Electronic devices and methods for wireless communication, computer-readable storage media

Abstract

An electronic device, method, and computer-readable storage medium for wireless communication. The electronic device includes: a processing circuit configured to: perform beam failure detection on a current serving beam using a first quality metric of the beam; and select a candidate beam from other beams using the first quality metric of the beam and a second quality metric different from the first quality metric, the candidate beam being used for beam recovery after beam failure.

Description

[0001] This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office on May 17, 2018, with the application number 201810473952.3 and the invention title "Electronic Device and Method for Wireless Communication, Computer-Readable Storage Medium", the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and more particularly to beam management technologies in New Radio (NR) communication. More specifically, it relates to an electronic device and method for wireless communication and a computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0003] New Radio (NR), as the next-generation radio access method for Long Term Evolution (LTE), is a radio access technology (RAT) different from LTE. NR is an access technology capable of handling various use cases, including Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), Massive machine type communications (mMTC), and Ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC).

[0004] In NR, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology can also be adopted. In NR MIMO, beam management is very important for ensuring communication quality. For example, when the beam quality of the beam serving a user equipment drops to a certain extent, the beam becomes unavailable, and a beam failure is considered to have occurred. At this time, a beam failure recovery mechanism is required to reallocate a new beam for data transmission of the user equipment. Summary of the Invention

[0005] A brief overview of the present invention is given below to provide a basic understanding of certain aspects of the present invention. It should be understood that this overview is not an exhaustive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key or important parts of the present invention, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Its purpose is merely to present certain concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description to be discussed later.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present application, there is provided an electronic device for wireless communication, including: a processing circuit configured to: perform beam failure detection on a current serving beam using a first quality metric of the beam; and select a candidate beam from other beams using the first quality metric of the beam and a second quality metric different from the first quality metric, where the candidate beam is used for beam recovery after beam failure.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present application, there is provided a method for wireless communication, including: performing beam failure detection on a current serving beam using a first quality metric of the beam; and selecting a candidate beam from other beams using the first quality metric of the beam and a second quality metric different from the first quality metric, where the candidate beam is used for beam recovery after beam failure.

[0008] The electronic device and method according to this aspect of the present application perform candidate beam selection based on two quality metrics including the quality metric used for beam failure detection, which can effectively avoid the occurrence of ping-pong effect and reduce the latency caused by beam failure recovery.

[0009] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided an electronic device for wireless communication, including: a processing circuit configured to: detect the beam quality of a current serving beam and determine that beam failure occurs when the beam quality is lower than a first quality; and when beam failure occurs, detect the beam quality of other beams and select the beam as a candidate beam when the beam quality is higher than a second quality, where the second quality is higher than the first quality.

[0010] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a method for wireless communication, including: detecting the beam quality of a current serving beam and determining that beam failure occurs when the beam quality is lower than a first quality; and when beam failure occurs, detecting the beam quality of other beams and selecting the beam as a candidate beam when the beam quality is higher than a second quality, where the second quality is higher than the first quality.

[0011] The electronic device and method according to this aspect of the present application can effectively reduce the latency brought by beam failure recovery and avoid the ping-pong effect by selecting candidate beams with a beam quality requirement higher than the beam quality requirement for beam failure detection.

[0012] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided an electronic device for wireless communication, including: a processing circuit configured to: detect the beam quality of a current serving beam; and when the detected beam quality is within a specific range, start a prediction window and evaluate the beam quality of the current serving beam within the prediction window.

[0013] According to another aspect of the present application, a method for wireless communication is provided, including: detecting the beam quality of a current serving beam; and when the detected beam quality is within a specific range, starting a prediction window and evaluating the beam quality of the current serving beam within the prediction window.

[0014] According to this aspect of the present application, the electronic device and method can estimate the beam quality of the current serving beam by setting a prediction window, so as to quickly determine the handover or recovery operation to be performed and reduce the latency.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present application, an electronic device for wireless communication is provided, including: a processing circuit configured to: determine the length of a tail window to be opened based on information about the tail window included in a beam failure recovery request response from a base station; and open the tail window and detect the beam quality of a new beam within the tail window.

[0016] According to another aspect of the present application, a method for wireless communication is provided, including: determining the length of a tail window to be opened based on information about the tail window included in a beam failure recovery request response from a base station; and opening the tail window and detecting the beam quality of a new beam within the tail window.

[0017] According to this aspect of the present application, the electronic device and method can quickly perform beam recovery when the new beam fails again by detecting the beam quality of the new beam within the tail window, reducing the latency.

