Patent Application
20250212114
This disclosure is directed generally to wireless communications, and particularly to a method, device, and system for exchanging power saving information in a wireless network.
Energy efficiency is a key performance index in the wireless communication network. Controlling power consumption and reducing energy cost is critical for developing and deploying a wireless communication network. Energy saving technology plays an essential role in achieving this goal. From a User Equipment (UE) perspective, UE battery life has great impact on user experience. From a network perspective, energy consumption is a key factor to consider for improving investment efficiency for operators. It is beneficial to have the capability to dynamically control the power consumption of various network elements and/or UEs yet still meet performance requirement.
This disclosure is directed to a method, device, and system for saving power consumption of network element in a wireless network.
In some embodiments, a method performed by a first Network Element (NE) in a wireless network is disclosed. The method may include: transmitting a first message to a second NE, the first message comprising power saving information, the power saving information comprises an indication of an update to a power saving status of a cell managed by the first NE, the power saving status of the cell comprising at least one of: a deep sleep mode; a light sleep mode; a normal mode; a cell being barred; a cell not being barred; a cell being deactivated or shutdown; a cell to be deactivated or shutdown; a Bandwidth Part (BWP) being shutdown or to be shutdown; a restriction to a frequency range; or a slot or a symbol being shutdown or to be shutdown.
In some embodiments, a method performed by a first Network Element (NE) in a wireless network is disclosed. The method may include: transmitting a first message to a second NE, the first message comprising at least one of: a traffic characteristic of a service for a UE served by the second NE; or a UE behavior information of the UE, wherein the UE behavior information comprises at least one of: a UE mobility trajectory; a visited cell record comprising a list of visited cells and a camped time duration associated with each visited cell in the list of visited cells; a UE mobility direction; a UE mobility velocity; a frequency of cell changes for the UE in a predetermined time duration; a geo-stationary indication of the UE; or a type of the UE, the type of the UE comprising at least one of: Internet of things (IoT) UE, Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) UE, enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) UE, or massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) UE.
In some embodiments, a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless network is disclosed. The method may include: receiving a message from an NE in the wireless network, the message comprising beam level access control information for the UE, and the beam level access control information comprising at least one of: a set of beam level Unified Access Control (UAC) parameters associated with a list of beams; or a beam level access control indicator associated with the list of beams.
In some embodiments, there is network element or UE comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to read code from the memory and implement any methods recited in any of the embodiments.
In some embodiments, a computer program product comprising a computer-readable program medium code stored thereupon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement any method recited in any of the embodiments.
The above embodiments and other aspects and alternatives of their implementations are described in greater detail in the drawings, the descriptions, and the claims below.
The gNB 124 may include a central unit (CU) and at least one distributed unit (DU). The CU and the DU may be co-located in a same location, or they may be split in different locations. The CU and the DU may be connected via an F1 interface. Alternatively, for an eNB which is capable of connecting to the 5G network, it may also be similarly divided into a CU and at least one DU, referred to as ng-eNB-CU and ng-eNB-DU, respectively. The ng-eNB-CU and the ng-eNB-DU may be connected via a W1 interface.
The wireless communication network 100 may include one or more tracking areas. A tracking area may include a set of cells managed by at least one base station. For example, tracking area 1 labeled as 140 includes cell 1, cell 2, and cell 3, and may further include more cells that may be managed by other base stations and not shown in
The wireless communication network 100 may be implemented as, for example, a 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE, or 5G cellular communication network. Correspondingly, the base stations 122 and 124 may be implemented as a 2G base station, a 3G NodeB, an LTE eNB, or a 5G NR gNB. The UE 160 may be implemented as mobile or fixed communication devices which are capable of accessing the wireless communication network 100. The UE 160 may include but is not limited to mobile phones, laptop computers, tablets, personal digital assistants, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, MTC/eMTC devices, distributed remote sensor devices, roadside assistant equipment, XR devices, and desktop computers. The UE 160 may also be generally referred to as a wireless communication device, or a wireless terminal. The UE 160 may support sidelink communication to another UE via a PC5 interface.
In some example implementations, as shown in
In an O-RAN deployment, similar information and information exchange procedure between gNB-CU and gNB-DU may be used for information exchange between RIC (e.g., non-RT RIC, or near-RT RIC) and O-CU, between RIC and O-DU, between Operation and Maintenance function/entity (OAM) and DU, or between OAM and CU.
