DRX with Carrier Aggregation for Telecommunication Systems

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Exemplary embodiments herein relate generally to wireless communications in wireless networks and, more specifically, relates to carrier aggregation and power saving (e.g., via DRX, discontinuous reception) in the wireless network.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Carrier aggregation is technique used in wireless systems to aggregate multiple parts of a frequency band. For instance, multiple component carriers (CCs), each occupying a certain bandwidth of a system bandwidth, can be aggregated for communications between a base station and a wireless device, typically referred to as a user equipment (UE). Carrier aggregation increases the bandwidth and therefore the bitrate for these communications.

[0003] One application where carrier aggregation is useful is for extended reality (XR). 3GPP (third generation partnership project) Rel-17 (release 17) is working on a study for new radio (NR) for XR, where one of the studied aspects is the UE power saving in the XR context. See Qualcomm, “Revised SID on XR Evaluations for NR”, RP -201145, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #88e , Electronic Meeting, June 29 - July 3, 2020. The expectation is that the normative work will start in 3 GPP Release 18. The XR study includes characterizing the traffic pattern of the XR services.

[0004] In carrier aggregation, such as used for XR, one difficult point for UE power consumption is having to buffer all the carriers until the UE has been able to decode the DCIs (downlink control information) for each of the carrier and determine if there was a data transmission to the UE or not. Only after decoding and analysis does the UE know if the DL (downlink) reception is necessary, and if there was no data transmitted to the UE on a given carrier, the reception and buffering of that carrier until this determination was made was wasted causing unnecessary power consumption.

[0005] One effect of this delayed decoding concerns cross-carrier scheduling where the scheduling carrier and the scheduled carrier have a different subcarrier spacing (SCS). For this, the scheduled carrier buffering requirement might be eliminated by specifying a sufficiently large minimum delay from the DCI to the start of the PDSCH. This delay, however, can cause issues as it adds to the latency the data packet experiences, degrading the user experience and potentially failing to meet the service latency requirement, while still requiring the UE to continuously detect the control channel.

[0006] This also affects, e.g., DRX (discontinuous reception), which is a powersaving technique where the UE only “wakes up” at certain times. DRX cycles can be configured in the downlink so that the UE does not have to decode the Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) or receive Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) transmissions in certain subframes. With multiple carriers in carrier aggregation, this can be a challenge, such as if only some of the carriers are actively being used.

BRIEF SUMMARY

[0007] This section is intended to include examples and is not intended to be limiting.

[0008] In an exemplary embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes receiving, at a user equipment and from a network node in a wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation. The one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers. The method also includes adjusting, by the user equipment, at least physical downlink control channel monitoring of the multiple carriers based at least on the received one or more patterns.

[0009] An additional exemplary embodiment includes a computer program, comprising code for performing the method of the previous paragraph, when the computer program is run on a processor. The computer program according to this paragraph, wherein the computer program is a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer. Another example is the computer program according to this paragraph, wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the computer.

[0010] An exemplary apparatus includes one or more processors and one or more memories including computer program code. The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, at a user equipment and from a network node in a wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and adjust, by the user equipment, at least physical downlink control channel monitoring of the multiple carriers based at least on the received one or more patterns.

[0011] An exemplary computer program product includes a computer-readable storage medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer. The computer program code includes: code for receiving, at a user equipment and from a network node in a wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and code for adjusting, by the user equipment, at least physical downlink control channel monitoring of the multiple carriers based at least on the received one or more patterns.

[0012] In another exemplary embodiment, an apparatus comprises means for performing: receiving, at a user equipment and from a network node in a wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and adjusting, by the user equipment, at least physical downlink control channel monitoring of the multiple carriers based at least on the received one or more patterns.

[0013] In an exemplary embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes sending, from a network node in a wireless network toward a user equipment in the wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation. The one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers. The method includes adjusting, by the network node, possible physical downlink control channel transmissions on the multiple carriers based at least on the sent one or more patterns.

[0014] An additional exemplary embodiment includes a computer program, comprising code for performing the method of the previous paragraph, when the computer program is run on a processor. The computer program according to this paragraph, wherein the computer program is a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer. Another example is the computer program according to this paragraph, wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the computer.

[0015] An exemplary apparatus includes one or more processors and one or more memories including computer program code. The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to: send, from a network node in a wireless network toward a user equipment in the wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and adjust, by the network node, possible physical downlink control channel transmissions on the multiple carriers based at least on the sent one or more patterns.

[0016] An exemplary computer program product includes a computer-readable storage medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer. The computer program code includes: code for sending, from a network node in a wireless network toward a user equipment in the wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and code for adjusting, by the network node, possible physical downlink control channel transmissions on the multiple carriers based at least on the sent one or more patterns.

[0017] In another exemplary embodiment, an apparatus comprises means for performing: sending, from a network node in a wireless network toward a user equipment in the wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and adjusting, by the network node, possible physical downlink control channel transmissions on the multiple carriers based at least on the sent one or more patterns.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] In the attached Drawing Figures:

[0019] FIG. l is a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting exemplary system in which the exemplary embodiments may be practiced;

[0020] FIG. 2 illustrates multiple component carriers over a total carrier bandwidth and associated concepts;

[0021] FIG. 3 is a logic flow diagram for traffic type based DRX with carrier aggregation, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

[0022] FIG. 4 is a logic flow diagram performed by a UE for DRX with carrier aggregation for telecommunication systems, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment; and [0023] FIG. 5 is a logic flow diagram performed by a network node for DRX with carrier aggregation for telecommunication systems, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Abbreviations that may be found in the specification and/or the drawing figures are defined below, at the end of the detailed description section.

[0025] The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. All of the embodiments described in this Detailed Description are exemplary embodiments provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims.

[0026] When more than one drawing reference numeral, word, or acronym is used within this description with “/”, and in general as used within this description, the “/” may be interpreted as “or”, “and”, or “both”.

[0027] As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/ or combinations thereof.

[0028] The exemplary embodiments herein describe techniques for traffic type based DRX with carrier aggregation. Additional description of these techniques is presented after a system into which the exemplary embodiments may be used is described.

