I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for transmitting and receiving data in a wireless communication network.
II. Background
A wireless device (e.g., a cellular phone) in a wireless communication network may operate in one of several operating modes, such as active and idle, at any given moment. In the active mode, the wireless device may be allocated radio resources by the network and may actively exchange data with the network, e.g., for a voice or data call. In the idle mode, the wireless device may not be allocated radio resources and may be monitoring overhead channels transmitted by the network. The wireless device may transition between the active and idle modes, as necessary, based on data requirements of the wireless device. For example, the wireless device may transition to the active mode whenever there is data to send or receive and may transition to the idle mode after completing the data exchange with the network.
The wireless device may exchange signaling with the network to transition between operating modes. The signaling consumes network resources and delays data transmission until radio resources are allocated to the wireless device. To avoid the signaling and delay, the wireless device may remain in the active mode for an extended period of time. However, extended stay in the active mode may result in a waste of the allocated radio resources when there is no data to exchange. Furthermore, operation in the active mode may consume more battery power, which may shorten standby time between battery recharges and talk time when there is data to exchange.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to transmit and receive data in an efficient manner.