the configured scheduling. In the downlink, deactivation of the SPS is done via the PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI.

This method may reduce power consumption without negatively impacting latency.

UL configured scheduling -Type-1 and Type-2 CG (configured grant) Scheduling will now be discussed.

For URLLC (ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications) feature, to eliminate the time the UE spends sending SR (scheduling request) to the gNB, Type 1 and Type 2 CG scheduling have been developed and specified.

For Type-1 CG Scheduling, all the configuration, including activation time, is done via the RRC. There is no specific activation DCI that the UE needs to monitor.

For Type-2 CG Scheduling, most of the configuration, is done via the RRC but an activation DCI is still required. The activation DCI is scrambled by CS-RNTI, and the fields new data indicator (NDI), HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) process ID, RV (redundancy version), and downlink feedback information (DFI) are set to zero. There is also a release DCI.

One feature of the activation DCI for the type-2 CG scheduling method, is that the time domain resource allocation, can be changed by an index within the DCI referring to an allocation table configured by the RRC (uses an index rather than full DCI TDRA (time domain resource allocation) parameter).

Some embodiments may use a LP-WUS style signal to replace the activation PDCCH for configured grant transmissions. This may enable the main radio to spend more time in a deep sleep low-power-consuming state In some embodiments, the LP-WUS may be used to adjust or cancel semi-static UL grant type-2.

Some embodiments use a LP-WUS to directly indicate the activation of a configured grant session. This may be a DL SPS or UL CG type 2.

A LP-WUS may be used to replace the activation/validation of e.g. UL grant type-2 while UE is in C-DRX. This may be done without any significant negative implications with respect to UE power saving.

Reference is made to Figure 6 which shows as a signal flow for configured scheduling for downlink (SPS) of some embodiments. In this example, the LP-WUS may be considered 10 to replace the activation DCI of the examples of Figures 4 and 5.

As referenced 600, the gNB provides SPS and LP-WUS scheduling information to the UE. This may be via an RRC message. This may be to configure the parameters necessary for PDSCH scheduling. The RRC message may be a RRC setup message or a RRC reconfiguration message.. The RRC message may indicate where the UE should monitor in time and frequency for the LP-WUS. The RRC message may indicate one or more of the format, length, or modulation characteristic of the LP-WUS. Depending on one or more factors such as coverage or reliability, a longer or shorter LP-WUS may be used.

As referenced 602, the UE is in a sleep or low power mode where the main radio MR is off and the low power radio LR is on.

As referenced 604, the UE receives from the gNB a LP-WUS. The LP-W US style signal indicates to the main radio when an actual "activation" PDCCH is due. This enables the main radio to spend more time in a deep sleep low-power-consuming state. This activates the configured scheduling.

As indicated by 606, 608, and 610, UE is monitoring the PDCCH. For example, the UE 25 may be monitoring for a deactivation DCI. As referenced 612, the UE receives from the gNB a specially formatted DCI to deactivate the SPS session. This deactivates the configured scheduling. In the downlink, deactivation of the SPS is done via the PDCCH addressed to CSRNTI.

Reference is made to Figure 7 which shows as a signal flow for configured scheduling 30 for uplink (configured grant) of some embodiments. This may be for Type 2.

As referenced 700, the gNB provides CS and LP-WUS scheduling information to the UE. This may be via an RRC message. This may be to configure the parameters necessary for PUSCH scheduling. The RRC message may be a RRC setup message or a RRC reconfiguration message. The RRC message may indicate where the UE should monitor in time and frequency for the LP-WUS. The RRC message may indicate one or more of the format, length, or modulation characteristic of the LP-WUS. Depending on one or more factors such as coverage or reliability, a longer or shorter LP-WUS may be used.

As referenced 702, the UE is in a sleep or low power mode where the main radio MR is off and the low power radio LR is on.

As referenced 704, the UE receives from the gNB a LP-WUS. The LP-WUS style signal indicates to the main radio that the main radio should be active. The LP-WUS indicates that the gNB want to start granting (scheduling) PUSCH. This enables the main radio to spend more time in a deep sleep low-power-consuming state.

As indicated by 706, 708, and 710, the UE during this time, may still be monitoring for PDCCH that indicates deactivation. In this case, there is no PDCCH that indicates deactivation by way of a DCI. The UE may transmit on the PUSCH.

As referenced 712, the UE receives from the gNB a specially formatted DCIs to deactivate the configured grant session. This deactivates the configured scheduling. In the downlink, deactivation is done via the PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI.

To replace the activation DCIs, the information conveyed by these DCIs may be otherwise conveyed.