[0029] Turning to FIG. 1, this figure shows a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting exemplary system in which the exemplary embodiments may be practiced. A user equipment (UE) 110, radio access network (RAN) node 170, and network element(s) 190 are illustrated. In FIG. 1, a user equipment (UE) 110 is in wireless communication with a wireless network 100. A UE is a wireless, typically mobile device that can access a wireless network. The UE 110 includes one or more processors 120, one or more memories 125, and one or more transceivers 130 interconnected through one or more buses 127. Each of the one or more transceivers 130 includes a receiver, Rx, 132 and a transmitter, Tx, 133. The one or more buses 127 may be address, data, or control buses, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, fiber optics or other optical communication equipment, and the like. The one or more transceivers 130 are connected to one or more antennas 128. The one or more memories 125 include computer program code 123. The UE 110 includes a control module 140, comprising one of or both parts 140-1 and/or 140-2, which may be implemented in a number of ways. The control module 140 may be implemented in hardware as control module 140-1, such as being implemented as part of the one or more processors 120. The control module 140-1 may be implemented also as an integrated circuit or through other hardware such as a programmable gate array. In another example, the control module 140 may be implemented as control module 140-2, which is implemented as computer program code 123 and is executed by the one or more processors 120. For instance, the one or more memories 125 and the computer program code 123 may be configured to, with the one or more processors 120, cause the user equipment 110 to perform one or more of the operations as described herein. The UE 110 communicates with RAN node 170 via a wireless link 111.

[0030] The RAN node 170 is a base station that provides access by wireless devices such as the UE 110 to the wireless network 100. The RAN node 170 may be, for instance, a base station for 5G, also called New Radio (NR). In 5G, the RAN node 170 may be a NG-RAN node, which is defined as either a gNB or an ng-eNB. A gNB is a node providing NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE, and connected via the NG interface to a 5GC (e.g., the network element(s) 190). The ng-eNB is a node providing E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE, and connected via the NG interface to the 5GC. The NG-RAN may include multiple gNBs, which may also include a central unit (CU) (gNB-CU) 196 and distributed unit(s) (DUs) (gNB-DUs), of which DU 195 is shown. Note that the DU may include or be coupled to and control a radio unit (RU). The gNB-CU is a logical node hosting RRC, SDAP and PDCP protocols of the gNB or RRC and PDCP protocols of the en-gNB that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs. The gNB-CU terminates the Fl interface connected with the gNB- DU. The Fl interface is illustrated as reference 198, although reference 198 also illustrates a link between remote elements of the RAN node 170 and centralized elements of the RAN node 170, such as between the gNB-CU 196 and the gNB-DU 195. The gNB-DU is a logical node hosting RLC, MAC and PHY layers of the gNB or en-gNB, and its operation is partly controlled by gNB-CU. One gNB-DU supports one or multiple cells. One cell is supported by one gNB-DU. The gNB-DU terminates the Fl interface 198 connected with the gNB-CU. Note that the DU 195 is considered to include the transceiver 160, e.g., as part of an RU, but some examples of this may have the transceiver 160 as part of a separate RU, e.g., under control of and connected to the DU 195. The RAN node 170 may also be an eNB (evolved NodeB) base station, for LTE (long term evolution), or any other suitable base station.

[0031] The RAN node 170 includes one or more processors 152, one or more memories 155, one or more network interfaces (N/W I/F(s)) 161, and one or more transceivers 160 interconnected through one or more buses 157. Each of the one or more transceivers 160 includes a receiver, Rx, 162 and a transmitter, Tx, 163. The one or more transceivers 160 are connected to one or more antennas 158. The one or more memories 155 include computer program code 153. The CU 196 may include the processor(s) 152, memories 155, and network interfaces 161. Note that the DU 195 may also contain its own memory/memories and processor(s), and/or other hardware, but these are not shown.

[0032] The RAN node 170 includes a control module 150, comprising one of or both parts 150-1 and/or 150-2, which may be implemented in a number of ways. The control module 150 may be implemented in hardware as control module 150-1, such as being implemented as part of the one or more processors 152. The control module 150-1 may be implemented also as an integrated circuit or through other hardware such as a programmable gate array. In another example, the control module 150 may be implemented as control module 150-2, which is implemented as computer program code 153 and is executed by the one or more processors 152. For instance, the one or more memories 155 and the computer program code 153 are configured to, with the one or more processors 152, cause the RAN node 170 to perform one or more of the operations as described herein. Note that the functionality of the control module 150 may be distributed, such as being distributed between the DU 195 and the CU 196, or be implemented solely in the DU 195.

[0033] The one or more network interfaces 161 communicate over a network such as via the links 176 and 131. Two or more RAN nodes 170 communicate using, e.g., link 176. The link 176 may be wired or wireless or both and may implement, e.g., an Xn interface for 5G, an X2 interface for LTE, or other suitable interface for other standards. [0034] The one or more buses 157 may be address, data, or control buses, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, fiber optics or other optical communication equipment, wireless channels, and the like. For example, the one or more transceivers 160 may be implemented as a remote radio head (RRH) 195 for LTE or a distributed unit (DU) 195 for gNB implementation for 5G, with the other elements of the RAN node 170 possibly being physically in a different location from the RRH/DU, and the one or more buses 157 could be implemented in part as, e.g., fiber optic cable or other suitable network connection to connect the other elements (e.g., a central unit (CU), gNB-CU) of the RAN node 170 to the RRH/DU 195. Reference 198 also indicates those suitable network link(s).

[0035] The wireless network 100 may include a network element or elements 190 that may include core network functionality, and which provides connectivity via a link or links 181 with a data network 191, such as a telephone network and/or a data communications network (e.g., the Internet). Such core network functionality for 5G may include access and mobility management function(s) (AMF(s)) and/or user plane functions (UPF(s)) and/or session management function(s) (SMF(s)). Such core network functionality for LTE may include MME (Mobility Management Entity) functionality and/or SGW (Serving Gateway) functionality. These are merely exemplary functions that may be supported by the network element(s) 190, and note that both 5G and LTE functions might be supported. The RAN node 170 is coupled via a link 131 to a network element 190. The link 131 may be implemented as, e.g., an NG interface for 5G, or an SI interface for LTE, or other suitable interface for other standards. The network element 190 includes one or more processors 175, one or more memories 171, and one or more network interfaces (N/W I/F(s)) 180, interconnected through one or more buses 185. The one or more memories 171 include computer program code 173. The one or more memories 171 and the computer program code 173 are configured to, with the one or more processors 175, cause the network element 190 to perform one or more operations.