While the description below focuses on cellular wireless communication systems as shown in
The electronic device 200 may also include system circuitry 204. System circuitry 204 may include processor(s) 221 and/or memory 222. Memory 222 may include an operating system 224, instructions 226, and parameters 228. Instructions 226 may be configured for the one or more of the processors 221 to perform the functions of the network node. The parameters 228 may include parameters to support execution of the instructions 226. For example, parameters may include network protocol settings, bandwidth parameters, radio frequency mapping assignments, and/or other parameters.
Referring to
Referring to
Energy consumption has become a key part of the operators' operating expenses (OPEX). In wireless networks, significant energy consumption comes from the radio access network and in particular from the hardware circuitries such as Active Antenna Unit (AAU), Radio Unit (RU), Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Power Amplifier (PA), and the like.
In the wireless network, one mechanism for saving network energy consumption is to aggregate (or transfer) partial or all load from one network element to another network element. For example, multiple RAN nodes (e.g., gNBs, eNBs, or ng-eNBs, or a combination thereof) may interact with each other so each node may exchange power saving related information with regard to various resources and statuses. The resources may include: cell, carrier, beam, network slice, Bandwidth Part (BWP), bandwidth represented by a frequency range, slot, or symbol. The statuses may include a power saving mode/state. With power saving information from other network elements, a network element such as a RAN node, may make a more informed choice, for example, when attempting to transfer certain traffic or service to another RAN node, and achieving a higher successful transfer rate while maintaining the service requirement such as a Quality of Service (QOS) requirement. As some load is offloaded, it is possible for the RAN node to dynamically shutdown certain resources and their corresponding hardware circuitry, to save energy. Load transfer may be implemented in various levels corresponding to different granularities. For example, a whole carrier may be shutdown, if the traffic supported by the carrier may be covered by another carrier in another RAN node. For another example, a beam may be shutdown, if another beam may be utilized for offloading the traffic. For another example, an under-used frequency range may be shutdown, to save the operating cost of related hardware. Therefore, it is important for the RAN nodes and other network elements to be able to exchange power saving information with each other. It is also important to implement the resource status exchange that covers different levels, such as cell level, carrier level, beam level, BWP level, slot/symbol level, etc.
In this disclosure, the power saving information may include:
In this disclosure, not only the resource status information may be exchanged between RAN nodes, it may also be exchanged between gNB-CU and gNB-DU. In an O-RAN deployment, the resource status information may also be exchanged between a RIC and an O-CU or an O-DU.
The gNB-DU may send a resource status update message, or a gNB-DU status indication to the gNB-CU. The power saving information may include an indication of an update to a power saving status of a cell managed by the gNB-DU, the power saving status of the cell may include at least one of:
In the deep sleep mode, at least one of: radio circuitries, radio resource, or network component is shutdown. For example, an Active Antenna Unit (AAU), a Radio Unit (RU), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), or a Power Amplifier (PA) may be shutdown in a deep sleep mode.
In the light sleep mode, the gNB-DU transmits or receives radio signal following a larger Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle or time interval than in the normal mode. For example, multiple DRX cycles may be configured and one of the DRX cycles may be used in a normal mode. In the light sleep mode, a longer DRX cycles may be selected from the configured DRX cycles.
The gNB-CU may send a configuration update message to the gNB-DU. The configuration update message may be used for power saving purpose and may include at least one of:
In some scenarios, a certain frequency resource allocated to a RAN node (or a cell) may be under light traffic (or load). This frequency resource may be represented by a Bandwidth Part (BWP), or a frequency range. The traffic may be offloaded or transferred to another BWP or another frequency range. Afterwards, the BWP may be shutdown as there is no more traffic under it; or the frequency range may be either shutdown, or reduced to a small frequency range.
Using BWP as an example, when the gNB-CU decides to shutdown a BWP of a cell, it may switch the service on this particular BWP to other BWP(s) and send a BWP shutdown request or BWP shutdown indication to the gNB-DU to trigger the BWP shutdown operation. The BWP shutdown request or BWP shutdown indication may be sent via the F1AP interface between the gNB-CU and the gNB-DU, via an existing F1AP message, or a newly created F1AP message. An existing Information Item (IE), or a new IE may be used for sending the information.
Under the same principle, the overall cell bandwidth may also be reduced. A frequency range may be reduced, or the selection of the frequency range may be restricted, such that overall active frequency range(s) or Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) may be aligned and allocated within one cell.
As describe in embodiment 3, in some scenarios, a certain frequency resource allocated to a RAN node (or a cell) may be under light traffic (or load). This frequency resource may be represented by a Bandwidth Part (BWP), or a frequency range. The traffic may be offloaded or transferred to another BWP or another frequency range. Afterwards, the BWP may be shutdown as there is no more traffic under it; or the frequency range may be either shutdown, or reduced to a small frequency range.