[0018] According to another aspect of the present application, an electronic device for wireless communication is provided, including: a processing circuit configured to: generate a configuration for a beam failure recovery operation for a user equipment and include the configuration in radio resource control signaling to provide to the user equipment; and generate a beam failure recovery request response in response to a beam failure recovery request from the user equipment, where the configuration includes one or more of the following: a plurality of beam quality thresholds for beam quality evaluation, a first beam quality threshold and a second beam quality threshold for candidate beam selection, a timer length for candidate beam selection, a prediction window length for beam quality evaluation.

[0019] According to another aspect of the present application, a method for wireless communication is provided, including: generating a configuration for a beam failure recovery operation for a user equipment and including the configuration in radio resource control signaling to provide to the user equipment; and generating a beam failure recovery request response in response to a beam failure recovery request from the user equipment, where the configuration includes one or more of the following: a plurality of beam quality thresholds for beam quality evaluation, a first beam quality threshold and a second beam quality threshold for candidate beam selection, a timer length for candidate beam selection, a prediction window length for beam quality evaluation.

[0020] According to this aspect of the present application, an electronic device and a method can achieve high-efficiency and low-latency beam failure recovery by configuring the beam failure recovery operation of a user equipment.

[0021] According to other aspects of the present invention, computer program code, a computer program product for implementing the above method for wireless communication, and a computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon the computer program code for implementing the above method for wireless communication are also provided.

[0022] These and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Description of the Drawings

[0023] To further elaborate the above and other advantages and features of the present invention, the specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings, together with the following detailed description, are included in this specification and form a part of this specification. Elements having the same function and structure are denoted by the same reference numerals. It should be understood that these drawings only depict typical examples of the present invention and should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the present invention. In the drawings:

[0024] Figure 1 A functional module block diagram of an electronic device for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0025] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing the process of a beam failure recovery mechanism executed on the UE side is shown;

[0026] Figure 3 A schematic example showing the selection of 2 candidate beams from 4 beams is shown;

[0027] Figure 4 Another schematic example showing the selection of 2 candidate beams from 4 beams is shown;

[0028] Figure 5 Another schematic example showing the selection of 2 candidate beams from 4 beams is shown;

[0029] Figure 6 A functional module block diagram of an electronic device for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0030] Figure 7 A schematic diagram showing the selection of candidate beams in the case of using the block error rate as an index of beam quality is shown;

[0031] Figure 8Shows a schematic diagram of the selection of candidate beams when using the received power of the reference signal as an index of beam quality;

[0032] Figure 9 Shows a functional module block diagram of an electronic device for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 10 Shows an example of the case where two thresholds are set;

[0034] Figure 11 Shows an example of the case where three thresholds are set;

[0035] Figure 12 Shows a functional module block diagram of an electronic device for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 13 Shows a schematic diagram of N detections of beam quality;

[0037] Figure 14 Shows a flowchart of an example of the operations performed by the prediction unit;

[0038] Figure 15 Shows an example of the detected value of beam quality;

[0039] Figure 16 Shows a functional module block diagram of an electronic device for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 17 Shows an example of a tail window;

[0041] Figure 18 Shows a schematic flowchart of the tail window mechanism of the present application;

[0042] Figure 19 Shows a functional module block diagram of an electronic device for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 20 Shows an example of the information flow between a base station and a user equipment;

[0044] Figure 21 Shows another example of the information flow between a base station and a user equipment;

[0045] Figure 22 Shows another example of the information flow between a base station and a user equipment;

[0046] Figure 23 Shows a flowchart of a method for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 24 A flowchart of a method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0048] Figure 25 A flowchart of a method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0049] Figure 26 A flowchart of a method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0050] Figure 27 A flowchart of a method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0051] Figure 28 is a block diagram showing a first example of a schematic configuration of an eNB or gNB to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied;

[0052] Figure 29 is a block diagram showing a second example of a schematic configuration of an eNB or gNB to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied;

[0053] Figure 30 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a smart phone to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied;

[0054] Figure 31 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied; and

[0055] Figure 32 is a block diagram of an exemplary structure of a general-purpose personal computer in which a method and / or apparatus and / or system according to an embodiment of the present invention can be implemented. Detailed Description of the Invention

[0056] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. For clarity and conciseness, not all features of the actual embodiments are described in the specification. However, it should be understood that many implementation-specific decisions must be made in the process of developing any such actual embodiment in order to achieve the specific goals of the developer, for example, to comply with those system- and business-related constraints, and these constraints may vary with different implementations. In addition, it should be understood that although the development work may be very complex and time-consuming, such development work is merely a routine task for those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure.

[0057] Here, it should also be noted that, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention with unnecessary details, only the device structures and / or processing steps closely related to the solution according to the present invention are shown in the drawings, while other details less related to the present invention are omitted.

