US20140038588A1 - Terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling includes determining whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced, if the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, transmitting a throttling request signal to the base station, the throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, and receiving from the base station a discontinuous uplink transmission grant.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• The technology of the present disclosure relates generally to portable electronic devices and transmission equipment operable in a wireless communication network and more particularly to systems and methods for terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
• Portable electronic devices that operate in a cellular network, such as mobile telephones and smartphones, tablet computers, cellular-connected laptop computers, and similar devices are ever increasing in popularity. In a typical wireless telecommunication network, terminals (also known as mobile stations and/or user equipment (UE)) communicate via a radio access network (RAN) to one or more core networks. The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, with each cell area being served by a base station, e.g., a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be called, for example, NodeB in UMTS or eNodeB in LTE. A cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio base station equipment at a base station site. Each cell is identified by an identity within the local radio area, which is broadcast in the cell. The base stations communicate over the air interface operating on radio frequencies with the terminals within range of the base stations.
• In one example of a RAN, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a wireless telecommunication system that evolved from the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). In UMTS the RAN is referred to as a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). UTRAN is a RAN that uses, among other radio access technologies (RAT), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) for communication between the mobile station and the terminal. Base stations in UMTS are known as NodeB, which connect to a radio network controller (RCN) which supervises and coordinates various activities of the NodeB connected thereto.
• In another example of a RAN, Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a wireless telecommunication system that evolved from UMTS and utilizes a RAN known as evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). E-UTRAN is a RAN that uses a RAT also known as LTE for communication between the mobile station and the terminal. In LTE, the base stations, known as eNodeB, are connected directly to the core network rather than to an RNC. In general, in LTE the functions of the RNC are distributed between the eNodeB in the network.
• In a wireless communication system, such as UMTS and LTE, one of the largest power consuming elements in the terminal and the base station is typically the power amplifier to the radio transmitter. In these systems, the maximum available output power is usually lower in the uplink direction (i.e., transmissions from terminal to base station) than the downlink direction (i.e., transmissions from base station to terminal). The reason for such asymmetric power balance may be that the terminal is battery powered and thus its power amplifiers may be power limited, while the base station connects to power lines and thus has less constrains on the amount of power consumed by the power amplifier. This asymmetric power balance causes the total network coverage to generally be limited in the uplink direction as compared to the downlink direction.
• Other reasons for the uplink transmissions to be limited in terms of maximum output power include heat generation. Unlike a base station that may reside in, for example, an uninhabited hut, the terminal is often intended to be used by human users. If the terminal were to continuously transmit at its maximum specified power, it may generate too much heat, which could make the terminal unsafe or at least uncomfortable for a user to handle. Another reason for the uplink transmissions to be limited in terms of maximum output power may be the maximum instantaneous power supply available to the terminal. For example, the terminal may be powered by a USB 2.0 connector, whose total maximum current drain is 500 mA @ 5V.
• This asymmetric power balance limitation is particularly acute when the terminal involved is in a limited output power scenario that further limits terminal power.
SUMMARY
• The concept of the systems and methods disclosed herein includes the capability for a terminal in a wireless communication system to signal the base station to effectively limit the duty cycle of the terminal's transmitter to limit its power amplifier's power consumption. Since the base station controls when the terminal transmits via uplink transmission grants, the terminal operating at low power levels may request the base station to throttle uplink transmissions to reduce its power amplifier's power consumption. The concept of the systems and methods disclosed herein may include adding a control signal possibility to the wireless communication system specification. For 3GPP standards relating to LTE and UTMS this concept may involve the addition of a message into the Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling for indication of a terminal specific recommended maximum uplink transmission duty cycle. This additional signaling message would be intended for use by terminals that currently are in a limited output power scenario, enabling the terminal to request discontinuous uplink transmission grants.
• Benefits of this concept include that the terminal can maintain a connection with the network even if instantaneous output power level is higher than what would be possible in a continuous uplink transmission. This can help solve transmission power related issues in the terminal including, but not limited to, providing larger network system coverage, enabling longer terminal battery lifetime, reducing risk for terminal overheating, and managing regulatory requirements on maximum terminal energy emission (SAR).
