Abstract: A novel dynamic configuration scheme for discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle based on the delay requirement of service is proposed for the LTE downlink system. First, the eNB configures the UEs with the power saving mechanism according to the DRX specifications. Then, the delay parameters are used to control the DRX cycle dynamically. Numerical analysis shows that, there is a close relationship between service delay and network load. Therefore, the configuration of the DRX cycle should be combined with the current network load. Simulation results show that the delay based dynamic cycle adjusting mechanism can adapt to the current network situation as well as their own requirements. Compared with the DRX mechanism with a fixed cycle, the performance of the proposed scheme has a great improvement in terms of user satisfaction and power efficiency.