[0058] <First Embodiment>

[0059] Figure 1 A functional module block diagram of an electronic device 100 for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. As Figure 1 shown, the electronic device 100 includes: a beam failure detection unit 101 configured to perform beam failure detection on a current serving beam using a first quality metric of the beam; and a selection unit 102 configured to select a candidate beam from other beams for beam recovery after beam failure using the first quality metric of the beam and a second quality metric different from the first quality metric.

[0060] Among them, the beam failure detection unit 101 and the selection unit 102 can be implemented by one or more processing circuits, which can be implemented as a chip, for example. And it should be understood that Figure 1 each functional unit in the device shown is only a logical module divided according to the specific functions it implements, rather than for limiting the specific implementation manner. This also applies to other examples of electronic devices to be described subsequently.

[0061] The electronic device 100 can be arranged on the user equipment (UE) side, for example, or communicatively connected to the UE. Here, it should also be pointed out that the electronic device 100 can be implemented at the chip level or at the device level. For example, the electronic device 100 can operate as the user equipment itself and can also include external devices such as a memory, a transceiver (not shown in the figure), etc. The memory can be used to store programs and related data information that the user equipment needs to execute to implement various functions. The transceiver can include one or more communication interfaces to support communication with different devices (such as a base station, other user equipment, etc.), and the implementation form of the transceiver is not specifically limited here. This also applies to the description of other configuration examples of the electronic device on the UE side subsequently.

[0062] The beam failure recovery mechanism executed on the UE side can include, for example, several stages such as beam failure detection, candidate beam identification, beam failure recovery request sending, and beam failure recovery request response acquisition. As Figure 2As shown. Among them, in the beam failure detection phase, the UE detects the beam quality of the current serving beam to determine whether it meets the beam failure trigger condition; in the candidate beam identification phase, candidate beams that can be used as alternatives to the current serving beam are selected from other beams; in the beam failure recovery request sending phase, a beam failure recovery request is sent to the base station (or transceiver point, hereinafter simply referred to as the base station), and the beam failure recovery request may include, for example, information about identifying this UE and the candidate beam; in the beam failure recovery request response acquisition phase, the UE monitors the response from the base station to the beam failure recovery request within a specific time window (which can be called the beam failure recovery window), and the response may include, for example, one or more of the following: confirmation of beam failure recovery; the time to replace the new beam, that is, after a certain time, the base station and the UE will simultaneously switch to the new beam; the identification or indication of the replaced new beam, etc.

[0063] Among them, in both the beam failure detection operation and the candidate beam selection operation, it is necessary to evaluate the beam quality. There are various metrics available for beam quality evaluation, including but not limited to the block error rate (BLER) of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the reference signal receiving power (RSRP), etc. The reference signal is, for example, the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). When the quality metric used for beam failure detection is different from the quality metric used for candidate beam selection, there may be a ping-pong effect. For example, the second quality metric of the selected candidate beam meets the quality requirements for normal communication, but its first quality metric meets the trigger condition for beam failure detection, which will trigger the beam failure recovery mechanism again, thus increasing unnecessary latency.

[0064] In this embodiment, the beam failure detection unit 101 uses the first quality metric of the beam to perform beam failure detection on the current serving beam, while the selection unit 102 uses the first quality metric of the beam and a second quality metric different from the first quality metric to select candidate beams from other beams for beam recovery. For example, the first quality metric is the BLER of the PDCCH, also known as the Hypothetical PDCCH BLER, hereinafter simply referred to as BLER; the second quality metric is the RSRP, also known as the L1-RSRP. It should be understood that although some descriptions below will use this as an example, the settings of the first quality metric and the second quality metric are not limited to this.

[0065] Even, in some cases, the first quality indicator and the second quality indicator can also be the same quality indicator, such as both being BLER or both being RSRP, which are not restrictive. Moreover, the first, second,... in this text are only for the purpose of distinction and do not have any meaning in terms of order.

[0066] In one example, the selection unit 102 is configured to select one or more beams that satisfy the second predetermined condition and are optimal from the beams whose first quality indicator satisfies the first predetermined condition as candidate beams.

[0067] For example, when the beam quality indicated by the first quality indicator is higher than the first predetermined quality, it is considered to satisfy the first predetermined condition. When the beam quality indicated by the second quality indicator is higher than the second predetermined quality, it is considered to satisfy the second predetermined condition. Herein, the first predetermined quality and the second predetermined quality can be substantially equal or unequal. The better the beam quality, the more optimal the beam.

[0068] Assume that the first quality indicator is BLER and the second quality indicator is RSRP. The beam failure detection unit 101 compares the BLER of the current serving beam with a first threshold such as 1%. If the BLER is higher than the threshold, it is considered that a beam failure has occurred. Subsequently, when the selection unit 102 selects candidate beams, it not only considers the RSRP of the candidate beams but also considers the BLER of the candidate beams. In other words, not only does it need to ensure that the RSRP of the selected candidate beams is higher than a second threshold such as -105 dBm, but also ensure that its BLER is lower than the first threshold such as 1%. The beam qualities indicated by the first threshold and the second threshold can be considered to be substantially equivalent.