[0036] The wireless network 100 may implement network virtualization, which is the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, a virtual network. Network virtualization involves platform virtualization, often combined with resource virtualization. Network virtualization is categorized as either external, combining many networks, or parts of networks, into a virtual unit, or internal, providing network-like functionality to software containers on a single system. Note that the virtualized entities that result from the network virtualization are still implemented, at some level, using hardware such as processors 152 or 175 and memories 155 and 171, and also such virtualized entities create technical effects.

[0037] The computer readable memories 125, 155, and 171 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, flash memory, firmware, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The computer readable memories 125, 155, and 171 may be means for performing storage functions. The processors 120, 152, and 175 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of general-purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The processors 120, 152, and 175 may be means for performing functions, such as controlling the UE 110, RAN node 170, and other functions as described herein.

[0038] In general, the various example embodiments of the user equipment 110 can include, but are not limited to, cellular telephones (such as smart phones, mobile phones, cellular phones, voice over Internet Protocol (IP) (VoIP) phones, and/or wireless local loop phones), tablets, portable computers, vehicles or vehicle-mounted devices for, e.g., wireless V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication, image capture devices such as digital cameras, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, Internet appliances (including Internet of Things, loT, devices), loT devices with sensors and/or actuators for, e.g., automation applications, as well as portable units or terminals that incorporate combinations of such functions, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), Universal Serial Bus (USB) dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. That is, the UE 110 could be any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, the UE may also be referred to as a communication device, terminal device (MT), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT).

[0039] It is noted that description herein indicates that “cells” perform functions, but it should be clear that the base station that forms the cell will perform the functions. The cell makes up part of a base station. That is, there can be multiple cells per base station. For instance, there could be three cells for a single carrier frequency and associated bandwidth, each cell covering one-third of a 360-degree area so that the single base station’s coverage area covers an approximate oval or circle. Furthermore, each cell can correspond to a single carrier and a base station may use multiple carriers. So, if there are three 120-degree cells per carrier and two carriers, then the base station has a total of six cells.

[0040] In the examples herein for carrier aggregation herein, it is assumed that each component carrier (CC) is assigned to a different cell. Consider FIG. 2, which illustrates multiple component carriers over a total carrier bandwidth and associated concepts. In this example, there are five CCs 210-1, 210-2, 210-3, 210-4, and 210-5 over a system bandwidth 220. In this example, and for ease of reference, each CC 210 has the same bandwidth (BW) 230, although this need not be true. A typical LTE system may have the BW 220 be a maximum of 100 MHz, a CC BW 230 may be 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz. Five CCs 210 are typically the maximum number of CCs, although this is not limiting, while in a 5G system the individual carrier bandwidths maybe as high as 400 MHz and the number of component carriers can be as high as 16 with 8 CCs known to commercially exist already based on the first versions of the 5G NR specification.

[0041] A primary cell (PCell) may be associated with the CC 210-1, and the other CCs 210-2 through 210-5 may be associated with corresponding secondary cells (SCells). In this example, the CCs 210-1, 210-2, and 210-3 are considered to be active for a communication, and the other CCs 210-4 and 210-5 are unused. The PCell is the lowest frequency and the SCells are higher frequencies in this example, but this is not limiting. In particular, while the PCell could be any of the cells 210, the PCell would typically be on the lowest frequency for best coverage to support the uplink. There may, however, be reasons why this is not the case and some other setup is configured, e.g., to distribute UEs to have their PCell on a different carrier.

[0042] The CC corresponding to the PCell is called a primary component carrier (PCC), and the CCs corresponding to SCells are called secondary component carriers (SCCs). For ease of reference, CCs for the PCell are herein also simply referred to as PCell(s), and CCs for the SCells are referred to as SCells.

[0043] Once concept that is used herein in certain exemplary embodiments is the concept of sets of CCs. In the example of FIG. 2, there are two sets 240 of CCs: a set 240-1; and a set 240-2.

[0044] One additional concept described below is cross-carrier scheduling. Normal scheduling is where the grant for resources and the resources are on the same CC. Cross-carrier scheduling involves where the grant for resources and the resources are on the different CCs. To enable this, a CIF (carrier indicator field) is used on PDCCH to indicate the carrier where the resources will be found.

[0045] Having thus introduced one suitable but non-limiting technical context for the practice of the exemplary embodiments, the exemplary embodiments will now be described with greater specificity.

[0046] As additional context to the exemplary embodiments, when monitoring PDCCH and PDSCH on multiple carriers, the UE is unnecessarily receiving and buffering all the carriers even if there is no traffic. This contributes to excessive power consumption. For example, in FR2, operators often may have an 800 MHz spectrum that is deployed with 8x100 MHz carriers or 4x200 MHz carriers, and in such a setup, monitoring for PDCCH on only one of the multiple carriers at any given time could be sufficient.

[0047] Similarly for the case for FR1 bands, of e.g., 700 MHz and FDD of, e.g., up to 20 MHz and, e.g., 3.5 GHz TDD of up to 100 MHz can see the similar behavior even if the number of component carriers maybe smaller. In the long run, the number of aggregated FR1 carriers can be expected to rise as LTE 5-carrier aggregation deployments are already known to exist.

[0048] One conventional technique to address these issues is by configuring all time domain resource allocation entries with K0>0 for the UE, meaning that the PDSCH will never be in the same slot with the PDCCH carrying the scheduling DCI. In additional detail, K0 is the slot delay from control to data in slots. The K0 value is part of the control information carried on the PDCCH scheduling the data transmission on PDSCH, so the delay from control to data is dynamic, but the set of possible K0 values is configured in advance and known before the control information is received. K0=0 means the UE needs to be ready to receive data on a carrier before the UE has had the chance to decode the control, as there is always some time needed to demodulate, decode and interpret the control information received. This is referred to herein as buffering, as the full carrier BW needs to be stored in a buffer for possible need to decode data from it after the control has been decoded and interpreted. If there is no chance for K0=0, the UE knows in advance that the K0>0 and there can never be data in the same slot the control scheduling that data, so there is no need to buffer and try and receive the data until after decoding the control, as the UE knows that there will be data to receive earliest in a following slot after the control information. This way the UE can first decode the DCI and determine if the UE needs to receive the PDSCH symbols in advance of actually needing to start receiving the data, rather than having to receive the channel and only later know if there was data that the UE should decode immediately after the control message, or even parallel to the message.