Using BWP as an example, when the gNB-DU decides to shutdown a BWP of a cell, it may switch the service on this particular BWP to other BWP(s) and send a BWP shutdown request or BWP shutdown indication to the gNB-CU, so the gNB-CU may make corresponding re-configuration. The BWP shutdown request or BWP shutdown indication may be sent via the F1AP interface between the gNB-CU and the gNB-DU, via an existing F1AP message, or a newly created F1AP message. An existing Information Item (IE), or a new IE may be used for sending the information.
Under the same principle, the overall cell bandwidth may also be reduced. A frequency range may be reduced, or the selection of the frequency range may be restricted, such that overall active frequency range(s) or Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) may be aligned and allocated within one cell.
The traffic characteristics may include at least one of:
The UE behavior information may include at least one of:
Alternatively, the traffic characteristics or UE behavior information may be sent:
The traffic characteristics may include at least one of:
The UE behavior information may be referred to the description in embodiment 5.
The UE associated NGAP message may include at least one of: an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message, a CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, a UE INFORMATION TRANSFER message, a UE CONTEXT RESUME RESPONSE message, a HANDOVER REQUEST message, or a PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message.
The traffic characteristics may include at least one of:
The UE behavior information may be referred to the description in embodiment 5.
Alternatively, the traffic characteristics or UE behavior information may be sent:
The message may include a shutdown priority for at least one of: a list of beams managed by RAN node 1, a list of BWPs managed by RAN node 1, a list of slots managed by the RAN node 1, a list of symbols managed by RAN node 1, a list of carriers managed by RAN node 1, or a list of cells managed by the RAN node 1.
In one implementation, the beam, the carrier, the BWP, the slot, or the symbol may be in a scope of a cell.
The message may further include a neighboring cell relationship for at least a pair of neighboring cells. The neighboring cell relationship may include at least one of:
Once the neighboring cell relationship is sent to RAN node 2, the RAN node 2 may determine which level the power saving should be applied to. For example, the RAN node 2 may determine to perform a cell shutdown, a carrier shutdown, a beam shutdown, a BWP shutdown, a slot shutdown, or a symbol shutdown, based on the neighboring cell relationship.
Similarly, the cell/carrier shutdown priority and neighbor cell relationship may be exchanged between:
The power saving related information may include at least one of:
In one implementation, adjustment to the SSB Tx power may include at least one of: a target Tx power of the SSB; or an offset between a current SSB Tx power and a target SSB Tx power (a target power is the power after adjustment).
In one implementation, the adjustment to the CSI-RS Tx power includes an offset between a target CSI-RS Tx power and a current SSB Tx power.
In one implementation, when applicable, the operations on, or references to, an SSB, may be replaced with an Synchronization Signal (SS).
Once a resource, such as PScell, Scell, or BWP is deactivated, the UE does not monitor and use the resource until it is activated.
After the gNB adjusts the SSB Tx power or the CSI-RS Tx power, the Tx power used by the gNB for dedicated downlink (DL) channel is not impacted by the adjustment. The dedicated DL channel may include at least one of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The gNB will transmit SSB and/or CSI-RS using the corresponding adjusted Tx power.
Both the gNB-CU and the gNB-DU may initiate the message.
When the gNB-CU determines the power saving information, it may send the power saving information to the gNB-DU via a UE associated signaling, or a non-UE associated signaling.
The UE associated signaling may include at least one of: a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message, or a DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER message.
The non-UE associated signaling may include at least one of: a GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, or a GNB-DU RESOURCE COORDINATION REQUEST message. The non-UE associated signaling may also include a newly created message.
When the gNB-DU determines the power saving information, it may send the power saving information to the gNB-CU via a UE associated signaling, or a non-UE associated signaling.
The UE associated signaling may include at least one of: a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUIRED message, or a UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER message.
The non-UE associated signaling may include at least one of: a GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, RESOURCE STATUS UPDATE message, or a GNB-DU STATUS INDICATION message.
The power saving related information may be referred to embodiment 9 as described above.
In a wireless network, to determine whether to allow a UE for a specific service, a Unified Access Control (UAC) is provide. For example, a UAC policy may exist in a cell level. Based on a cell level UAC, a determination may be made for allowing cell access to a UE. In this disclosure, an access control mechanism in a beam level is disclosed, to achieve finer granularity on access control.