[0069] In this example, for instance, it is required to select N candidate beams, where the value of N can be configured by the base station. The selection unit selects the top N beams with the highest RSRP and whose RSRP is higher than the second threshold from the beams with a BLER lower than the first threshold as candidate beams. Figure 3 Illustrates a schematic example of selecting 2 candidate beams from 4 beams. In Figure 3 Among them, the BLERs of the listed 4 beams are all lower than the first threshold and are arranged in descending order of their RSRP. When N = 2, beam 1 and beam 2 are selected as candidate beams. It should be understood that Figure 3 is only a schematic example and does not constitute a limitation to this application.

[0070] In another example, the selection unit 102 is configured to select, from the beams whose second quality metric meets the second predetermined condition, one or more beams whose first quality metric meets the first predetermined condition and is optimal as candidate beams. Still taking the first quality metric as BLER and the second quality metric as RSRP as an example, the selection unit 102 will select the top N beams with the lowest BLER and BLER lower than the first threshold from the beams with RSRP higher than the second threshold as candidate beams. For Figure 3 the schematic example shown, the selection unit 102 will select beam 3 and beam 4 with the lowest BLER as candidate beams.

[0071] In yet another example, the selection unit 102 is configured to, for the beams whose second quality metric meets the second predetermined condition, determine in sequence whether the first quality metric of each beam meets the first predetermined condition in the order of decreasing beam quality indicated by the second quality metric, and select the beams whose first quality metric meets the first predetermined condition as a candidate beam until the number of candidate beams reaches the requirement. Still taking the first quality metric as BLER and the second quality metric as RSRP as an example, the selection unit 102 can calculate the BLER of the N beams with the highest RSRP among the beams with RSRP higher than the second threshold. If the BLER is lower than the first threshold, the corresponding beam is taken as a candidate beam. Figure 4 The figure shows a schematic diagram of the selection of candidate beams in this example. It can be seen that when beam 1 and beam 2 meet the conditions, it is not necessary to calculate the BLER of beam 3 and beam 4, thus reducing the calculation load.

[0072] On the other hand, if there are beams with BLER higher than the first threshold, that is, N candidate beams cannot be obtained, then continue to calculate the BLER of the beams with lower RSRP until N candidate beams are obtained. Figure 5 The figure shows a schematic diagram of the selection of candidate beams in this case. As Figure 5 shown, since the BLER of beam 2 is higher than the threshold of 1%, therefore, continue to calculate the BLER of beam 3. The BLER of beam 3 is lower than the threshold, so beam 1 and beam 3 are selected as candidate beams.

[0073] As above, the selection unit 102 uses the first threshold for the first quality metric when selecting candidate beams. In addition, a third threshold different from the first threshold can also be used to evaluate the beam quality based on the first quality metric. In this case, the selection unit 102 compares the first quality metric of the beam with the third threshold and compares the second quality metric of the beam with the second threshold to select candidate beams.

[0074] For example, the beam quality represented by the third threshold may be better than the beam quality represented by the first threshold, and the beam quality represented by the second threshold may be better than the beam quality represented by the first threshold. Alternatively, the third threshold and the first threshold may be set to be equal, while the beam quality represented by the second threshold is better than the beam quality represented by the first threshold. In other words, the selection unit 102 may select candidate beams with higher beam quality requirements to improve the stability of the new beam after beam failure recovery and reduce latency.

[0075] When the first quality metric and the second quality metric are the same, a gap value may be added to the first threshold used for beam failure detection as the second threshold for candidate beam selection. For example, when both the first quality metric and the second quality metric are BLER, the gap value is negative; when both the first quality metric and the second quality metric are RSRP, the gap value is positive.

[0076] In addition, the selection unit 102 is further configured to set a timer when performing candidate beam selection to detect the first quality metric and the second quality metric of the beam within the timing duration of the timer, and select the beam as a candidate beam when both the first quality metric and the second quality metric of the beam meet the predetermined conditions for a candidate beam within the timing duration. By setting this timer, the stability of the beam quality of the selected candidate beam can be ensured, thus effectively avoiding the ping-pong effect. The timing duration of the timer may be referred to as a candidate beam detection window, for example. It can be understood that when the first quality metric and the second quality metric are different, timers with different timing durations may also be set respectively for the first quality metric and the second quality metric.

[0077] Among them, information about the setting of one or more of the first threshold, the second threshold, the third threshold, the length of the candidate beam detection window, and the gap value may be obtained from the base station via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0078] The electronic device according to this embodiment selects candidate beams based on two quality metrics including the quality metric used for beam failure detection, which can effectively avoid the occurrence of the ping-pong effect and reduce latency.