[0049] Another technique is cross-carrier scheduling with different subcarrier spacings defined such that the UE is guaranteed with a minimum delay from the DCI on the scheduling carrier and the PDSCH on the scheduled carrier such that it is possible not to buffer on the scheduled carrier.

[0050] A further technique is deactivation of SCells when the traffic needs do not necessitate the full reception capability over all the carriers.

[0051] Each of these techniques has detriments. For instance, K0>0 adds to latency, while the UE still has to consume power for monitoring control in every slot in every carrier. Guaranteed delay adds to latency (this is equivalent to forced K0>0), and the UE still has to consume power for monitoring control in every slot in every carrier. Deactivation of SCells is very good for power consumption as no need to monitor the carrier for control information or even maintain synchronization, but reactivation takes a lot of time, and the service needing the high data rate would see an initial delay before the BW of the carrier being reactivated is available for data transmission.

[0052] The exemplary embodiments address these and other issues. In the examples below, XR is used, as this is one representative technology that takes relatively high bandwidth. However, the techniques are applicable to other technologies.

[0053] Certain of the examples are illustrated by FIG. 3, which is a logic flow diagram for traffic type based DRX with carrier aggregation, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. This figure also illustrates the operation of an exemplary method or methods, a result of execution of computer program instructions embodied on a computer readable memory, functions performed by logic implemented in hardware, and/or interconnected means for performing functions in accordance with exemplary embodiments. The operations are assumed to be performed by UE 110, under control of the control module 140, and the gNB 170, under control of the control module 150.

[0054] In block 310, the UE 110 becomes aware of the XR service and informs the gNB of the traffic characteristics 312 attributed to that service. The traffic characteristics 312 may include one or more of the following: periodicity; latency requirement s); or frame sizes. For the frame sizes, there could be multiple frame sizes (e.g., I- and P-frames of a video stream), each of which could have its own periodicity and latency requirement.

[0055] In block gNB configures (block 320) a reception pattern 314 for the UE (based at least in part on the traffic characteristics 312).

[0056] As indicated by block 330, the pattern may comprise one of more of the following:

[0057] An active phase, indicated by active phase information, in which the PDCCH is monitored;

[0058] An inactive phase, indicated by inactive phase information, in which the PDCCH is not monitored, e.g., if additional conditions are fulfilled. For instance, the inactive phase might only be activated if the experienced traffic pattern indicates average data rate meets (e.g., is less than) a threshold (i.e., low data rate) in the very recent past, or alternatively, if the known traffic pattern anticipates low data rate in the near future. The very recent past and near future may be defined by corresponding time periods. Alternatively, the carrier quality (what data rate this can be assumed to serve) could be a factor.

[0059] Time offset information to establish the phase of the pattern relative to frame timing; or

[0060] Applicability information, e.g., which allows some or all of the pattern to be applicable to a set of carriers, or some or all of the pattern to be carrier-specific. That is, part of the pattern could be configured for one or more sets of carriers, individual carriers, or both. A carrier-specific pattern or time offset would allow distributing the PDCCH monitoring in time, minimizing the latency for individual packets if at least one carrier can be kept active at all times. For the time offset, there could be different time offsets per carrier for multiple carriers. That is, at any given slot, one of the set of carriers is able to receive data while the others are silent.

[0061] There could be multiple patterns 314, each for a single carrier or a set of carriers, for a message. These could also be combined into one large message if there are multiple patterns.

[0062] In block 340, the UE 110 adjusts its behavior based on the pattern, per set of carriers or individual carriers. As indicated by reference 350, this may include the following:

[0063] Adjust the PDCCH monitoring based on the pattern, e.g., by one or more of the following:

[0064] Reducing by the UE the PDCCH monitoring (and by implication the PDSCH reception) to periodic time window(s), which affects DRX, as the UE monitors PDCCH only periodically when the UE is applying a DRX pattern;

[0065] Applying the window(s) to a subset of cells only (e.g., SCells); or

[0066] Applying the window(s) only after at least N consecutive slots in which the UE is not scheduled (e.g., on a particular carrier, or on any carrier).

[0067] In block 360, the gNB 170 configures the UE 110 with at least one threshold 364 controlling the carrier aggregation reception. As indicated by block 370, this configuration may include on or more of the following.

[0068] A) TB size / data rate threshold on primary carrier, that if exceeded opens up the reception on the secondary carrier(s). The threshold could be set as a TB size that can be delivered, or as a data rate that can be delivered. The threshold is configurable.

[0069] B) CQI-based threshold, with the following examples:

[0070] 1) If CQI is below a threshold (Th) and data is arriving, the UE will activate the secondary carrier(s). The data could be arriving either on PCell, if the system is built so that PCell is the only one that is always kept active, or “on a best active carrier” if more than just the PCell is kept active, and “best active carrier” is determined as a carrier that can deliver the highest data rate.

[0071] a) This could work directly with the CQI threshold to minimize latency, and the UE could monitor possible data transmissions on the secondary carrier(s) according to the gNB-configured pattern. [0072] b) The CQI-based threshold (Th) might only be applicable if the carriers are relatively equivalent (e.g., on the same band). Carriers are relatively equivalent if the carriers are of the same band, or carriers are of the same (or similar, e.g., within a threshold of up to 50%) bandwidth. One example of an outside case is that a 50% threshold could be added, which might not seem that similar, but e.g., 50 MHz is fairly close to 100 MHz if one ends up comparing this to 10 MHz or 5 MHz. This is merely exemplary and indicates a possibility.

[0073] 2) If the CQI of an SCell (or a set of SCells) is above a threshold (Th), the

(e.g., lower band) PCell could apply PDCCH monitoring restriction (that is, DRX) and the traffic is routed through the SCells.

[0074] 3) If CQI of an SCell is below a different CQI threshold (Thl), geared to determine that the SCell is not able to service any meaningful data rate, the SCell could start applying PDCCH monitoring restriction.