The information may be conveyed in the payload of the LP-WUS. For example, up to 32 bits may be used for this information. However, in other embodiments, the payload may be larger or smaller than 32 bits.

Alternatively or additionally, the information may be conveyed in the RRC configuration step.

It should be appreciated that, unlike other DCIs, the activation DCIs carry less unique payload than other DCIs. This is because certain fields are redundant and set to "0". This is discussed in TS38.213 section 10.2. For the UL Type-2 CG activation, the TDRA field is simplified, further reducing the DCI size.

Current proposals provide a LP-WUS maximum payload of 32 bits. It should be appreciated that embodiments may be used with any other suitable size of LP-WUS payload. In one example embodiment, the activation DCI bits may be directly mapped to the LP-30 WUS.

The table shown in Figure 8 illustrates the DCI fields currently forming the standard DCIIO format that can be used for the DL SPS activation. It should be appreciated that other examples may be used with other DCI formats, where appropriate.

As mentioned previously, one option may to provide direct mapping of relevant DCI bits to the LP-WUS payload.

As can be seen from the table in Figure 8, several of the fields illustrated are zero'd for the activation form of the DCI, i.e. effectively redundant, and do not need to be sent by an optimised LP-W US. These zero' d/redundant fields may comprise one or more of the following fields: Identifier for DCI format 1 bit New data indicator 1 bit Redundancy version 2 bits (e.g. fixed to 0 as per TS38.213, table 10.2-3) One or more other fields that could be sent in the same format as used by the DCI, but now using the LP-WUS payload. Those one or more fields may comprise: HARQ-Process Number 4 bits -Used to indicate which specific SPS session (if two or sessions are configured) is to be activated.

Time Domain resource assignment 4 bits In some embodiments, operations that cannot be signalled using the DCI may be signalled using the LP-WUS payload. For example, SPS services could be placed into logical higher layer configured sub-groups, and sub-groups could be activated simultaneously by one LP-WUS.

As mentioned previously, another option is to map type-1 specific RRC settings to LP-20 WUS payload In some embodiments, when deciding what information should be conveyed by the LPWUS, the RRC configuration information (TS38.33 1, see rrc-ConfiguredUplinkGrant) sent specifically to support "no dci" type-1 CG may be considered. The rrc-configured uplink grant is shown below: rrc-configureduplinkGrant SEQUENCE { INTEGER (0. INTEGER (0. BIT STRING INTEGER (0. INTEGER (0. INTEGER (0. INTEGER (0. INTEGER (0. .5119) , timepomainoffset timepomainAllocation frequencypomainAllocation.15) antennaPort (sizE(18)) dmrs-seqinitialization.31) , precodingAndNumber0fLayers srs-Resourceindicator mcsAndTBs.1) OPTIONAL, --Need R 63) , 15) OPTIONAL, --Need R 31) , frequencyHoppingOffset INTEGER (1..

maxNrofPhysicalResourceBlocks-1)OPTIONAL,--Need R pathlossReferencelndex INTEGER (0..maxNrofPUSCH-PathlossReferenceRss-1) , ENUMERATED fpusch-RepTypeA,pusch-pusch-RepTypelndicator-r16 RepTypeB} OPTIONAL,--Need M frequencyHoppingPUSCH-RepTypeB-r16 interslot} OPTIONAL, ENUMERATED {interRepetition, Cond RepTypeB timeReferenceSFN-r16 ENUMERATED {sfn512} OPTIONAL --Need

S [ [

pathl ossReferenceIndex2-r 17 INTEGER (0. . maxNrofPUSCH-Pathl ossRef e renceRSs -1) OPTIONAL, --Need R srs-Resourcelndicator2-r17 INTEGER (0. .15) OPTIONAL, --Need R precodingAndNumber0fLayers2-r17 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL, --Need R timepomainAllocation-v1710 INTEGER (16..63) OPTIONAL, --Need M timepomainoffset-r17 INTEGER (0..40959) OPTIONAL, --Need R cg-soT-configuration-r17 CG-soT-configuration-r17 OPTIONAL --Need M 1] One or more of the following parameters of that configuration may be mapped to LP-WUS.

Time domain offset; Time domain allocation; Frequency domain allocation; MCS (modulation coding scheme); and/or TB S (transport block rate) The other parameters may remain as RRC configured. These parameters may provide the network with dynamic flexibility to handle changing radio/load conditions.

In some embodiments, the LP-WUS may be used to indicate other messages before the start of DL SPS/UL CG sessions.