[0079] <Second Embodiment>

[0080] Figure 6A functional block diagram of an electronic device 200 for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. The electronic device 200 includes: a first detection unit 201 configured to detect the beam quality of a current serving beam and determine that a beam failure occurs when the beam quality is lower than a first quality; and a second detection unit 202 configured to detect the beam quality of other beams when the beam failure occurs and select the beam as a candidate beam when the beam quality is higher than a second quality, where the second quality is higher than the first quality.

[0081] Similarly, the first detection unit 201 and the second detection unit 202 can be implemented by one or more processing circuits, which can be implemented as a chip, for example. And it should be understood that Figure 6 Each functional unit in the device shown in is only a logical module divided according to its specific implemented function, rather than for limiting the specific implementation manner. Similarly, the electronic device 200 can be disposed on the user equipment (UE) side or communicatively connected to the UE, for example.

[0082] According to this embodiment, since the second quality is higher than the first quality, the beam quality of the candidate beam selected by the second detection unit 202 is higher, and the occurrence of the ping-pong effect can be avoided.

[0083] Wherein, the beam quality can be represented by BLER or RSRP. And the representation manner of the beam quality used by the first detection unit 201 and the representation manner of the beam quality used by the second detection unit 202 can be the same or different.

[0084] The second detection unit 102 is further configured to set a timer when selecting a candidate beam to detect the beam quality of the beam within the timing duration of the timer, and select the beam as a candidate beam when the beam quality of the beam is higher than the second quality within the timing duration.

[0085] As an example, Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the selection of a candidate beam is shown in the case where BLER is uniformly used as the index of the beam quality. Wherein, the first threshold corresponds to the first quality, the second threshold corresponds to the second quality, and the duration of the timer is called the candidate beam detection window. Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the selection of a candidate beam is shown in the case where RSRP is uniformly used as the index of the beam quality.

[0086] It can be seen that the second threshold is equivalent to the first threshold plus a gap. In the case where the quality index is BLER, the gap value is negative; in the case where the quality index is RSRP, the gap value is positive.

[0087] Among them, information about the setting of one or more of the first quality, the second quality, the timing duration of the timer (i.e., the length of the candidate beam detection window), the gap value, etc. can be obtained from the base station via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0088] According to this aspect of the present application, the electronic device and method can effectively reduce the latency caused by beam failure recovery and avoid the ping-pong effect by selecting candidate beams with a beam quality requirement higher than the beam quality requirement during beam failure detection.

[0089] <Third Embodiment>

[0090] Figure 9 A functional module block diagram of an electronic device 300 for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. The electronic device 300 includes: a detection unit 301 configured to detect the beam quality of the current serving beam; and a prediction unit 302 configured to start a prediction window when the detected beam quality is within a specific range, and evaluate the beam quality of the current serving beam within the prediction window.

[0091] Among them, the detection unit 301 and the prediction unit 302 can be implemented by one or more processing circuits, which can be implemented as a chip, for example. And it should be understood that Figure 9 Each functional unit in the device shown in is only a logical module divided according to its specific implemented function, rather than for limiting the specific implementation manner.

[0092] The electronic device 300 can be set on the user equipment (UE) side or communicatively connected to the UE, for example. Here, it should also be pointed out that the electronic device 300 can be implemented at the chip level or at the device level. For example, the electronic device 300 can operate as the user equipment itself and can also include external devices such as a memory, a transceiver (not shown in the figure), etc. The memory can be used to store programs and related data information that the user equipment needs to execute to implement various functions. The transceiver can include one or more communication interfaces to support communication with different devices (such as base stations, other user equipment, etc.), and the implementation form of the transceiver is not specifically limited here.

[0093] In various scenarios served by NR, there are scenarios with very strict latency requirements. In this embodiment, in order to further reduce the latency caused by beam failure recovery or beam switching, a scheme of setting a prediction window is proposed so that beam failure recovery or beam switching can be performed quickly and the latency can be reduced.

[0094] For example, when the beam quality of the current serving beam degrades to a certain extent, the prediction unit 302 starts a prediction window and continues to detect the beam quality of the current serving beam in the prediction window to evaluate or predict whether the current serving beam will fail or continue to deteriorate.

[0095] Among them, the beam quality can be represented by one or more of the following, for example: the BLER of PDCCH, RSRP, and reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ).

[0096] In one example, multiple thresholds of the beam quality can be set. Among them, when the beam quality is lower than the worst beam quality indicated by the threshold, it indicates that beam failure occurs. When the beam quality is higher than the worst beam quality indicated by the threshold but lower than the beam quality required to maintain high-quality communication, it is considered that the beam deteriorates, that is, the beam quality is very poor but the link can sometimes work.