• Accordingly, in one aspect of the invention a method for terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling includes determining whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced, if the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, transmitting a throttling request signal to the base station, the throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, and receiving from the base station a discontinuous uplink transmission grant.
• In one embodiment, the determining whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced includes at least one of determining that the terminal is at risk of overheating, determining a shortage power supply to the terminal, and determining that the terminal is at risk of exceeding Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) regulatory requirements.
• In another embodiment, the transmitting the throttling request signal to the base station includes transmitting the throttling request signal via the radio resource control (RRC) layer.
• In yet another embodiment, the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle for the discontinuous uplink transmission grant.
• In one embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately ⅓ duty cycle and approximately ⅔ duty cycle; and approximately ½ duty cycle and approximately 100% duty cycle.
• In another embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately ⅕ duty cycle, approximately ⅖ duty cycle, approximately ⅗ duty cycle, and approximately ⅘ duty cycle; and approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ¾ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.
• In yet another embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately 1/9 duty cycle, approximately 2/9 duty cycle, approximately ⅓ duty cycle, approximately 4/9 duty cycle, approximately 5/9 duty cycle, approximately 6/9 duty cycle, approximately 7/9 duty cycle, and approximately 8/9 duty cycle; and approximately ⅛ duty cycle, approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ⅝ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ⅞ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.
• In one embodiment, the method includes, if the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced, transmitting a second throttling request signal to the base station, the second throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to no longer issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal.
• In another aspect of the invention, a terminal for operation in a wireless telecommunication system including terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling includes a power consumption logic configured to determine whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced, a throttling logic operatively connected to the power consumption logic and configured to receive from the power consumption logic an indication as to whether the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, wherein where the throttling logic receives from the power consumption logic the indication that the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, the throttling logic is configured to encode a throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, a transmitter configured to transmit the throttling request signal, and a receiver configured to receive from the base station the discontinuous uplink transmission grant.
• In one embodiment, the power consumption logic is configured to determine whether the terminal power consumption is to be reduced by at least one of determining that the terminal is at risk of overheating, determining a shortage power supply to the terminal, and determining that the terminal is at risk of exceeding Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) regulatory requirements.
• In another embodiment, the transmitter is configured to transmit the throttling request signal via a radio resource control (RRC) layer.
• In yet another embodiment, the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle for the discontinuous uplink transmission grant.
• In one embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately ⅓ duty cycle and approximately ⅔ duty cycle; and approximately ½ duty cycle and approximately 100% duty cycle.
• In another embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately ⅕ duty cycle, approximately ⅖ duty cycle, approximately ⅗ duty cycle, and approximately ⅘ duty cycle; and approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ¾ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.
• In yet another embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately 1/9 duty cycle, approximately 2/9 duty cycle, approximately ⅓ duty cycle, approximately 4/9 duty cycle, approximately 5/9 duty cycle, approximately 6/9 duty cycle, approximately 7/9 duty cycle, and approximately 8/9 duty cycle; and approximately ⅛ duty cycle, approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ⅝ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ⅞ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.
• In one embodiment, the power consumption logic is further configured to determine whether the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced, the throttling logic is further configured to receive from the power consumption logic an indication as to whether the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced, wherein where the throttling logic receives from the power consumption logic the indication that the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced, the throttling logic is configured to encode a second throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to no longer issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, and the transmitter is further configured to transmit the second throttling request signal.
• In yet another aspect of the invention, an electronic device for operation in a wireless telecommunication system including terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling includes a receiver configured to receive a throttling request signal from a requesting terminal, the throttling request signal including data indicating to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, an uplink transmission scheduling logic operatively connected to the receiver and configured to, upon the receiver receiving the throttling request signal including data indicating to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, generate a discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal, and a transmitter operatively connected to the uplink transmission scheduling logic and configured to transmit the discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal to the requesting terminal.
