DRX Coordination Mechanism In Dual Connectivity
System
Field of the invention
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of wireless communications and more particularly to a DRX coordination mechanism in a dual connectivity system.
Background of the invention
DRX can be used for saving power of a UE in an RRC connected state.
The DRX configuration is a tradeoff between power consumption and a Quality of Service (QoS). In a dual connectivity system, the UE is connected respectively with a Master eNB (MeNB) and a Secondary eNB (SeNB), and different traffic may be transmitted through the different eNBs. Thus there is a need to define a DRX mechanism in the dual connectivity system.
In the existing DRX mechanism, the UE in the Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state can be configured and controlled with the DRX function so that the UE will not need to monitor a downlink channel, i.e., a PDCCH, all the time. A DRX cycle consists of two components, i.e., (1) an "On Duration" during which the UE monitors a PDCCH and (2) a "DRX duration" during which the UE can skip monitoring of a downlink channel to save power. The RRC controls operations of DRX by configuring a number of parameters, e.g., the length of a short DRX cycle, the length of a long DRX cycle, the number of times of counting, etc. The transition between the short DRX cycle, the long DRX cycle and continuous reception is controlled either by a timer or by an explicit command from the eNB. The UE monitors a PDCCH during the "On Duration" of either the long DRX cycle or the short DRX cycle, and at
this time, if a scheduling command is received from the eNB, then the UE starts an "Inactivity Timer" and monitors a PDCCH in every subframe while the Inactivity Timer is running. During this duration, the UE can be regarded as being in a continuous reception mode. Whenever a scheduling message is received over a PDCCH while the Inactivity Timer is running, the UE restarts the Inactivity Timer, and when the timer expires, the UE moves into a short DRX cycle and starts a "Short DRX Cycle Timer". When the timer expires, the UE moves into a long DRX cycle and accordingly starts to count with the long DRX cycle. A short DRX cycle is also initiated by an MAC control element.
Based on the procedure above, most of an active duration is controlled by a scheduling command. Since there is a non-ideal backhaul of the connection between the MeNB and the SeNB, the MeNB and the SeNB support distributed scheduling, and the MeNB and the SeNB have no knowledge of a scheduling condition of each other, so it may be difficult to predict a scheduling command to be transmitted and how the respective timers will operate, thus making it difficult to align DRX of the two eNBs to thereby save power consumption of the UE.
In the dual connectivity system, uplink power management is an issue desirable to be addressed. The UE supporting dual connectivity will support concurrent uplink transmission to the MeNB and the SeNB. That is, uplink power of the UE may be shared between the two eNBs. There is an ongoing discussion in the 3GPP RANI about whether and how to enable uplink transmit power of the UE to be shared dynamically between the two eNBs. Due to distributed scheduling by the MeNB and the SeNB, if there is a significant delay of the non-ideal backhaul between the MeNB and the SeNB, then no scheduling information can be exchanged, so it may be difficult for the two eNBs to know a scheduling state of each other and thus impossible for them to coordinate power of each other so that total transmit power of the UE will not exceed maximum allowed power. If the MeNB and the SeNB exchange with each other information about a
DRX duration, entered by the UE, towards one of the eNBs (the MeNB and/or the SeNB), then the one eNB may know that there will be no uplink transmission of the UE with the other eNB, so there will be possible uplink transmission with the one eNB at the maximum power of the UE, and in this way, there will be a better dynamic power sharing mechanism enabled to improve the efficiency of the system.
However there has been absent so far a solution to coordinating the DRX configuration, and exchanging the DRX related information, between the MeNB and the SeNB.
Summary of the invention
In view of the problem above, the invention provides a DRX coordination mechanism by which an eNB can manage power of a UE effectively and dynamically.
A first aspect of the invention proposes a method of coordinating DRX information of a UE in an eNB of a dual connectivity system, the method including: A. a master eNB and a secondary eNB obtaining DRX state information of the UE; and B. the master eNB and the secondary eNB exchanging DRX configuration information for the UE.
Preferably the step A further includes: when one eNB of the master eNB and the secondary eNB determines that the UE enters the DRX state towards the eNB, the eNB transmitting the DRX state information of the UE to the other eNB of the master eNB and the secondary eNB ; or the UE transmitting the DRX state information towards one eNB of the master eNB and the secondary eNB to the other eNB.
Preferably one eNB of the master eNB and the secondary eNB is capable of determining an time instance at which the UE enters a discontinuous reception state, and/or at which the UE terminates the discontinuous reception state and enters a continuous reception state, towards the other eNB based upon a DRX state of the UE towards the other eNB and/or the DRX configuration information of the UE towards
the other eNB.
