A downlink control information (DCI), such as a blanking DCI (bDCI) message may be transmitted by a base station (e.g., eNB) and received by a mobile device (e.g., UE). The bDCI may indicate that the eNB will not transmit a subsequent DCI to the UE for a duration of time. The UE may be in continuous reception mode or connected discontinuous reception (C-DRX) mode. The UE may therefore determine to enter a sleep state or take other action. The bDCI may specify an explicit blanking duration, or an index indicating a blanking duration from a lookup table, and/or the blanking duration (and/or a blanking duration offset value) may be determined in advance, e.g., semi-statically. When the UE is in C-DRX mode, the UE may be configured such that either the sleep/wake period of the C-DRX mode or the blanking period of the bDCI may take precedence over the other.