User Equipment and Method in a Communications Network

Abstract

A method in a user equipment for deciding whether to send an uplink transmission to a radio access network node is provided. The user equipment and radio access network node are comprised in a communications network. The user equipment is configured with Discontinuous Reception (DRX), wherein the user equipment is in active time or not in active time. The user equipment decides whether to send the uplink transmission at a transmission time t, based on the DRX status of the user equipment at a predefined earlier time instance relative to the transmission time t.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method in a user equipment configured to operate with Discontinuous Reception (DRX) in a radio access network, wherein a corresponding DRX status of the user equipment is either active or inactive, the method comprising:
 deciding whether to send an uplink transmission for a radio access network node at a transmission time t, based on the DRX status of the user equipment at a predefined earlier time instance relative to the transmission time t.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the uplink transmission comprises at least one of periodic uplink control signaling and transmission of a sounding reference signal. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the periodic uplink control signaling comprises Channel State Information (CSI) comprising all of or any subsets of Channel Quality Indication (CQI), Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), Rank Indication (RI), and Precoder Type Indicator (PTI). 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 deciding a format to use for sending other uplink control signaling together with the periodic uplink control signaling, based on the DRX status of the user equipment at the predefined earlier time instance relative to the transmission time t.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the other uplink control signaling comprises at least one of Hybrid Automatic Repeat ReQuest (HARQ) feedback and Acknowledgement/Not acknowledgement (A/N) feedback. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the uplink transmission comprises a sounding reference signal transmission and wherein the method further comprises deciding whether to puncture an uplink data transmission coinciding with the transmission time t with the sounding reference signal transmission, based on the DRX status of the user equipment at the predefined earlier time instance relative to the transmission time t. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the uplink data transmission is to be sent on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein, when the decision is made to puncture the uplink data transmission with the sounding reference signal transmission, the method includes puncturing a last symbol of the uplink data. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises deciding whether to send the uplink transmission in further dependence on whether another uplink transmission from the user equipment coincides with the transmission time t. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising deciding to base the transmission decision at the transmission time t on the DRX status of the user equipment at the predefined earlier time instance in dependence on there having been a change in an active time of the user equipment for DRX operation, due to radio access network node signaling or radio access network node data transmission to the user equipment. 
     
     
         11 . A user equipment configured for operation in a radio access network and comprising: radio circuitry configured for communicating with the radio access network; and
 a processing circuit operatively associated with the radio circuitry and configured to:
 operate the user equipment in a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration, wherein a corresponding DRX status of the user equipment is either active or inactive; and 
 decide whether to send an uplink transmission for a radio access network node at a transmission time t, based on the DRX status of the user equipment at a predefined earlier time instance relative to the transmission time t. 
   
     
     
         12 . The user equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the uplink transmission comprises at least one of a periodic uplink control signaling and transmission of a sounding reference signal. 
     
     
         13 . The user equipment of  claim 12 , wherein the periodic uplink control signaling comprises Channel State Information (CSI), comprising all of or any subsets of Channel Quality Indication (CQI), Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), Rank Indication (RI), and Precoder Type Indicator (PTI). 
     
     
         14 . The user equipment of  claim 12 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to decide a format to use for sending other uplink control signaling together with the periodic uplink control signaling, based on the DRX status of the user equipment at the predefined earlier time instance relative to the transmission time t. 
     
     
         15 . The user equipment of  claim 14 , wherein the other uplink control signaling comprises at least one of Hybrid Automatic Repeat ReQuest (HARQ) feedback and Acknowledgement/Not acknowledgement (A/N) feedback. 
     
     
         16 . The user equipment of  claim 11  wherein the uplink transmission comprises a sounding reference signal transmission and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to decide whether to puncture an uplink data transmission coinciding with the transmission time t with the sounding reference signal transmission, based on the DRX status of the user equipment at the predefined earlier time instance relative to the transmission time t. 
     
     
         17 . The user equipment of  claim 16 , wherein the uplink data transmission is to be sent on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). 
     
     
         18 . The user equipment of  claim 16 , wherein, when the processing circuit decides to puncture the uplink data transmission, the processing circuit is configured to puncture a last symbol of the uplink data transmission with the sounding reference signal transmission. 
     
     
         19 . The user equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to decide whether to send the uplink transmission in further dependence on whether another uplink transmission from the user equipment coincides with the transmission time t. 
     
     
         20 . The user equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to decide to base the transmission decision at the transmission time t on the DRX status of the user equipment at the predefined earlier time instance in dependence on there having been a change in an active time of the user equipment for DRX operation, due to radio access network node signaling or radio access network node data transmission to the user equipment.