Preferably the DRX state is that the UE enters the discontinuous reception state, and/or the UE terminates the discontinuous reception state and/or enters the continuous reception state, towards the other eNB.
Preferably the master eNB transmits its DRX configuration information to the secondary eNB in a Secondary-eNB -Addition message transmitted to the secondary eNB and/or the master eNB receives the DRX configuration information or DRX reconfiguration information of the secondary eNB by receiving a Secondary-eNB-Cell-Modification message of the secondary eNB; and/or when one of the master eNB and the secondary eNB reconfigures its DRX configuration, the one of the master eNB and the secondary eNB transmits its reconfigured DRX configuration information and/or the DRX state information of the UE to the other of the master eNB and the secondary eNB .
A second aspect of the invention proposes a method of coordinating
DRX information of a UE in a master eNB of a dual connectivity system, the method including: A. receiving first information characterizing a DRX state of the UE for a secondary eNB or transmitting second information, determined by the master eNB, characterizing a DRX state of the UE for the master eNB to the secondary eNB; and B. the master eNB and the secondary eNB exchanging DRX configuration information for the UE.
Preferably the master eNB receives the first information from the UE or the secondary eNB; or the master eNB receives the first information transmitted by the secondary eNB together with the DRX configuration information reconfigured by the secondary eNB .
Preferably when the master eNB reconfigures its DRX configuration information, the master eNB transmits its reconfigured DRX configuration information to the secondary eNB; or the master eNB transmits its reconfigured DRX configuration information to the secondary eNB together with the second information.
A third aspect of the invention proposes a method of coordinating
DRX information of a UE in a secondary eNB of a dual connectivity system, the method: A. receiving third information characterizing a DRX state, entered by the UE, for a master eNB or transmitting fourth information, determined by the secondary eNB, characterizing a DRX state of the UE for the secondary eNB to the master eNB; and B. the secondary eNB and the master eNB exchanging DRX configuration information for the UE.
Preferably the secondary eNB receives the third information from the UE or the master eNB; or the secondary eNB receives the third information transmitted by the master eNB together with the DRX configuration information reconfigured by the master eNB.
Preferably the step B further includes: the secondary eNB receiving the DRX configuration information of the master eNB by receiving a Secondary-eNB-Addition message of the secondary eNB from the master eNB; and/or the secondary eNB transmitting the DRX configuration information of the secondary eNB or the DRX configuration information reconfigured by the secondary eNB by transmitting a Secondary-eNB-Cell-Modification message for the secondary eNB to the master eNB.
Preferably when the secondary eNB reconfigures its DRX configuration, the secondary eNB transmits its reconfigured DRX configuration information to the master eNB together with the fourth information.
Preferably the step B further includes: the secondary eNB receiving the DRX configuration information reconfigured by the master eNB.
A fourth aspect of the invention proposes a method, in a UE in a dual connectivity system, of coordinating DRX information of the UE, the method including: when the UE enters a DRX state towards a first eNB, the UE transmitting first information indicating that the UE has entered the DRX state to a second eNB.
With the method of configuring a discovery of a resource and a
discovery durationicity according to the invention, the communication system can be avoided from collision of resources to thereby improve the utilization ratio of the resources so as to guarantee reliability of communication.
Brief description of drawings
The invention will be better understood, and other objects, details, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent, from the following description of particular embodiments of the invention taken with reference to the drawings in which:
Fig. l illustrates a flow chart of notifying about a DRX state in a dual connectivity system according to an embodiment of the invention.
Detailed description of embodiments
Preferred embodiments of this disclosure will be described below in further details with reference to the drawings. Although the preferred embodiments of this disclosure are illustrated in the drawings, it shall be appreciated that this disclosure can be embodied in various forms but shall not be limited to the embodiments described here. On the contrary, these embodiments will be provided to make this disclosure more thorough and full and to convey the full scope of this disclosure to those skilled in the art.
An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Fig. l illustrates a flow chart of notifying about a DRX state in a dual connectivity system according to an embodiment of the invention.
In the DRX mechanism, a UE performs a DRX control function as it is currently configured by an eNB. Since the eNB can obtain DRX parameter configuration of the UE, scheduling information including a PDCCH and the like, the eNB can also derive an operation related to a DRX state of the UE from the mentioned parameters and information.
When the UE enters a DRX duration towards the MeNB, a time point that the UE enters an active state towards the MeNB can also be determined therewith, and the length of the DRX duration is controlled by the respective parameters towards the DRX state. Apparently, when the UE enters the DRX duration, the MeNB connected therewith can determine that the UE enters the DRX duration, and accordingly the MeNB can also know the time when the UE enters the active state, with reference to the DRX configuration parameters.