• In one embodiment, the receiver is configured to receive the throttling request signal via a radio resource control (RRC) layer.
• In another embodiment, the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle for the discontinuous uplink transmission grant and wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to at least one of 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately ⅓ duty cycle and approximately ⅔ duty cycle, and approximately ½ duty cycle and approximately 100% duty cycle; 2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately ⅕ duty cycle, approximately ⅖ duty cycle, approximately ⅗ duty cycle and approximately ⅘ duty cycle, and approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ¾ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle; and 3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of approximately 1/9 duty cycle, approximately 2/9 duty cycle, approximately ⅓ duty cycle, approximately 4/9 duty cycle, approximately 5/9 duty cycle, approximately 6/9 duty cycle, approximately 7/9 duty cycle, and approximately 8/9 duty cycle, and approximately ⅛ duty cycle, approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ⅝ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ⅞ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.
• In yet another embodiment, the receiver is further configured to receive a second throttling request signal from the requesting terminal, the second throttling request signal including data indicating to no longer issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, the uplink transmission scheduling logic is further configured to, upon the receiver receiving the second throttling request signal, generate a non-discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal, and the transmitter is further configured to transmit the non-discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal to the requesting terminal.
• These and further features of the present invention will be apparent with reference to the following description and attached drawings. In the description and drawings, particular embodiments of the invention have been disclosed in detail as being indicative of some of the ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed, but it is understood that the invention is not limited correspondingly in scope. Rather, the invention includes all changes, modifications and equivalents coming within the spirit and terms of the claims appended hereto.
• Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.
• It should be emphasized that the terms “comprises” and “comprising,” when used in this specification, are taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of a wireless telecommunications network.
• FIGS. 2A and 2B show diagrams illustrating an exemplary potential difference in terminal transmission grants before (FIG. 2A) and after (FIG. 2B) the terminal has signaled to the base station to issue discontinuous uplink transmission grants.
• FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of a radio access network (RAN) including exemplary block diagrams of a terminal and a base station.
• FIG. 4 illustrates a logical flow of a method for terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling.
• FIG. 5 illustrates logical flow of a method for an electronic device for operation in a wireless telecommunication system including terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling is shown.
• FIG. 6 illustrates a detailed block diagram of an exemplary terminal, which in the illustrated embodiment is represented by a mobile phone.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
• Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. It will be understood that the figures are not necessarily to scale.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of awireless telecommunications network10. Thenetwork10 includes a radio access network (RAN)12.FIG. 1 illustrates theRAN12 as an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN), the RAN associated with LTE, as an example. However, theRAN12 may also be any RAN other than EUTRAN including RAN that are currently deployed as well as RAN that are currently in development or that will be developed in the future. Thenetwork10 includes acore network19, which includes the parts of thetelecommunications network10 that provide the various services to customers who are connected by theRAN12.
• TheRAN12 includesterminals14a-b. Theterminals14a-bare what in LTE is referred to as user equipment (UE). In wireless telecommunications networks other than LTE, including networks that are currently deployed as well as networks that are currently in development or that will be developed in the future, the terminals may be referred to by terms other than terminals, mobile stations, or user equipment. However, the term terminals as employed herein is intended to include those terminals in wireless telecommunications networks such as UMTS and LTE as well as networks other than UMTS and LTE, and terminals in yet to be developed or deployed networks where the terminals have similar functionality as the terminals described herein in the context of LTE.
• TheRAN12 further includes abase station16. As discussed above, in LTE thebase station16 is known as eNodeB (evolved NodeB or eNB). In wireless telecommunications networks other than LTE, including networks that are currently deployed as well as networks that are currently in development or that will be developed in the future, the base stations may be referred to by terms other than base stations, NodeB, or eNodeB. However, the term base station as employed herein is intended to include those base stations in wireless telecommunications networks such as UMTS and LTE as well as networks other than UMTS and LTE, and base stations in yet to be developed or deployed networks where the base stations have similar functionality as the base stations described herein in the context of LTE. Moreover, a base station as the term is employed herein may include other entities in wireless telecommunications systems that control the uplink transmissions of the terminals in a similar manner as the base stations disclosed herein. For example, a relay node that may be made to control the uplink transmissions of the terminals behaves as a base station.
