User equipment having improved power savings during full and partial dtx modes of operation

Abstract

The present invention achieves power savings by turning off all or some of the baseband processing for codes and timeslots that have not been transmitted due to full or partial DTX. With respect to partial DTX, the transmitted codes and associated timeslots and radio frames within the shortest TTI in the CCTrCH are determined from the received TFCI. Thereafter, the receiver is turned off for the unused codes as indicated by the received TFCI. With respect to full DTX, following TFCI reception, the receiver is turned off for all timeslots within the shortest TTI.

1 . A method for activating partial receiver processing in a user equipment (UE), the processing done on a frame-by-frame basis on a received signal, the method comprising:
 receiving a signal with a pre-defined Transmission Time Interval (TTI), the signal having at least one code and at least one timeslot;   determining whether the signal contains a valid Transport Format Combination Index (TFCI);   determining transmission codes and timeslots for the pre-defined TTI; and   deactivating receiver processing for transmission codes and timeslots not received for the pre-defined TTI.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein partial receiver processing is turned on for partial Discontinuous Transmission (DTX). 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein partial receiver processing is turned on for full Discontinuous Transmission (DTX). 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the signal is received over a radio channel, the channel comprising at plurality of sub-channels. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of sub-channels are grouped together based upon code. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of sub-channels are grouped together based upon time. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of sub-channels are grouped together based upon code and time. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the deactivation of receiver processing takes places for a plurality of sub-channels grouped together based upon TTI of the group being smallest. 
   
   
       10 . A User Equipment (UE) configured to process a received signal on a frame-by-frame basis for activating partial receiver processing, the UE comprising:
 a receiver configured to receive a signal with a pre-defined Transmission Time Interval (TTI), the signal having at least one code and timeslot; and   a processor configured to determine whether the signal contains a valid Transport Format Combination Index (TFCI) and upon successful determination, further determine transmission codes and timeslots for the pre-defined TTI, the processor further configured to deactivate receiver processing for transmission codes and timeslots not received for the pre-defined TTI.   
   
   
       11 . The UE of  claim 10 , wherein the processor turns on partial receiver processing for partial Discontinuous Transmission (DTX). 
   
   
       12 . The UE of  claim 10 , wherein the processor turns on partial receiver processing for full Discontinuous Transmission (DTX). 
   
   
       13 . The UE of  claim 10 , wherein the signal is received over a radio channel, the channel comprising at plurality of sub-channels. 
   
   
       14 . The UE of  claim 13 , wherein the plurality of sub-channels are grouped together based upon code. 
   
   
       15 . The UE of  claim 13 , wherein the plurality of sub-channels are grouped together based upon time. 
   
   
       16 . The UE of  claim 13 , wherein the plurality of sub-channels are grouped together based upon code and time. 
   
   
       17 . The UE of  claim 13 , wherein the deactivation of receiver processing takes places for a plurality of sub-channels grouped together based upon TTI of the group being smallest. 
   
   
       18 . The UE of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a logic unit configured to decode the TFCI and identify inactive codes and timeslots and output the result to the processor; and   the processor further configured to detect commencement of discontinuous transmission from the result and upon successful detection, deactivate receiver processing for timeslots of a later subframe that is inactive.   
   
   
       19 . The UE of  claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to interpret a code power estimate of the received signal. 
   
   
       20 . The UE of  claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to estimate quality of the received signal. 
   
   
       21 . The UE of  claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive a special burst signal.