Terminal requested base station controlled terminal transmission throttling

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.

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; 
 when 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, wherein the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle of forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions from the terminal to the base station; 
 receiving from the base station the discontinuous uplink transmission grant; and 
 transmitting discontinuous uplink transmissions from the terminal to the base station that do not exceed the maximum duty cycle, wherein the maximum duty cycle corresponds to discontinuous uplink transmission bursts of less than a time t corresponding to an uplink transmission frame prior to receiving from the base station the discontinuous uplink transmission grant. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 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 of  claim 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 of  claim 1 , wherein the terminal includes a buffer, the method further comprising:
 transmitting only discontinuous uplink transmissions from the terminal to the base station that do not exceed the maximum duty cycle even when there is additional data in the terminal's buffer to be transmitted from the terminal to the base station. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:
  1/3  duty cycle and 2/3  duty cycle; and 
  1/2  duty cycle and 100% duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:
  1/5  duty cycle, 2/5  duty cycle, 3/5  duty cycle, and 4/5  duty cycle; and 
  1/4  duty cycle, 1/2  duty cycle, 3/4  duty cycle, and 100% duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:
  1/9  duty cycle, 2/9  duty cycle, 1/3  duty cycle, 4/9  duty cycle, 5/9  duty cycle, 6/9  duty cycle, 7/9  duty cycle, and 8/9  duty cycle; and 
  1/8  duty cycle, 1/4  duty cycle, 3/8  duty cycle, 1/2  duty cycle, 5/8  duty cycle, 3/8  duty cycle, 7/8  duty cycle, and 100% duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 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 buffer having stored therein data to be transmitted from the terminal to the base station; 
 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, wherein the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle of forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions of the data stored in the buffer from the terminal to the base station; 
 a transmitter configured to transmit the throttling request signal; and 
 a receiver configured to receive from the base station the discontinuous uplink transmission grant, 
 wherein the transmitter is further configured to, upon the receiver receiving from the base station the discontinuous uplink transmission grant, transmit discontinuous uplink transmissions from the terminal to the base station that do not exceed the maximum duty cycle, wherein the maximum duty cycle corresponds to discontinuous uplink transmission bursts of less than a time t corresponding to an uplink transmission frame prior to receiving from the base station the discontinuous uplink transmission grant. 
 
     
     
       10. The terminal of  claim 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 of  claim 9 , wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the throttling request signal via a radio resource control (RRC) layer. 
     
     
       12. The terminal of  claim 9 , wherein the transmitter is further configured to, upon the receiver receiving from the base station the discontinuous uplink transmission grant, transmit only discontinuous uplink transmissions from the terminal to the base station that do not exceed the maximum duty cycle regardless of whether there is additional data in the buffer to be transmitted from the terminal to the base station. 
     
     
       13. The terminal of  claim 9 , wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:
  1/3  duty cycle and 2/3  duty cycle; and 
  1/2  duty cycle and 100% duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       14. The terminal of  claim 9 , wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:
  1/5  duty cycle, 2/5  duty cycle, 3/5  duty cycle, and 4/5  duty cycle; and 
  1/4  duty cycle, 1/2  duty cycle, 3/4  duty cycle, and 100% duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       15. The terminal of  claim 9 , wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to 3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of:
  1/9  duty cycle, 2/9  duty cycle, 1/3  duty cycle, 4/9  duty cycle, 5/9  duty cycle, 6/9  duty cycle, 7/9  duty cycle, and 8/9  duty cycle; and 
  1/8  duty cycle, 1/4  duty cycle, 3/8  duty cycle, 1/2  duty cycle, 5/8  duty cycle, 3/8  duty cycle, 7/8  duty cycle, and 100% duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       16. The terminal of  claim 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 requesting terminal, wherein the throttling request signal includes data representing a maximum duty cycle of forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions from the terminal to the base station; 
 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 that instructs the requesting terminal to transmit only discontinuous uplink transmissions to the base station that do not exceed the maximum duty cycle, wherein the maximum duty cycle corresponds to discontinuous uplink transmission bursts of less than a time t corresponding to a terminal transmission frame prior to receiving from the base station the 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 of  claim 17 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive the throttling request signal via a radio resource control (RRC) layer. 
     
     
       19. The device of  claim 17 , wherein the data representing the maximum duty cycle corresponds to at least one of:
 1 bit representing two potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of: 
  1/3  duty cycle and 2/3  duty cycle, and 
  1/2  duty cycle and 100% duty cycle; 
 2 bits representing four potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of: 
  1/5  duty cycle, 2/5  duty cycle, 3/5  duty cycle and 4/5  duty cycle, and 
  1/4  duty cycle, 1/2  duty cycle, 3/4  duty cycle, and 100% duty cycle; and 
 3 bits representing eight potential maximum duty cycle levels of the forthcoming discontinuous uplink transmissions, the maximum duty cycle levels selected from the group consisting of: 
  1/9  duty cycle, 2/9  duty cycle, 1/3  duty cycle, 4/9  duty cycle, 5/9  duty cycle, 6/9  duty cycle, 7/9  duty cycle, and 8/9  duty cycle, and 
  1/8  duty cycle, 1/4  duty cycle, 3/8  duty cycle, 1/2  duty cycle, 5/8  duty cycle, 3/8  duty cycle, 7/8  duty cycle, and 100% duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       20. The device of  claim 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.