• Thebase station16 communicates with theterminals14a-busing radio access technologies (RAT) via an air interface. In LTE the RAT is known as LTE and the air interface is known as LTE-Uu. AlthoughRAN12 has been described as discreetly LTE, in practice, base stations may be multi radio units, capable of transmitting in several different RAT. Due to the reuse of infrastructure at the cellular sites, as well as backhaul capabilities, a single base station may be using more than one RAT and may be transmitting at more than one carrier frequency.
• In many communication systems such as LTE thebase station16 has control over when theterminals14a-bare allowed to transmit uplink transmissions, and for this purpose thebase station16 provides uplink transmission grants that control when the terminal is allowed to transmit. In this manner, thebase station16 can control system aspects such as data transmissions scheduling to optimize uplink transmission capacity, and to control the total uplink interference levels. The procedure to transmit data in the uplink direction after data has arrived to the terminal's buffer is typically as follows: 1) in the subframe where thebase station16 has a scheduling request (SR) resource available, the terminal transmits an SR, which is a one-bit flag to indicate that the terminal14aor14bhas new data, 2) thebase station16 receives the SR and after a processing delay, an initial uplink transmission grant is transmitted to the terminal14aor14ballocating time/frequency resources for uplink transmission, 3) using the granted resources, the terminal14aor14btransmits data as well as a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to indicate to thebase station16 how much data it still has available in its buffer after the transmission, 4) when thebase station16 has received the BSR, it can continue allocating uplink resources to the terminal14aor14band the terminal14aor14bcan perform further uplink transmissions. Decisions regarding scheduling of uplink resources may be based on quality of service (QoS) parameters, buffer status, uplink channel quality measurements, terminal capabilities, etc.
• In theRAN12 theterminals14a-bdetermine whether terminal power consumption needs to be reduced. The terminal's power consumption may need to be reduced because the terminal is at risk of overheating, because there is a shortage of power supply to the terminal, or because the terminal is at risk of exceeding Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) regulatory requirements, among other potential reasons. Whenever the terminal14aor14bdetermines that terminal power consumption needs to be reduced, the terminal14aor14bsignals the base station16 (e.g., via the radio resource control (RRC) layer) to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal14 or14b. Thebase station16, in turn, issues the discontinuous uplink transmission grant effectively limiting the terminal's power consumption.
• Similarly, whenever the terminal14aor14bdetermines that terminal power consumption no longer needs to be reduced, the terminal14aor14bsignals thebase station16 to essentially inform thebase station16 that throttling is no longer necessary. Thebase station16, in turn, ceases to issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant or issues a non-discontinuous uplink transmission grant.
• RRC signaling is specified in 3GPP TS 25.331 for UTMS and TS 36.331 for LTE. A new message bit pattern could be included in the terminal capability update procedure. In one embodiment, the new message includes data representing a maximum duty cycle for the uplink transmission grant that may be signaled, for example, by one, two or three bits, giving the possibility for two, four, or eight duty cycle levels, respectively. Since several duty cycle levels are specified, in one embodiment, the same RRC signaling message can be reused by the terminal14aor14bcurrently being throttled to request thebase station16 to conclude throttling and/or to issue non-discontinuous uplink transmission grants.
• FIGS. 2A and 2B show diagrams illustrating an exemplary potential difference in terminal transmission grants before (FIG. 2A) and after (FIG. 2B) the terminal has signaled to the base station to issue discontinuous uplink transmission grants. The illustrated uplink transmission grants are merely exemplary and the base station can provide many other different uplink transmission grants. In the example ofFIG. 2A continuous transmission is granted before the terminal signals the base station for discontinuous uplink transmission grants. Thus, before the terminal signals to the base station to issue discontinuous uplink transmission grants, the base station allows the terminal to transmit for a time t. Once the terminal signals the base station for discontinuous uplink transmission grants, asFIG. 2B shows, discontinuous transmission is granted and thus uplink transmissions are limited to transmission bursts of less than time t after the discontinuous transmission uplink grants are received.
• In one embodiment, the terminal transmits a requests signal that includes data representing a maximum duty cycle for the discontinuous uplink transmission grant. In one embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels. Possible maximum duty cycle levels with 1 bit signaling include approximately ⅓ duty cycle and approximately ⅔ duty cycle, and approximately ½ duty cycle and approximately 100% duty cycle. In another embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 2 bit representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels. Possible maximum duty cycle levels with 2 bit signaling include approximately ⅕ duty cycle, approximately ⅖ duty cycle, approximately ⅗ duty cycle and approximately ⅘ duty cycle, and approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ¾ duty cycle and approximately 100% duty cycle. In yet another embodiment, the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 3 bit representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels. Possible maximum duty cycle levels with 3 bits signaling include approximately 1/9 duty cycle, approximately 2/9 duty cycle, approximately ⅓ duty cycle, approximately 4/9 duty cycle, approximately 5/9 duty cycle, approximately 6/9 duty cycle, approximately 7/9 duty cycle, and approximately 8/9 duty cycle; and approximately ⅛ duty cycle, approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ⅝ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ⅞ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.
• FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of theRAN12 including exemplary block diagrams of the terminal14 and thebase station16.
• The terminal14 includes apower consumption logic141 that determines whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced. In one embodiment, thepower consumption logic141 determines that terminal power consumption is to be reduced because it determines that the terminal14 is overheating or at risk of overheating. In another embodiment, thepower consumption logic141 determines that terminal power consumption is to be reduced because it determines that a shortage power supply to the terminal14 exists. In yet another embodiment, thepower consumption logic141 determines that terminal power consumption is to be reduced because it determines that the terminal14 has exceeded or is at risk of exceeding Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) regulatory requirements. When thepower consumption logic141 determines that terminal power consumption is to be reduced, it issues an indication.
• The terminal14 also includes a throttlinglogic142 that receives from thepower consumption logic141 the indication as to whether the terminal power consumption is to be reduced. When the throttlinglogic142 receives from thepower consumption logic141 the indication that the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, the throttlinglogic142 encodes a throttling request signal including data for transmission to thebase station16 and indicating to thebase station16 to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal14.
• The terminal14 further includes atransmitter143 that transmits the throttling request signal, and areceiver144 configured to receive from thebase station16 the uplink transmission grants. In one embodiment, thetransmitter143 transmits the throttling request signal via a radio resource control (RRC)layer25.
• The terminal14 further includes aterminal controller145 operatively connected to thepower consumption logic141, the throttlinglogic142, thetransmitter143, and thereceiver144 to thereby control the terminal14.
• Thebase station16 includes areceiver161 that receives the throttling request signal from the terminal14 and an uplinktransmission scheduling logic162 connected thereceiver161 and that generates a discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal upon receiving of the throttling request signal. Thebase station16 further includes atransmitter163 connected to the uplinktransmission scheduling logic162 that transmits the discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal to the terminal14. In one embodiment, thetransmitter163 transmits the discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal to thereceiver144 via the Physical Control Channel (PDCCH)17 as specified for LTE, while in other embodiments other channels are used.
• Thebase station16 further includes abase station controller164 operatively connected to thereceiver161, the uplinktransmission scheduling logic162, and thetransmitter163 to thereby control thebase station16.
• In one embodiment, thepower consumption logic141 also determines whether the terminal power consumption no longer needs to be reduced. In one embodiment, thepower consumption logic141 determines that terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced because it determines that the terminal14 is no longer at risk of overheating, that the shortage power supply to the terminal14 no longer exists, or that the terminal14 is no longer at risk of exceeding SAR regulatory requirements. When thepower consumption logic141 determines that terminal power consumption no longer is to be reduced, it issues another indication. The throttlinglogic142 receives from thepower consumption logic141 the indication as to whether the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced and encodes a second throttling request signal including data indicating to thebase station16 to no longer issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal14. Thetransmitter143 transmits the second throttling request signal. In this case, thereceiver161 receives the second throttling request signal from the requestingterminal14 and the uplinktransmission scheduling logic162, upon the receiving of the second throttling request signal, generates a non-discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal for thetransmitter163 to transmit to the requestingterminal14.
• In accordance with the above features,FIGS. 4 and 5 show flowcharts that illustrate logical operations to implement exemplary methods for dynamic adaptation of one or more communication parameters for communication between a base station and a terminal in a wireless telecommunications network. The exemplary methods may be carried out by executing embodiments of the base stations, terminals, mobile telephones, flash devices or machine-readable storage media disclosed herein, for example. Thus, the flowcharts ofFIGS. 4 and 5 may be thought of as depicting steps of a method carried out in the above-disclosed systems or devices by operation of hardware, software, or combinations thereof. AlthoughFIGS. 4 and 5 show a specific order of executing functional logic blocks, the order of executing the blocks may be changed relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocks shown in succession may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Certain blocks also may be omitted.
• In reference toFIG. 4, logical flow of amethod40 for terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling includes, at41, determining whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced. At42, if the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, at43, transmit a throttling request signal to the base station for the base station to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal and return to41 to determining whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced. Also, at44, themethod40 includes receiving from the base station a discontinuous uplink transmission grant. Back to42, if the terminal power consumption is not to be reduced, at45, themethod40 includes, transmitting the second throttling request signal to the base station and return to41 to determining whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced. In one embodiment, the transmitting the second throttling request signal to the base station occurs only if a discontinuous uplink transmission grant was previously received by the terminal. Also, at46, themethod40 includes receiving from the base station a non-discontinuous uplink transmission grant.