Referring to
In one implementation, upon receiving the beam level UAC parameters, if the UE supports Beam level UAC, it will use the beam level UAC parameters for access control and ignore the cell level UAC parameters. That is, the beam level UAC parameters overrides the cell level level UAC parameters.
In one implementation, the beam level access control indicator may include a bitmap which indicates whether a particular beam is barred for the UE. Upon receiving the beam level access control indicator, if the UE supports beam level access control, one of the following options may be chosen:
The cell level UAC is only applicable to the beam that is barred (e.g., as indicated by a corresponding bit in beamBarredBitmap).
The cell level UAC is only applicable to the beam that is not barred. If a beam associated with the UE is barred, then for a cell associated with the barred beam, the UE may treat the cell as being barred.
When gNB decides to shutdown a cell or beam of a cell for power saving purpose, it may send an indicator (e.g., cell block indicator or beam level block indicator) to UE by SIB, informing the UE to avoid selecting the cell or beam as indicated by the indicator during cell selection or reselection procedure.
Upon receiving the indicator, the UE may reduce the priority of the cell or beam during cell reselection evaluation process by one of the following options:
UE considers the indicated cell or beam to be lowest priority during cell selection and reselection procedure. For example, if there is any other cell or beam available which satisfies the Quality of Service (QOS) requirement (e.g. the cell selection criterion S is fulfilled), the UE shall not select the indicated cell or the indicated beam.
Decreasing an offset value for the measured RSRP of the indicated cell or beam during cell reselection evaluation process. For example, for the indicated cell or beam, the RSRP is set to the measured RSRP-Offsetdepriorizing when perform the cell-ranking criterion decision during cell reselection evaluation process. The Offsetdepriorizing is a pre-defined offset value or an offset value indicated by eNB for adjusting the cell selection preference.
The gNB may also provide a neighbor cell information for a cell to the UE, which at least indicates a neighbor cell which is able to provide same or better coverage, or same or better QoS than the cell.
Upon reception of the neighbor cell information, when the cell or a beam of the cell is barred, the UE may reselect the neighbor cell directly based on the neighbor cell information, or the UE may reselect the neighbor cell with highest priority.
For gNB-DU to determine or select a power saving mechanism, gNB-CU or OAM may provide the power saving related information or network power saving assistance information to gNB-DU.
The power saving related information may include at least one of the following:
The resource type may include as least one of the: gNB-DU, cell, carrier of a cell, beam, slot, or symbol.
The UE associated signaling may include at least one of: a UE CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message, or a DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER message.
The non-UE associated signaling may include at least one of: a F1 SETUP RESPONSE message, a GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, or a GNB-DU RESOURCE COORDINATION REQUEST message.
The description and accompanying drawings above provide specific example embodiments and implementations. The described subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different forms and, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to be construed as not being limited to any example embodiments set forth herein. A reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matter is intended. Among other things, for example, subject matter may be embodied as methods, devices, components, systems, or non-transitory computer-readable media for storing computer codes. Accordingly, embodiments may, for example, take the form of hardware, software, firmware, storage media or any combination thereof. For example, the method embodiments described above may be implemented by components, devices, or systems including memory and processors by executing computer codes stored in the memory.
Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have nuanced meanings suggested or implied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning. Likewise, the phrase “in one embodiment/implementation” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and the phrase “in another embodiment/implementation” as used herein does not necessarily refer to a different embodiment. It is intended, for example, that claimed subject matter includes combinations of example embodiments in whole or in part.
In general, terminology may be understood at least in part from usage in context. For example, terms, such as “and”, “or”, or “and/or,” as used herein may include a variety of meanings that may depend at least in part on the context in which such terms are used. Typically, “or” if used to associate a list, such as A, B or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B or C, here used in the exclusive sense. In addition, the term “one or more” as used herein, depending at least in part upon context, may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in a singular sense or may be used to describe combinations of features, structures or characteristics in a plural sense. Similarly, terms, such as “a,” “an,” or “the,” may be understood to convey a singular usage or to convey a plural usage, depending at least in part upon context. In addition, the term “based on” may be understood as not necessarily intended to convey an exclusive set of factors and may, instead, allow for the existence of additional factors not necessarily expressly described, again, depending at least in part on context.
Reference throughout this specification to features, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized with the present solution should be or are included in any single implementation thereof. Rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present solution. Thus, discussions of the features and advantages, and similar language, throughout the specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment.
Furthermore, the described features, advantages and characteristics of the present solution may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. One of ordinary skill in the relevant art will recognize, in light of the description herein, that the present solution may be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the present solution.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2022/088621 | 4/22/2022 | WO |