[0097] For example, a specific range is set as the range between two thresholds among the multiple thresholds for the beam quality. When the beam quality falls within this specific range, it indicates that the beam quality deteriorates and the prediction window is started. Figure 10 An example showing the case of setting two thresholds is shown. Among them, the beam quality is measured by RSRP, but it should be understood that this is not restrictive, and other beam quality metrics can also be used. In Figure 10 the example, the beam quality is divided into three levels by threshold 1 and threshold 2. Among them, level A has the best quality, can maintain reliable communication and has a good user experience; level B has a relatively poor quality and can conduct communication with a relatively poor user experience; level C has the worst quality and cannot conduct communication. When the beam quality drops to level C, it is considered that beam failure occurs. Among them, when the beam quality drops to level B, the prediction window is started, and the specific range includes the RSRP range corresponding to level B.

[0098] In addition, Figure 11 An example showing the case of setting three thresholds is shown. Among them, the beam quality is divided into four levels by threshold 1, threshold 2, and threshold 3. Among them, level A has the best quality, can maintain reliable communication and has a good user experience; level B has a relatively good quality and can also maintain good communication quality; level C has a relatively poor quality and can conduct communication with a relatively poor user experience; level D has the worst quality and cannot conduct communication. When the beam quality drops to level D, it is considered that beam failure occurs. Among them, when the beam quality drops to level C, the prediction window is started, and the specific range includes the RSRP range corresponding to level C.

[0099] In the above example, among the two thresholds that define a specific range, there is included one threshold that indicates the worst beam quality among multiple thresholds. In other words, the beam quality falling within the specific range indicates that the beam quality has become worse and there is a greater possibility of beam failure. Accordingly, the prediction unit 302 continues to evaluate in the prediction window to determine whether the beam deterioration is an accidental event or an indication that beam switching is required.

[0100] In one example, the prediction unit 302 is configured to determine that the quality of the current serving beam is poor and generate a beam switching request such as Beam_Switch_request to send to the base station, that is, initiate the beam switching process, when the number of events in which the beam quality is within a specific range is detected in the prediction window exceeds a predetermined value.

[0101] When the beam quality is detected to be within a specific range in one detection, this detection is regarded as an event of detecting a bad beam, and these events are counted within the prediction window. When the count value exceeds the predetermined value, it is considered that the beam quality has become very poor and it is necessary to switch to a beam with better beam quality to continue communication. It should be noted that in the prediction window, when the detected beam quality drops below the worst beam quality indicated by the threshold (for example, drops to level C in the Figure 10 example or drops to level D in the Figure 11 example), the prediction unit 302 will generate a beam failure recovery request to send to the base station, that is, initiate the beam failure recovery process.

[0102] Accordingly, Figure 12 Another functional module block diagram of the electronic device 300 is shown. In addition to the detection unit 301 and the prediction unit 302, the electronic device 300 further includes a switching unit 303 for performing related operations of beam switching.

[0103] For example, the switching unit 303 is configured to detect the beam quality of other beams to select one or more candidate beams as the switching target when the prediction unit 302 determines that the beam quality of the current serving beam is poor, and the prediction unit 302 includes the information of the selected candidate beams in the beam switching request. In addition, the beam switching request may also include the identifier and beam quality information of the current serving beam.

[0104] For the selection of candidate beams, various criteria can be adopted, for example, and these criteria can be pre-configured by the base station. Examples of the criteria are as follows: the beam quality of the candidate beam is higher than the upper limit of the beam quality indicated by the specific range, and the beam quality of the candidate beam is higher than the beam quality corresponding to the threshold for beam failure detection by a predetermined value.

[0105] The switching unit 303 is further configured to start a beam switching window after the beam switching request is sent, and monitor a beam switching request response (such as Beam_Switch_request_Response) from the base station in this beam switching window. The beam switching request response may include, for example, one or more of the following: confirmation of the beam switching request; the time to perform beam switching, that is, after a certain time, the base station and the UE switch to the new beam simultaneously; and information about the ID of the new beam to be switched to, etc.

[0106] Since there is no beam failure when it is determined to perform beam switching, that is, the current serving beam is still available, the beam switching request and the beam switching request response can be transmitted on the current serving beam.

[0107] Information about one or more of the various parameters used in the above operations can be obtained via RRC signaling. These parameters include, for example: multiple thresholds of beam quality, a specific range, the size of the prediction window, the number of events where the beam quality is within the specific range, the number of candidate beams reported in the beam switching request, etc.

[0108] In another example, the prediction unit 302 is configured to detect the beam quality of the current serving beam a predetermined number of times in the prediction window, record the detection value of each detection, and predict whether the current serving beam will fail based on the recorded detection values. Among them, the predetermined number can be configured by the base station. In this example, the prediction unit 302 observes the change trend of the beam quality by recording the detection values of multiple detections so as to predict whether beam failure will occur.