• In reference toFIG. 5, logical flow of amethod50 for an electronic device for operation in a wireless telecommunication system including terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling is shown. At51, themethod50 includes receiving a throttling request signal from a requesting terminal. At52, if the throttling request signal includes data indicating to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, at53, generate a discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal, and, at54, transmit the uplink transmission grant signal to the requesting terminal. Back to52, if the throttling request signal includes data indicating to not issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, at55, generate a non-discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal and, at54, transmit the uplink transmission grant signal to the requesting terminal.
• FIG. 6 illustrates a detailed block diagram of an exemplary terminal, which in the illustrated embodiment is represented by themobile phone100. Thephone100 includes acontrol circuit632 that is responsible for overall operation of thephone100. For this purpose, thecontrol circuit632 includes theterminal controller145 that executes various applications, including applications related to or that form part of thephone100 functioning as a terminal.
• In one embodiment, functionality of thephone100 acting as the terminal described above in reference toFIGS. 1-5 are embodied in the form of executable logic (e.g., lines of code, software, or a program) that is stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium244 (e.g., a memory, a hard drive, etc.) of thephone100 and is executed by thecontrol circuit632. The described operations may be thought of as a method that is carried out by thephone100. Variations to the illustrated and described techniques are possible and, therefore, the disclosed embodiments should not be considered the only manner of carrying outphone100 functions.
• Thephone100 further includes theGUI110, which may be coupled to thecontrol circuit632 by avideo circuit626 that converts video data to a video signal used to drive theGUI110. Thevideo circuit626 may include any appropriate buffers, decoders, video data processors and so forth.
• Thephone100 further includes communications circuitry that enables thephone100 to establish communication connections such as a telephone call. In the exemplary embodiment, the communications circuitry includes aradio circuit616. Theradio circuit616 includes one or more radio frequency transceivers including thereceiver144, thetransmitter143 and an antenna assembly (or assemblies). Since thephone100 is capable of communicating using more than one standard, theradio circuit616 including thereceiver144 and thetransmitter143 represents each radio transceiver and antenna needed for the various supported connection types. Theradio circuit616 including thereceiver144 and thetransmitter143 further represents any radio transceivers and antennas used for local wireless communications directly with an electronic device, such as over a Bluetooth interface.
• As indicated, thephone100 includes theprimary control circuit632 that is configured to carry out overall control of the functions and operations of thephone100. Theterminal controller145 of thecontrol circuit632 may be a central processing unit (CPU), microcontroller or microprocessor. Theterminal controller145 executes code stored in a memory (not shown) within thecontrol circuit632 and/or in a separate memory, such as the machine-readable storage medium244, in order to carry out operation of thephone100. The machine-readable storage medium244 may be, for example, one or more of a buffer, a flash memory, a hard drive, a removable media, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a random access memory (RAM), or other suitable device. In a typical arrangement, the machine-readable storage medium244 includes a non-volatile memory for long term data storage and a volatile memory that functions as system memory for thecontrol circuit632. The machine-readable storage medium244 may exchange data with thecontrol circuit632 over a data bus. Accompanying control lines and an address bus between the machine-readable storage medium244 and thecontrol circuit632 also may be present. The machine-readable storage medium244 is considered a non-transitory computer readable medium. In one embodiment, data regarding the indication is stored in the machine-readable storage medium244.
• Thephone100 may further include asound circuit621 for processing audio signals. Coupled to thesound circuit621 are aspeaker622 and amicrophone624 that enable a user to listen and speak via thephone100, and hear sounds generated in connection with other functions of thedevice100. Thesound circuit621 may include any appropriate buffers, encoders, decoders, amplifiers and so forth.
• Thephone100 may further include akeypad120 that provides for a variety of user input operations as described above in reference toFIG. 1. Thephone100 may further include one or more input/output (I/O) interface(s)628. The I/O interface(s)628 may be in the form of typical electronic device I/O interfaces and may include one or more electrical connectors for operatively connecting thephone100 to another device (e.g., a computer) or an accessory (e.g., a personal handsfree (PHF) device) via a cable. Further, operating power may be received over the I/O interface(s)628 and power to charge a battery of a power supply unit (PSU)631 within thephone100 may be received over the I/O interface(s)628. ThePSU631 may supply power to operate thephone100 in the absence of an external power source.
• Thephone100 also may include various other components. For instance, theimaging element102 may be present for taking digital pictures and/or movies. Image and/or video files corresponding to the pictures and/or movies may be stored in the machine-readable storage medium244. As another example, aposition data receiver634, such as a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, may be present to assist in determining the location of thephone100.
• Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, it is understood that equivalents and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of the specification. The present invention includes all such equivalents and modifications, and is limited only by the scope of the following claims.