[0075] 4) In case the PCell is on higher frequency, low CQI (e.g., < Th2) on PCell could respectively increase lower frequency SCell PDCCH monitoring frequency (to ensure latency performance).

[0076] In block 380, the UE 110 controls CA reception based at least in part on the configured threshold(s) 364.

[0077] In block 385, the gNB 170 adjusts possible PDCCH transmissions on the multiple carriers based at least on the sent pattem(s). These are “possible” PDCCH transmissions because the gNB may or may not have data to transmit on the carrier(s), but will confine the transmissions based on the patterns. Meanwhile, the UE 110 in block 390 monitors for PDCCH transmissions on the multiple carriers based at least on the received pattern(s).

[0078] Concerning activation (and deactivation) of PDCCH monitoring and PDSCH buffering or reduction of the PDCCH monitoring frequency, consider the following.

[0079] 1) The UE can save power by constantly tracking for a DCI and being ready for a PDSCH in only one carrier (or a few carriers) in a massive CA configuration, while being all the time in sync and maintaining channel state information.

[0080] 2) Power saving is obviously smaller than when the whole cell is made dormant, but this behavior can operate on a slot-by-slot basis and there is no interruption in traffic due to activation, and furthermore the latency is much smaller. This is specifically beneficial for services like XR having a traffic pattern with high data rate requirement with low latency limit as well as short but frequent occasions of no transmission.

[0081] 3) The reception of the PDCCH can also trigger CSI feedback (or increase the frequency) for the other carriers (unless provided periodically beforehand), as frequently reporting CSI over any carriers is also adding to the power consumption.

[0082] 4) The CQI based activation and deactivation of the reduced PDCCH monitoring is fast, and when the gNB receives a new CQI that indicates a given carrier has passed a threshold (or e.g., an average of N consecutive CQIs exceed the threshold), the gNB knows that the UE has changed modes.

[0083] 5) When SCell CQI is low, and there is less PDCCH decoding on SCell

(SCell on higher frequency) and possibly more PDCCH decoding on PCell, or when PCell CQI is low, then trigger more PDCCH decoding on SCell (SCell on lower frequency) and possibly less PDCCH decoding on PCell.

[0084] Turning to FIG. 4, this figure is a logic flow diagram performed by a UE for DRX with carrier aggregation for telecommunication systems, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 4 also illustrates the operation of an exemplary method or methods, a result of execution of computer program instructions embodied on a computer readable memory, functions performed by logic implemented in hardware, and/or interconnected means for performing functions in accordance with exemplary embodiments. FIG. 4 is assumed to be performed by a UE 110, under control of the control module 140.

[0085] In block 410, the UE 110 receives, from a network node in a wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation. The one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers. In block 420, the UE 110 adjusts at least physical downlink control channel monitoring of the multiple carriers based at least on the received one or more patterns.

[0086] The following are additions example with respect to FIG. 1, which is refereed to as example 1.

[0087] Example 2. The method of example 1, wherein:

[0088] the method further comprises sending by the user equipment indication of traffic characteristics for a service toward a base station;

[0089] the received one or more patterns are based on at least the traffic characteristics. [0090] Example 3. The method of example 2, wherein the traffic characteristics for a service comprise one or more of the following for traffic for the service: periodicity; one or more latency requirements; or frame sizes.

[0091] Example 4. The method of any one of examples 1 to 3, wherein a pattern of the one or more patterns comprises one or more of the following:

[0092] active phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is monitored;

[0093] inactive phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is not monitored;

[0094] time offset information to establish a phase of the pattern relative to frame timing; or

[0095] applicability information indicating to which individual carriers or one or more sets of carriers the pattern corresponds.

[0096] Example 5. The method of any one of examples 1 to 4, wherein the adjusting at least physical downlink control channel monitoring further comprises:

[0097] reducing physical downlink control channel monitoring to one or more periodic time windows;

[0098] applying the one or more periodic time windows to a subset of cells only, wherein the cells correspond to the multiple carriers; or

[0099] applying the one or more periodic time windows only after at least N consecutive slots in which is user equipment is not scheduled either on a particular carrier or on any carrier.

[00100] Example 6. The method of any one of examples 1 to 5, further comprising controlling by the user equipment reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds.

[00101] Example 7. The method of example 6, wherein the one or more thresholds are configured by the wireless network.

[00102] Example 8. The method of either example 6 or 7, wherein the controlling by the user equipment reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds further comprises one or more of the following: [00103] in response to a threshold for one of transport block size or data rate on a primary carrier being exceeded, opening up by the user equipment reception on one or more secondary carriers;

[00104] in response to a threshold for channel quality information being below a threshold for the primary carrier and data is arriving on the primary carrier or on a best active carrier of the primary cell and one or more secondary cells, activating by the user equipment one or more secondary carriers;

[00105] in response to channel quality information of one or more secondary carriers being above a threshold, applying monitoring restriction by the user equipment on the physical downlink control channel for the primacy cell and routing by the user equipment traffic through at least the one or more secondary carriers;

[00106] in response to channel quality information for a secondary cell being below a different threshold for channel quality information, applying monitoring restriction to a physical downlink control channel on the secondary cell; or

[00107] in response to the primary cell being on a higher frequency than the one or more secondary cells, increasing monitoring frequency of the one or more secondary cells in response to channel quality information for the primary cell being less than a further threshold.

[00108] Referring to FIG. 5, this figure is a logic flow (510, 520) diagram performed by a network node for DRX with carrier aggregation for telecommunication systems, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 5 also illustrates the operation of an exemplary method or methods, a result of execution of computer program instructions embodied on a computer readable memory, functions performed by logic implemented in hardware, and/or interconnected means for performing functions in accordance with exemplary embodiments. FIG. 5 is performed by a network node, such as by the gNB 170, under control of the control module 150, although this could be by RRH or DU7RU 195.

[00109] The following are examples with respect to FIG. 5, which is referred to as example 9.

[00110] Example 10. The method of example 9, further comprising:

[00111] receiving by the network node from the user equipment indication of traffic characteristics for a service; [00112] determining the one or more patterns based on at least the traffic characteristics.

[00113] Example 11. The method of example 10, wherein the traffic characteristics for a service comprise one or more of the following for traffic for the service: periodicity; one or more latency requirements; or frame sizes.