As can be apparent from the Background herein, the UE will neither receive downlink scheduling information from the MeNB nor perform uplink transmission in the DRX duration, so the UE is capable of making full use of power of the UE for uplink transmission with the SeNB in the duration, thus enabling dynamic power management. Apparently the SeNB needs to know information about the DRX duration towards the MeNB prior to this. This embodiment proposes two solutions to notifying the SeNB about the information about the DRX duration, entered by the UE, towards the MeNB as follows:
In a first solution, the MeNB notifies the SeNB about the information.
In this solution, for the DRX state of the UE towards the MeNB, the MeNB is capable of determining the DRX state of the UE based on the DRX configuration information and the scheduling information. The MeNB can transmit information indicating the DRX state of the UE to the SeNB so that the SeNB can obtain the current DRX state of the UE towards the MeNB.
In a second solution, the UE directly notifies the SeNB about the information.
In this solution, the UE transmits information indicating its DRX state towards the MeNB to the SeNB so that the SeNB can obtain the current DRX state of the UE towards the MeNB.
As can be appreciated, since there is some delay in transmission between the MeNB and the SeNB, there will be no determinate time point
at which the SeNB receives the first information in the first solution. Unlike the first solution, since there is a derivable delay in transmission between the UE and the SeNB, the time point at which the SeNB receives the information indicating the DRX state of the UE towards the MeNB can be derived in the second solution.
After the SeNB knows the information about the current DRX state of the UE towards the MeNB, the SeNB can directly determine that the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or UE terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state), towards the MeNB, or can determine the time instance at which the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or at which the UE terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state) towards the MeNB with reference to the DRX configuration information of the UE towards the MeNB.
In this embodiment, the MeNB transmits the DRX configuration information of the UE towards the MeNB to the SeNB in a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) Addition/Modification Indication message of the SeNB transmitted to the SeNB.
If the MeNB needs to reconfigure the UE with DRX information due to some reason, e.g., a change in type of a service being transmitted, then the MeNB needs to transmit the reconfigured DRX configuration information to the SeNB.
Optionally at this time the MeNB can transmit reconfigured DRX configuration information to the SeNB together with the DRX state information corresponding to the MeNB.
After the SeNB obtains the DRX configuration information of the UE towards the MeNB from the MeNB, the SeNB can know accurately the time instance at which the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or at which the UE terminates the
discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state)to wards the MeNB with reference to the obtained DRX state information corresponding to the MeNB.
Similarly the SeNB needs to transmit DRX state information of the
UE towards the SeNB and DRX configuration information of the UE towards the SeNB to the MeNB, or the UE transmits the DRX state information towards the SeNB to the MeNB, so that the MeNB can know the information about the DRX state, entered by the UE, towards the SeNB and can know accurately the time instance at which the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state) towards the SeNB with reference to the obtained DRX state information corresponding to the SeNB.
In this embodiment, the SeNB transmits the DRX configuration information of the UE towards the SeNB to the MeNB in a secondary cell group modification message.
Alike if the SeNB reconfigures the current DRX configuration information, then the SeNB needs to transmit the modified DRX configuration information to the MeNB. In this embodiment, the SeNB can also transmit its reconfigured DRX configuration information to the MeNB in the SCG modification message above.
As can be apparent from the description above, in order to derive accurately the time instance at which the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or the UE terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state)to wards the MeNB, the SeNB can further take into account a delay due to the non-ideal backhaul between the MeNB and the SeNB. That is, since there is some delay in transmission between the MeNB and the SeNB, the time point at which
the SeNB receives the first information is not a determinate point, but the time instance at which the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and/or terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state) can be roughly derived.
This with the process above, the MeNB/SeNB can know that the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or the UE terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state), towards the other eNB (the SeNB/MeNB), thus enabling dynamic power management. For example, when the UE operates in the DRX duration of the MeNB, data can be transmitted in uplink transmission of the UE towards the SeNB at the total power of the UE.
A plurality of non-limiting examples of the DRX state information of the UE will be described below, and those skilled in the art can appreciate that other DRX states of the UE are also possible.
In a state 1, the UE starts to apply a long DRX cycle.
Particularly if the UE is configured with a short DRX cycle, then the UE enters the state 1 when the counting drx-ShortCycleTimer expires; or if the UE is configured without any short DRX cycle but only with a long DRX cycle, then the UE enters the state 1 when the drx-Inactivity Timer expires or when the UE receives a DRX Command MAC control element.
In a state 2, the UE applies a long DRX cycle, and the OnDurationTimer expires while the DRX-Inactivity Timer is inoperative; and
Since the OnDurationTimer specifies the number of sub-frames of a PDCCH to be detected starting with a subframe of the DRX cycle, this scenario corresponds to the UE failing to decode the PDCCH in the on duration.