Claims (20)

What is claimed is:

1. A method for terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling, the method comprising:

determining whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced;

if the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, transmitting a throttling request signal to the base station, the throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal; and

receiving from the base station a discontinuous uplink transmission grant.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the determining whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced includes at least one of:

determining that the terminal is at risk of overheating,

determining a shortage power supply to the terminal, and

determining that the terminal is at risk of exceeding Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) regulatory requirements.

3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the transmitting the throttling request signal to the base station includes transmitting the throttling request signal via the radio resource control (RRC) layer.

4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle for the discontinuous uplink transmission grant.

5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately ⅓ duty cycle and approximately ⅔ duty cycle; and

approximately ½ duty cycle and approximately 100% duty cycle.

6. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately ⅕ duty cycle, approximately ⅖ duty cycle, approximately ⅗ duty cycle, and approximately ⅘ duty cycle; and

approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ¾ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.

7. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately 1/9 duty cycle, approximately 2/9 duty cycle, approximately ⅓ duty cycle, approximately 4/9 duty cycle, approximately 5/9 duty cycle, approximately 6/9 duty cycle, approximately 7/9 duty cycle, and approximately 8/9 duty cycle; and

approximately ⅛ duty cycle, approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ⅝ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ⅞ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.

8. The method ofclaim 1, comprising:

if the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced, transmitting a second throttling request signal to the base station, the second throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to no longer issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal.