[00114] Example 12. The method of any one of examples 9 to 11, wherein a pattern of the one or more patterns comprises one or more of the following:

[00115] active phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is monitored;

[00116] inactive phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is not monitored;

[00117] time offset information to establish a phase of the pattern relative to frame timing; or

[00118] applicability information indicating to which individual carriers or one or more sets of carriers the pattern corresponds.

[00119] Example 13. The method of any one of examples 9 to 12, wherein the adjusting possible physical downlink control channel transmissions further comprises:

[00120] reducing physical downlink control channel transmissions to one or more periodic time windows;

[00121] applying the one or more periodic time windows to a subset of cells only, wherein the cells correspond to the multiple carriers; or

[00122] applying the one or more periodic time windows only after at least N consecutive slots in which is user equipment is not scheduled either on a particular carrier or on any carrier.

[00123] Example 14. The method of any one of examples 9 to 13, further comprising configuring, by the network node for the user equipment, reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds.

[00124] Example 15. The method of example 14, wherein the configuring reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds further comprises one or more of the following: [00125] configuring a threshold for one of transport block size or data rate on a primary carrier so that the user equipment opens reception on one or more secondary carriers in response to the threshold being exceeded;

[00126] configuring a threshold for channel quality information for the primary carrier so that in response to data arriving on the primary carrier or on a best active carrier of the primary cell and one or more secondary cells, the user equipment is to activate one or more secondary carriers;

[00127] configuring a threshold for channel quality information of one or more secondary carriers so that in response to the channel quality information being above the threshold, the user equipment applies a monitoring restriction on the physical downlink control channel for the primacy cell and routes traffic through at least the one or more secondary carriers;

[00128] configuring a different threshold for channel quality information for a secondary cell so that in response to the channel quality information being below the different threshold, the user equipment applies monitoring restriction to a physical downlink control channel on the secondary cell; or

[00129] configuring a further threshold so that in response to the primary cell being on a higher frequency than the one or more secondary cells, the user equipment increases monitoring frequency of the one or more secondary cells in response to channel quality information for the primary cell being less than the further threshold.

[00130] Additional examples are as follows.

[00131] Example 16. An apparatus, comprising:

[00132] one or more processors; and

[00133] one or more memories including computer program code,

[00134] wherein the one or more memories and the computer program code are configured, with the one or more processors, to cause the apparatus to:

[00135] receive, at a user equipment and from a network node in a wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and

[00136] adjust, by the user equipment, at least physical downlink control channel monitoring of the multiple carriers based at least on the received one or more patterns. [00137] Example 17. The apparatus of example 16, wherein:

[00138] the one or more memories and the computer program code are further configured, with the one or more processors, to cause the apparatus to: send by the user equipment indication of traffic characteristics for a service toward a base station; and

[00139] the received one or more patterns are based on at least the traffic characteristics.

[00140] Example 18. The apparatus of example 17, wherein the traffic characteristics for a service comprise one or more of the following for traffic for the service: periodicity; one or more latency requirements; or frame sizes.

[00141] Example 19. The apparatus of any one of examples 16 to 18, wherein a pattern of the one or more patterns comprises one or more of the following:

[00142] active phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is monitored;

[00143] inactive phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is not monitored;

[00144] time offset information to establish a phase of the pattern relative to frame timing; or

[00145] applicability information indicating to which individual carriers or one or more sets of carriers the pattern corresponds.

[00146] Example 20. The apparatus of any one of examples 16 to 19, wherein the adjusting at least physical downlink control channel monitoring further comprises:

[00147] reducing physical downlink control channel monitoring to one or more periodic time windows;

[00148] applying the one or more periodic time windows to a subset of cells only, wherein the cells correspond to the multiple carriers; or

[00149] applying the one or more periodic time windows only after at least N consecutive slots in which is user equipment is not scheduled either on a particular carrier or on any carrier.

[00150] Example 21. The apparatus of any one of examples 16 to 20, further comprising controlling by the user equipment reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds. [00151] Example 22. The apparatus of example 21, wherein the one or more thresholds are configured by the wireless network.

[00152] Example 23. The apparatus of either example 21 or 22, wherein the controlling by the user equipment reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds further comprises one or more of the following:

[00153] in response to a threshold for one of transport block size or data rate on a primary carrier being exceeded, opening up by the user equipment reception on one or more secondary carriers;

[00154] in response to a threshold for channel quality information being below a threshold for the primary carrier and data is arriving on the primary carrier or on a best active carrier of the primary cell and one or more secondary cells, activating by the user equipment one or more secondary carriers;

[00155] in response to channel quality information of one or more secondary carriers being above a threshold, applying monitoring restriction by the user equipment on the physical downlink control channel for the primacy cell and routing by the user equipment traffic through at least the one or more secondary carriers;

[00156] in response to channel quality information for a secondary cell being below a different threshold for channel quality information, applying monitoring restriction to a physical downlink control channel on the secondary cell; or

[00157] in response to the primary cell being on a higher frequency than the one or more secondary cells, increasing monitoring frequency of the one or more secondary cells in response to channel quality information for the primary cell being less than a further threshold.

[00158] Example 24. An apparatus, comprising:

[00159] one or more processors; and

[00160] one or more memories including computer program code,

[00161] wherein the one or more memories and the computer program code are configured, with the one or more processors, to cause the apparatus to:

[00162] send, from a network node in a wireless network toward a user equipment in the wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and [00163] adjust, by the network node, possible physical downlink control channel transmissions on the multiple carriers based at least on the sent one or more patterns.

[00164] Example 25. The apparatus of example 24, wherein the one or more memories and the computer program code are further configured, with the one or more processors, to cause the apparatus to:

[00165] receive by the network node from the user equipment indication of traffic characteristics for a service;

[00166] determine the one or more patterns based on at least the traffic characteristics.

[00167] Example 26. The apparatus of example 25, wherein the traffic characteristics for a service comprise one or more of the following for traffic for the service: periodicity; one or more latency requirements; or frame sizes.

