FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The disclosure pertains to DRX (discontinuous reception) and means for indicating which user devices have incoming messages on hold.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In 5G and 6G, a user device using DRX (discontinuous reception) may be in an idle or “sleep” state when the base station tries to download a message addressed to the user device. What is needed is a way for the base station to inform the user devices that they have an incoming message on hold when the user devices are ready to receive it.

This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect, there is a method for a base station of a wireless network to poll user devices of the wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting a polling array comprising a plurality of polling elements, wherein each polling element is associated with one of the user devices respectively, and each polling element comprises one resource element, wherein each polling element is set to a first value when the base station is holding a message for the associated user device, and to a second value when the base station is not holding a message for the associated user device; allocating a reply region comprising a plurality of reply elements, each reply element assigned to one of the user devices respectively; monitoring the reply region to detect single-bit reply signals from the user devices; and for each reply signal detected in the reply region, determining which user device requests transmission of a message on hold.

In another aspect, there is a particular user device, of a wireless network comprising a plurality of user devices, the particular user device configured to: receive, from a base station, one or more messages indicating a section number of a particular section and a position number of a particular position within the particular section; at a predetermined time and frequency, receive an index message indicating one or more sections; determine, according to the index message, whether the particular section is indicated in the index message; receive the polling message comprising polling elements of sections that are indicated in the index message, wherein each polling element indicates whether one of the user devices has an incoming message waiting at the base station; and if the particular section is included in the polling message, determine, according to a particular polling element of the polling message, whether the particular user device has an incoming message waiting at the base station.

In another aspect, there is non-transitory computer-readable media in a base station or core network of a wireless network, the wireless network comprising a plurality of user devices in signal communication with the base station, the media containing instructions that when implemented by a computing environment cause a method to be performed, the method comprising: determining integer Nsect sections, each section comprising integer Npos positions within the section; assigning each user device to one of the sections and one of the positions, respectively; determining which sections include at least one waiting user device, wherein a waiting user device is a user device that has a message holding in the base station; determining how many waiting sections are in the network, wherein a waiting section includes at least one waiting user device; and determining how many waiting user devices are in each waiting section.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form. The concepts are further described in the Detailed Description section. Elements or steps other than those described in this Summary are possible, and no element or step is necessarily required. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

These and other embodiments are described in further detail with reference to the figures and accompanying detailed description as provided below.