9. A terminal for operation in a wireless telecommunication system including terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling, the terminal comprising:

a power consumption logic configured to determine whether terminal power consumption is to be reduced;

a throttling logic operatively connected to the power consumption logic and configured to receive from the power consumption logic an indication as to whether the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, wherein where the throttling logic receives from the power consumption logic the indication that the terminal power consumption is to be reduced, the throttling logic is configured to encode a throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal;

a transmitter configured to transmit the throttling request signal; and

a receiver configured to receive from the base station the discontinuous uplink transmission grant.

10. The terminal ofclaim 9, wherein the power consumption logic is configured to determine whether the terminal power consumption is to be reduced by at least one of:

determining that the terminal is at risk of overheating,

determining a shortage power supply to the terminal, and

determining that the terminal is at risk of exceeding Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) regulatory requirements.

11. The terminal ofclaim 9, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the throttling request signal via a radio resource control (RRC) layer.

12. The terminal ofclaim 9, wherein the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle for the discontinuous uplink transmission grant.

13. The terminal ofclaim 12, wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately ⅓ duty cycle and approximately ⅔ duty cycle; and

approximately ½ duty cycle and approximately 100% duty cycle.

14. The terminal ofclaim 12, wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately ⅕ duty cycle, approximately ⅖ duty cycle, approximately ⅗ duty cycle, and approximately ⅘ duty cycle; and

approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ¾ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.

15. The terminal ofclaim 12, wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately 1/9 duty cycle, approximately 2/9 duty cycle, approximately ⅓ duty cycle, approximately 4/9 duty cycle, approximately 5/9 duty cycle, approximately 6/9 duty cycle, approximately 7/9 duty cycle, and approximately 8/9 duty cycle; and

approximately ⅛ duty cycle, approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ⅝ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ⅞ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.

16. The terminal ofclaim 9, wherein:

the power consumption logic is further configured to determine whether the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced,

the throttling logic is further configured to receive from the power consumption logic an indication as to whether the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced, wherein where the throttling logic receives from the power consumption logic the indication that the terminal power consumption is no longer to be reduced, the throttling logic is configured to encode a second throttling request signal including data indicating to the base station to no longer issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, and

the transmitter is further configured to transmit the second throttling request signal.

17. An electronic device for operation in a wireless telecommunication system including terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling, the device comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a throttling request signal from a requesting terminal, the throttling request signal including data indicating to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal;

an uplink transmission scheduling logic operatively connected to the receiver and configured to, upon the receiver receiving the throttling request signal including data indicating to issue a discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal, generate a discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal; and

a transmitter operatively connected to the uplink transmission scheduling logic and configured to transmit the discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal to the requesting terminal.

18. The device ofclaim 17, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the throttling request signal via a radio resource control (RRC) layer.

19. The device ofclaim 17, wherein the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle for the discontinuous uplink transmission grant and wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to at least one of:

1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately ⅓ duty cycle and approximately ⅔ duty cycle, and

approximately ½ duty cycle and approximately 100% duty cycle;

2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately ⅕ duty cycle, approximately ⅖ duty cycle, approximately ⅗ duty cycle and approximately ⅘ duty cycle, and

approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ¾ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle; and

3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:

approximately 1/9 duty cycle, approximately 2/9 duty cycle, approximately ⅓ duty cycle, approximately 4/9 duty cycle, approximately 5/9 duty cycle, approximately 6/9 duty cycle, approximately 7/9 duty cycle, and approximately 8/9 duty cycle, and

approximately ⅛ duty cycle, approximately ¼ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ½ duty cycle, approximately ⅝ duty cycle, approximately ⅜ duty cycle, approximately ⅞ duty cycle, and approximately 100% duty cycle.

20. The device ofclaim 17, wherein:

the receiver is further configured to receive a second throttling request signal from the requesting terminal, the second throttling request signal including data indicating to no longer issue the discontinuous uplink transmission grant to the terminal;

the uplink transmission scheduling logic is further configured to, upon the receiver receiving the second throttling request signal, generate a non-discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal; and

the transmitter is further configured to transmit the non-discontinuous uplink transmission grant signal to the requesting terminal.

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