[00168] Example 27. The apparatus of any one of examples 24 to 26, wherein a pattern of the one or more patterns comprises one or more of the following:

[00169] active phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is monitored;

[00170] inactive phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is not monitored;

[00171] time offset information to establish a phase of the pattern relative to frame timing; or

[00172] applicability information indicating to which individual carriers or one or more sets of carriers the pattern corresponds.

[00173] Example 28. The apparatus of any one of examples 24 to 27, wherein the adjusting possible physical downlink control channel transmissions further comprises:

[00174] reducing physical downlink control channel transmissions to one or more periodic time windows;

[00175] applying the one or more periodic time windows to a subset of cells only, wherein the cells correspond to the multiple carriers; or

[00176] applying the one or more periodic time windows only after at least N consecutive slots in which is user equipment is not scheduled either on a particular carrier or on any carrier. [00177] Example 29. The apparatus of any one of examples 24 to 28, wherein the one or more memories and the computer program code are further configured, with the one or more processors, to cause the apparatus to: configure, by the network node for the user equipment, reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds.

[00178] Example 30. The apparatus of example 29, wherein the configuring reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds further comprises one or more of the following:

[00179] configuring a threshold for one of transport block size or data rate on a primary carrier so that the user equipment opens reception on one or more secondary carriers in response to the threshold being exceeded;

[00180] configuring a threshold for channel quality information for the primary carrier so that in response to data arriving on the primary carrier or on a best active carrier of the primary cell and one or more secondary cells, the user equipment is to activate one or more secondary carriers;

[00181] configuring a threshold for channel quality information of one or more secondary carriers so that in response to the channel quality information being above the threshold, the user equipment applies a monitoring restriction on the physical downlink control channel for the primacy cell and routes traffic through at least the one or more secondary carriers;

[00182] configuring a different threshold for channel quality information for a secondary cell so that in response to the channel quality information being below the different threshold, the user equipment applies monitoring restriction to a physical downlink control channel on the secondary cell; or

[00183] configuring a further threshold so that in response to the primary cell being on a higher frequency than the one or more secondary cells, the user equipment increases monitoring frequency of the one or more secondary cells in response to channel quality information for the primary cell being less than the further threshold.

[00184] Example 31. An apparatus, comprising means for performing:

[00185] receiving, at a user equipment and from a network node in a wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and [00186] adjusting, by the user equipment, at least physical downlink control channel monitoring of the multiple carriers based at least on the received one or more patterns.

[00187] Example 32. The apparatus of example 31, wherein:

[00188] the means are further configured to perform: sending by the user equipment indication of traffic characteristics for a service toward a base station;

[00189] the received one or more patterns are based on at least the traffic characteristics.

[00190] Example 33. The apparatus of example 32, wherein the traffic characteristics for a service comprise one or more of the following for traffic for the service: periodicity; one or more latency requirements; or frame sizes.

[00191] Example 34. The apparatus of any one of examples 31 to 33, wherein a pattern of the one or more patterns comprises one or more of the following:

[00192] active phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is monitored;

[00193] inactive phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is not monitored;

[00194] time offset information to establish a phase of the pattern relative to frame timing; or

[00195] applicability information indicating to which individual carriers or one or more sets of carriers the pattern corresponds.

[00196] Example 35. The apparatus of any one of examples 31 to 34, wherein the adjusting at least physical downlink control channel monitoring further comprises:

[00197] reducing physical downlink control channel monitoring to one or more periodic time windows;

[00198] applying the one or more periodic time windows to a subset of cells only, wherein the cells correspond to the multiple carriers; or

[00199] applying the one or more periodic time windows only after at least N consecutive slots in which is user equipment is not scheduled either on a particular carrier or on any carrier. [00200] Example 36. The apparatus of any one of examples 31 to 35, wherein the means are further configured to perform: controlling by the user equipment reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds.

[00201] Example 37. The apparatus of example 36, wherein the one or more thresholds are configured by the wireless network.

[00202] Example 38. The apparatus of either example 36 or 37, wherein the controlling by the user equipment reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds further comprises one or more of the following:

[00203] in response to a threshold for one of transport block size or data rate on a primary carrier being exceeded, opening up by the user equipment reception on one or more secondary carriers;

[00204] in response to a threshold for channel quality information being below a threshold for the primary carrier and data is arriving on the primary carrier or on a best active carrier of the primary cell and one or more secondary cells, activating by the user equipment one or more secondary carriers;

[00205] in response to channel quality information of one or more secondary carriers being above a threshold, applying monitoring restriction by the user equipment on the physical downlink control channel for the primacy cell and routing by the user equipment traffic through at least the one or more secondary carriers;

[00206] in response to channel quality information for a secondary cell being below a different threshold for channel quality information, applying monitoring restriction to a physical downlink control channel on the secondary cell; or

[00207] in response to the primary cell being on a higher frequency than the one or more secondary cells, increasing monitoring frequency of the one or more secondary cells in response to channel quality information for the primary cell being less than a further threshold.

[00208] Example 39. An apparatus, comprising:

[00209] sending, from a network node in a wireless network toward a user equipment in the wireless network, one or more patterns for reception of multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation, wherein the one or more patterns affect at least discontinuous reception for the multiple carriers; and [00210] adjusting, by the network node, possible physical downlink control channel transmissions on the multiple carriers based at least on the sent one or more patterns.

[00211] Example 40. The apparatus of example 39, wherein the means are further configured to perform:

[00212] receiving by the network node from the user equipment indication of traffic characteristics for a service;

[00213] determining the one or more patterns based on at least the traffic characteristics.

[00214] Example 41. The apparatus of example 40, wherein the traffic characteristics for a service comprise one or more of the following for traffic for the service: periodicity; one or more latency requirements; or frame sizes.

[00215] Example 42. The apparatus of any one of examples 39 to 41, wherein a pattern of the one or more patterns comprises one or more of the following:

[00216] active phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is monitored;

[00217] inactive phase information indicating timing in which the physical downlink control channel is not monitored;

[00218] time offset information to establish a phase of the pattern relative to frame timing; or

[00219] applicability information indicating to which individual carriers or one or more sets of carriers the pattern corresponds.