Thus this state indicates that the UE will enter a DRX duration.
In a state 3, the UE applies a long DRX cycle, and the
drx-Inactivity Timer starts to operate.
On the contrary to the state 2, this state means that the UE decodes successfully the PDCCH in the On duration, that is, the UE will enter a continuous reception state instead of a DRX duration.
In a state 4, the UE starts to apply a long DRX cycle as well as a
System Frame Number (SFN), and a corresponding subframe, of that time instance.
With this state, a specific subframe in which, or a specific time instance at which the UE starts the On duration, can be determined.
In a state 5, the UE starts to apply a short DRX cycle.
In correspondence to the state 1 , if the UE is configured with a short DRX cycle, then the UE will start to apply the short cycle when the counting drx-Inactivity Timer expires or the UE receives a DRX Command MAC control element.
In a state 6, the UE applies a short DRX cycle, and the
OnDurationTimer expires while the drx-Inactivity Timer is inoperative, that is, the UE fails to decode a PDCCH in the On duration.
In a state 7, the UE applies a short DRX cycle, and the drx-Inactivity Timer starts to operate. Alike this state means that the UE decodes a PDCCH successfully in the On duration, that is, the UE will enter a continuous reception state instead of a DRX duration.
In a state 8, the UE starts to apply a short DRX cycle as well as an SFN, and a corresponding subframe, of that time instance. With this state, a specific subframe in which, or a specific time instance at which the UE starts the On duration and is in the On state, can be determined.
In a state 9, the UE applies a long DRX cycle, and when the OnDurationTimer expires while the drx-Inactivity Timer is inoperative, this state means that the UE fails to decode a PDCCH in the On duration, that is, the UE will enter a DRX duration. If the HARQ cyclic timer, i.e., the HARQ RTT Timer, or the DRX retransmission timer, i.e., the drx-RetransmissionTimer, is operating, then the HARQ RTT Timer and
the drx-RetransmissionTimer are transmitted. Thus a specific time instance at which the UE starts the active state to receive HARQ retransmission can be determined.
In a state 10, the UE applies a short DRX cycle, and when the OnDurationTimer expires while the drx-Inactivity Timer is inoperative, this state means that the UE fails to decode a PDCCH in the On duration, that is, the UE will enter a DRX duration. If the HARQ RTT Timer or the drx-RetransmissionTimer is operating, then the HARQ RTT Timer and the drx-RetransmissionTimer are transmitted. Thus a specific time instance at which the UE starts the active state to receive HARQ retransmission can be determined.
With the respective state information above, it can be determined directly that the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state), for some eNB. For example, it can be known directly from the state 2 or 6 that the UE enters a long DRX duration and a short DRX duration.
It can be known from the state 3 or 7 that the UE enters directly the continuous reception state. It is possible to determine the time instance at which the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or at which the UE terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state) towards an eNB with reference DRX configuration information of the UE towards the eNB. For example, it can be determined upon reception of the state 4 that the On duration is started, then the UE enters a DRX duration when the OnDurationTimer expires, and with the parameter of the long DRX cycle obtained as a result of interaction, if the state 3 is not received in this cycle, then the UE enters the On duration at the end of the long DRX cycle; otherwise, then the UE enters the continuous reception state.
With one or more of the state information above, it can be determined
directly or derived that the UE enters the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration), and/or terminates the discontinuous reception state (i.e., the DRX duration) and enters the continuous reception state (i.e., the active state), for some eNB. This process can be performed in an algorithm design of the eNB, and the invention is intended to provide a method for one eNB to obtain DRX state information of a UE for another eNB.
The invention proposes a coordination mechanism of DRX information between a UE, an MeNB and an SeNB in a dual connectivity system, and with this mechanism, one of the eNBs in the dual connectivity system is capable of determining that the UE operates in a discontinuous reception state or a continuous reception state for the other eNB, and thus perform scheduling so that the discontinuous reception state of the UE for the two eNBs are aligned to thereby save power. Also dynamic power management of the UE can be enabled to thereby improve the transmission efficiency of the system.
Those skilled in the art can appreciate that the states above are merely exemplary but will not be intended to limit the application scope of the invention. Those ordinarily skilled in the art shall further appreciate that the respective exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments of the invention can be embodied in electronic hardware, computer software or both. For the sake of a clear representation of this interchangeability between the hardware and the software, the respective exemplary components, logic blocks, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functions. The functions can be embodied in hardware or as software dependent upon a particular application and a design constraint condition imposed on the entire system. Those skilled in the art can put the functions described above into practice variously for respective particular applications, but this practice decision shall not be construed as departing from the scope of the invention.