Different LP-WUSs may be differentiated based one or more of payload and/or by a specific combination of one or more of payload, position and/or sequence/scrambling information. The sequence/scrambling information may be dependent on the selected modulation scheme.

A LP-WUS may be used to terminate a DL SPS/UL Type-2 CG session.

For example, in the signal flow of Figure 6, a LP-WUS may be used to terminate the SPS session instead of via the PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI of step 612.

For example, in the signal flow of Figure 7, a LP-WUS may be used to terminate the configured grant session instead of via the PDCCH addressed to CS-ANTI of 712.

This may be used in scenarios where there is a relative long period between successive grant less PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions LU-WUS may be used to modify a DL SPS/UL Type-2 CG session. This may be achieved directly or as a result of initiating an RRC reconfiguration. This may be provided instead of step 612 in Figure 6 or step 712 in Figure 7.

For example, for one or more grant-less characteristics defined in RRC message (e.g. 600 or 700) prior to the receiving of the LP-WUS, a LPWUS could be used to indicate: a change to one or more characteristics itself For example, part of the LP-WUS payload may be used to overwrite a setting for a respective characteristic set in the RRC step; or the need for the UE to do a RRC reconfiguration. This is to allow a new RRC configuration to be used which provides the change to one or more characteristics.

Grant-less characteristics may comprises one or more of duration, interval, starting subframe, power offset, and cell specific configuration.

In SPS, duration may be the number of subframes for which the SPS transmission should be repeated. The duration may be configured as 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, or 16 subframes or any other suitable number of subframes.

In SPS, the interval is the interval between two consecutive SPS transmissions. The interval can be configured as 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, or 320 subframes or any other suitable number of subframes.

In SPS, the power offset determines the power offset for SPS transmissions compared to the regular PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) transmissions.

In SPS, the starting subframe determines the subframe in which the first SPS transmission should start.

In SPS, the cell-specific configuration determines the resource allocation and transmission parameters specific to a cell.

Enabling LP-WUS to adapt e.g. the UL type 2 grant would enable adjusting or cancelling the UL grant outside the DRX active time (i.e. when the main receiver is assumed to be in sleep mode and corresponding PDCCHs are not monitored). This may allow the NW to better optimize the UL load based on dynamic changes in load, without requiring the UEs to stay in active reception mode.

In some embodiments, the LP-WUS signal of some embodiments may not change the UE behaviour on the PDCCH monitoring. Whilst the UE does not need to monitor the PDCCH for activation and/or deactivation of the SPS or CG, this channel may nevertheless monitored for other information.

In some embodiments, the LP-WUS signal may comprise information indicating if the PDCCH monitoring should start/stop.

In some embodiments, the UE may provide a confirmation to the gNB that the LP-W US has been received.

In some embodiments, the triggering of a confirmation MAC CE (which may be required with DCI-based activation/deactivation such as shown in Figure 4) may not be required.

Some embodiments may be used with any suitable wake up signal. A low power wake up signal is one example of that wake up signal.

A wake up signal may cause the UE to go from a lower power mode to a higher power 10 mode. The lower power mode may be a sleep mode. The higher power mode may be an active or on mode.

Reference is made to Figure 9 which shows a method of some embodiments.

This method may be performed by an apparatus. The apparatus may be in or be a communications device.

The apparatus may comprise suitable circuitry for providing the method.

Alternatively or additionally, the apparatus may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor cause the apparatus at least to provide the method below.

Alternatively or additionally, the apparatus may be such as discussed in relation to Figure 2 or 3.

The method may be provided by computer program code or computer executable instructions.

The method may comprise as referenced Al, receiving a wake up signal from a base station, said wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated.

The method may comprise as referenced A2, using the received wake up signal to change the status of a configured scheduling session from the one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated, in dependence on said information.

It should be appreciated that the method outlined in Figure 9 may be modified to include any of the previously described features.

Reference is made to Figure 10 which shows a method of some embodiments.

This method may be performed by an apparatus. The apparatus may be in or be a base station.

The apparatus may comprise suitable circuitry for providing the method.

Alternatively or additionally, the apparatus may be such as discussed in relation to Figure 2.

The method may comprise as referenced Bl, causing a wake up signal to be transmitted 10 to a user equipment, the low power wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session of the user equipment from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated.

It should be appreciated that the method outlined in Figure 10 may be mod fied to include any of the previously described features.

Computer program code may be downloaded and stored in one or more memories of the relevant apparatus or device.