[0109] Figure 13 The schematic diagram showing N detections of the beam quality is shown. In Figure 13 In the example of, the detection value of the beam quality is obtained by measuring the RSRP of the periodic CSI-RS, where it is measured once every 5 ms, and the detection value of the beam quality is represented by Q i (i = 1, 2,..., N). It should be understood that this is not restrictive, and the beam quality can also be represented by BLER.

[0110] For example, the prediction unit 302 is configured to determine the change trend of the beam quality of the current serving beam by comparing the ratio of the latter detection value to the former detection value with a specific parameter, so as to make a prediction, where the specific parameter is related to the upper and lower limits of the specific range and the predetermined number.

[0111] Taking Figure 13 as an example, the prediction unit 302 calculates and compares with the specific parameter t. Among them t1 is the upper limit of the specific range, such as Figure 10The threshold 1 in, t2 is the lower limit of a specific range, such as Figure 10 The threshold 2 in. This is because, if the beam quality continuously drops from the threshold 1 to the threshold 2 within N detection periods, the detected value of the beam quality can be regarded as a geometric sequence. In the case where the RSRP of the beam drops to t times the RSRP of the previous detection period in each detection period, after N periods, the RSRP of the beam will drop to the threshold 2. Therefore, if It indicates that the decrease in the beam quality in the detection period i conforms to the trend that the RSRP drops to the threshold 2 within N periods. In addition, in order to ensure the accuracy of the calculation results when the beam quality drops rapidly, t can also be set to where δ represents a fixed value fine-tuned based on t2, and its value is positive when using RSRP.

[0112] The prediction unit 302 is further configured to count the comparisons with consistent change trends, and predict that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches a predetermined number of times. For example, in the above example, the comparison of will be counted. When the count reaches N, it is predicted that the current serving beam will fail, and a beam failure recovery request can be sent to the base station.

[0113] In addition, considering the possible situation where the change trends of the beam quality are inconsistent, for example, there is such a situation (the beam quality gets better), the prediction unit 302 is further configured to adjust the predetermined number of times when the change trends are inconsistent, and predict that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches the adjusted predetermined number of times. For example, the prediction unit 302 can adjust by adding the following value to the predetermined number of times: the difference between the serial number of the previous detected value corresponding to the comparison with inconsistent change trends and the serial number of the previous close detected value before it, where the previous close detected value is the previous detected value in the case that the detected value after the comparison with inconsistent change trends is included within the range between the detected value after the comparison that has been performed and the previous detected value.

[0114] On the other hand, if there is no previous close detected value, it means that the detected value after the comparison with inconsistent change trends has exceeded the upper limit of the beam quality indicated by the specific range, then the prediction unit 302 will close the prediction window and no longer perform the prediction and evaluation of the beam quality.

[0115] For ease of understanding, Figure 14 shows a flowchart of an example of the operations performed by the prediction unit in this example. In Figure 14 it still takes Figure 13The detected values shown are used as examples. In step S11, the beam quality of the current serving beam is detected, and in step S12, it is determined whether the beam quality drops below threshold 1. If the determination is yes, the prediction window is started, and the process proceeds to step S13. In S13, calculate and determine whether it holds. If so, the process proceeds to step S14, where i and the count count are incremented by 1 respectively (where the initial value of count is 0). Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S15 to determine whether the updated count count reaches the predetermined number N. If the determination is yes, it is determined that a beam failure has occurred, and thus the process proceeds to step S19 to send a beam failure recovery request to the base station. If the determination in step S15 is no, the process returns to step S13 to continue counting.

[0116] On the other hand, if the determination in step S13 is no, the process proceeds to step S16. In step S16, compare Q i with the previous Q i-1 , Q i-2 ,......, Q1. If it is found that Q i is between Q m and Q m+1 , that is, there exists such an m, then steps S17 and S18 are executed, where i and the count count are incremented by 1 respectively, and N is changed to N + i - m. Figure 15 shows an example of the detected values of RSRP in the case of N = 4. In Figure 15 , initially N = 4, and the first two comparisons both satisfy However, when i = 4, the beam quality suddenly improves to between Q1 and Q2. According to the process shown in reference Figure 14 , at this time m = 1, so N is adjusted to N = 4 + 4 - 1 = 7. Then continue to observe the subsequent detected values, and when count = 7, it is determined that count = N, thus determining that a beam failure has occurred. It should be understood that when the beam quality fluctuates repeatedly between threshold 1 and threshold 2, N may be adjusted multiple times. To avoid occupying too much cache and computing resources, a maximum value N max can be set for N. When N > N max , the prediction window is closed and the process ends.