[00220] Example 43. The apparatus of any one of examples 39 to 42, wherein the adjusting possible physical downlink control channel transmissions further comprises:

[00221] reducing physical downlink control channel transmissions to one or more periodic time windows;

[00222] applying the one or more periodic time windows to a subset of cells only, wherein the cells correspond to the multiple carriers; or

[00223] applying the one or more periodic time windows only after at least N consecutive slots in which is user equipment is not scheduled either on a particular carrier or on any carrier. [00224] Example 44. The apparatus of any one of examples 39 to 43, wherein the means are further configured to perform: configuring, by the network node for the user equipment, reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds.

[00225] Example 45. The apparatus of example 44, wherein the configuring reception on the carriers at least by using one or more thresholds further comprises one or more of the following:

[00226] configuring a threshold for one of transport block size or data rate on a primary carrier so that the user equipment opens reception on one or more secondary carriers in response to the threshold being exceeded;

[00227] configuring a threshold for channel quality information for the primary carrier so that in response to data arriving on the primary carrier or on a best active carrier of the primary cell and one or more secondary cells, the user equipment is to activate one or more secondary carriers;

[00228] configuring a threshold for channel quality information of one or more secondary carriers so that in response to the channel quality information being above the threshold, the user equipment applies a monitoring restriction on the physical downlink control channel for the primacy cell and routes traffic through at least the one or more secondary carriers;

[00229] configuring a different threshold for channel quality information for a secondary cell so that in response to the channel quality information being below the different threshold, the user equipment applies monitoring restriction to a physical downlink control channel on the secondary cell; or

[00230] configuring a further threshold so that in response to the primary cell being on a higher frequency than the one or more secondary cells, the user equipment increases monitoring frequency of the one or more secondary cells in response to channel quality information for the primary cell being less than the further threshold.

[00231] Example 46. The apparatus of any one of examples 24 to 45 wherein the means comprises:

[00232] at least one processor; and

[00233] at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus. [00234] Example 47. A computer program, comprising code for performing the methods of any of examples 1 to 15, when the computer program is run on a computer.

[00235] Example 48. The computer program according to example 47, wherein the computer program is a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with the computer.

[00236] Example 49. The computer program according to example 47, wherein the computer program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the computer.

[00237] Example 50. A user equipment comprising the apparatus of any of examples 31 to 38.

[00238] Example 51. A base station comprising the apparatus of any of examples 39 to 46.

[00239] Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, technical effects and benefits of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein include the following:

[00240] Allows maintaining capability to receive at maximal data rate (all carriers, all the time) when needed, while allowing to minimize the processing when, based on the known traffic characteristics when the full processing is not needed;

[00241] Provides lower power saving gain than in full-blown DRX or SCell deactivation, but works with periodic, high data rate traffic patterns such as XR that render the solutions with activation/deactivation latency useless;

[00242] Allows to take into account data volume versus expected PCell capacity (from CQI of the target UE and overall cell load) to determine if reception on multiple carriers needs to be active to meet QoS needs; and/or

[00243] Also works to determine if SCell is not expected to be reliable, then reduce monitoring there to save UE power (until better SCell quality again), also large number of retransmissions prolongs UE active time, thus increasing power consumption.

[00244] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

[00245] (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

[00246] (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

[00247] (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.

[00248] 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, 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.

[00249] Example embodiments herein may be implemented in software (executed by one or more processors), hardware (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit), or a combination of software and hardware. In an example embodiment, the software (e.g., application logic, an instruction set) is maintained on any one of various conventional computer-readable media. In the context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” may be any media or means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer, with one example of a computer described and depicted, e.g., in FIG. 1. A computer-readable medium may comprise a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., memories 125, 155, 171 or other device) that may be any media or means that can contain, store, and/or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer. A computer-readable storage medium does not comprise propagating signals.

[00250] If desired, the different functions discussed herein may be performed in a different order and/or concurrently with each other. Furthermore, if desired, one or more of the above-described functions may be optional or may be combined.

[00251] Although various aspects of the invention are set out in the independent claims, other aspects of the invention comprise other combinations of features from the described embodiments and/or the dependent claims with the features of the independent claims, and not solely the combinations explicitly set out in the claims.

[00252] t is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments of the invention, these descriptions should not be viewed in a limiting sense. Rather, there are several variations and modifications which may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

[00253] The following abbreviations that may be found in the specification and/or the drawing figures are defined as follows:

[00254] 3 GPP third generation partnership project

[00255] 5G fifth generation

[00256] 5GC 5G core network

[00257] AMF access and mobility management function

[00258] BW bandwidth

[00259] CC component carriers

[00260] CIF carrier indicator field

[00261] CQI channel quality indicator

[00262] CU central unit

[00263] DCI downlink control information

[00264] DRX discontinuous reception

[00265] DU distributed unit

[00266] eNB (or eNodeB) evolved Node B (e.g., an LTE base station)

[00267] EN-DC E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity

[00268] en-gNB or En-gNB node providing NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE, and acting as secondary node in EN-DC

[00269] E-UTRA evolved universal terrestrial radio access, i.e., the LTE radio access technology

[00270] FDD frequency division duplex

[00271] FR1 frequency range 1

[00272] FR2 frequency range 2

[00273] gNB (or gNodeB) base station for 5G/NR, i.e., a node providing NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE, and connected via the NG interface to the 5GC

[00274] I/F interface

[00275] LTE long term evolution

[00276] MAC medium access control

[00277] MME mobility management entity

[00278] ng or NG next generation

[00279] ng-eNB or NG-eNB next generation eNB

[00280] NR new radio

[00281] N/W or NW network

[00282] PCC primary component carrier

[00283] PDCCH physical downlink control channel

[00284] PDCP packet data convergence protocol

[00285] PDSCH physical downlink shared channel

[00286] PHY physical layer

[00287] QoS quality of service

[00288] RAN radio access network

[00289] Rel release

[00290] RLC radio link control

[00291] RRH remote radio head

[00292] RRC radio resource control

[00293] RU radio unit

[00294] Rx receiver

[00295] SCC secondary component carrier

[00296] scs subcarrier spacing

[00297] SDAP service data adaptation protocol

[00298] SGW serving gateway

[00299] SMF session management function

[00300] TB transport block

[00301] TDD time division duplexing

[00302] Th threshold

[00303] TS technical specification [00304] Tx transmitter

[00305] UE user equipment (e.g., a wireless, typically mobile device)

[00306] UPF user plane function

[00307] XR extended reality