Therefore, although certain embodiments were described above by way of example with reference to certain example architectures for wireless networks, technologies and standards, embodiments may be applied to any other suitable forms of communication systems than those illustrated and described herein. In this example, some embodiments have been described in relation to a 5G network. It should be appreciated that other embodiments may be provided in any other suitable network.

It is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments, there are several variations and modifications which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the present invention.

As used herein, "at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>" and "at least one of <a list of two or more elements>" and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by "and" or "or", mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuitry, software, logic or any combination thereof Some aspects of the disclosure may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the disclosure is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the disclosure may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry); (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) with software/firmware; and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions); and/or (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, an integrated circuit such as a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

The embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor of the mobile device, such as in the processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer software or program, also called program product, including software routines, applets and/or macros, may be stored in any apparatus-readable data storage medium and they comprise program instructions to perform particular tasks. A computer program product may comprise one or more computer-executable components which, when the program is run, are configured to carry out embodiments. The one or more computer-executable components may be at least one software code or portions of it.

Further in this regard it should be noted that any blocks of the logic flow as in the Figures may represent program steps, or interconnected logic circuits, blocks and functions, or a combination of program steps and logic circuits, blocks and functions. The software may be stored on such physical media as memory chips, or memory blocks implemented within the processor, magnetic media such as hard disk or floppy disks, and optical media such as for example DVD and the data variants thereof, CD. The physical media is a non-transitory media.

The term "non-transitory," as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. 10 ROM).

The memory may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The data processors may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may comprise one or more of general-purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), FPGA, gate level circuits and processors based on multi core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

Embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is by and large a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

The foregoing description has provided by way of non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. Indeed, there are further embodiments comprising a combination of one or more embodiments with any of the other embodiments previously discussed. The scope of protection sought for some embodiments of the disclosure is set out by the claims. The embodiments and features, if any, described in this specification that do not fall under the scope of the claims are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that different claims with differing claim scope may be pursued in related applications such as divisional or continuation applications.

Claims

Claims 1. An apparatus comprising: means for receiving a wake up signal from a base station, said wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated; and means for using the received wake up signal to change the status of a configured scheduling session from the one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated, in dependence on said information.
2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the change in status is in response to the received wake up signal, without receiving a physical downlink control channel message comprising downlink control information.
3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2, comprising means for monitoring for a physical downlink control channel after the wake up signal has been received.
4. The apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising means for causing a change from a sleep mode in response to receiving the wake up signal.
5 The apparatus as clamed in any preceding claim, wherein the wake up signal comprises a payload, said information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session being provided in the payload.
6. The apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session comprises downlink control information.
7. The apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session comprises one or more of the 30 following: time domain resource information; information indicating which configured scheduling session is to be activated; modulation coding scheme information; transport block rate information; start offset time; periodicity; time domain offset information; time domain allocation; frequency domain resource information; or frequency domain allocation.
8. The apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session comprises information indicating which one or more sub-groups of configured scheduling session services is to be activated or 5 deactivated.
9. The apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising means for receiving configuration information providing configuration information associated with the wake up signal and configuration information associated with the configured scheduling session.
10. An apparatus comprising: means for causing a wake up signal to be transmitted to a user equipment, the low power wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session of the user equipment from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated.
11. The apparatus as darned in claim 10, wherein the wake up signal comprises a payload, said information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session being provided in the payload.
12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10 or 11, wherein the information relating to the change of the status of the configured scheduling session comprises downlink control information.
13. The apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the information relating to the change of status of the configured scheduling session comprises one or more of the following: time domain resource information; information indicating which configured scheduling session is to be activated; modulation coding scheme information; transport block rate information; start offset time; periodicity; time domain allocation; frequency domain resource information; or frequency domain allocation.
14. The apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the information relating to the change of status of the configured scheduling session comprises information indicating which one or more sub-groups of configured scheduling session services is to be activated or deactivated
15. The apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 14, comprising means for causing configuration information to be transmitted to the user equipment, said configuration information associated with the wake up signal and configuration information associated with the configured scheduling session.
16. The apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the configured scheduling session comprises one of a downlink semi-persistent scheduling session or an uplink configured grant sessi on.
17. A method comprising: receiving a wake up signal from a base station, said wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated; and using the received wake up signal to change the status of a configured scheduling session from the one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and deactivated, in dependence on said information.
18. A method comprising: causing a wake up signal to be transmitted to a user equipment, the low power wake up signal comprising information to cause a change of a status of a configured scheduling session of the user equipment from one of activated and deactivated to the other of activated and 25 deactivated.
19. A computer program comprising computer instructions which when run cause the method of claim 17 or 18 to be performed.