[0117] In addition, if such an m is not found in step S16, it means that Q i becomes higher than threshold 1. At this time, the prediction window is closed and the process ends.

[0118] The above description has been made with the RSRP as the index of beam quality. However, the above description is equally applicable to other beam quality metrics such as BLER, and only the corresponding adjustment of some comparison rules is required. Moreover, although not specifically described in this embodiment, as described in the first and second embodiments, when it is determined that a beam failure has occurred, the UE side also needs to select candidate beams and include the relevant information of the candidate beams in the beam failure recovery request sent.

[0119] The information of one or more of the various parameters used in the above operations can be obtained via RRC signaling. These parameters include, for example: multiple thresholds of beam quality, a specific range, the size of the prediction window, the predetermined number N of times to detect the beam quality in the prediction window, the maximum value of the adjusted predetermined number N, the number of candidate beams reported in the beam handover request, and so on.

[0120] According to the electronic device and method of this embodiment, by setting a prediction window, the beam quality of the current serving beam can be estimated, so that the handover or recovery operation to be performed can be determined quickly, reducing the latency.

[0121] <Fourth Embodiment>

[0122] Figure 16 Shown is a functional block diagram of an electronic device 400 for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 16 shown, the electronic device 400 includes: a determination unit 401 configured to determine the length of the tail window to be opened based on the information about the tail window included in the beam failure recovery request response from the base station; and a detection unit 402 configured to open the tail window and detect the beam quality of the new beam in the tail window.

[0123] Among them, the determination unit 401 and the detection unit 402 can be implemented by one or more processing circuits, and the processing circuit can be implemented as a chip, for example. And it should be understood that Figure 16 each functional unit in the device shown is only a logical module divided according to the specific function it implements, rather than for limiting the specific implementation manner.

[0124] The electronic device 400 can be disposed, for example, on the user equipment (UE) side or communicatively connected to the UE. Here, it should also be noted that the electronic device 400 can be implemented at the chip level or at the device level. For example, the electronic device 400 can operate as the user equipment itself and can also include external devices such as a memory, a transceiver (not shown in the figure), etc. The memory can be used to store programs and related data information that the user equipment needs to execute to implement various functions. The transceiver can include one or more communication interfaces to support communication with different devices (e.g., a base station, other user equipment, etc.), and the implementation form of the transceiver is not specifically limited here.

[0125] For example, in a scenario where the UE moves or rotates rapidly, the new beam after beam failure recovery may fail again within a short period of time, that is, the beam quality drops below the beam failure detection threshold. At this time, it is necessary to trigger the beam failure recovery mechanism again, and the UE needs to wait for the same long beam recovery delay, which will result in a poor user experience.

[0126] In this embodiment, the concept of a tail window is proposed. Specifically, when the beam recovery is successful, for example, when the beam quality of the new beam reaches a level where it can work normally, the new beam is still monitored for a period of time, and this period of time is called the tail window. If a beam failure occurs again within the tail window, a faster beam recovery mechanism will be triggered.

[0127] For example, as Figure 16 shown by one of the dashed boxes in, the electronic device 400 further includes: a generating unit 403 configured to generate a beam failure recovery request when the number of times the beam quality of the current serving beam is detected to be lower than a predetermined threshold exceeds a first number; and generate a new beam failure recovery request when the number of times the beam quality of the new beam is detected to be lower than a predetermined threshold exceeds a second number within the tail window, where the first number is greater than the second number.

[0128] As mentioned above, in beam failure detection, if M consecutive events of the beam quality being lower than the predetermined threshold are detected, it is considered that a beam failure has occurred, and thus a beam failure recovery request is generated. The generating unit 401 sets different Ms for the case of the first occurrence of beam failure and the case of beam failure occurring again in the tail window after beam failure recovery, where a smaller M is set for the case of beam failure occurring again in the tail window, so as to reduce the beam recovery delay in the case of frequent beam failures. It should be understood that when beam failure recovery occurs continuously multiple times, M can be reduced each time, that is, the M used for the subsequent beam failure detection is smaller than the M used for the previous beam failure detection until the minimum value of the specified M is reached.

[0129] Alternatively / Additionally, as Figure 16As shown by another dashed box in [description], the electronic device 400 further includes: a response monitoring unit 404 configured to open a beam failure recovery window of a first length to wait for a beam failure recovery request response after the beam failure recovery request is sent; and open a beam failure recovery window of a second length to wait for a beam failure recovery request response after a new beam failure recovery request is sent, where the first length is greater than the second length.

[0130] As described above, after sending a beam failure recovery request to the base station, the UE will monitor the response from the base station within a certain time, which can be referred to as the beam failure recovery window. The response monitoring unit 404 opens beam failure recovery windows of different lengths for the case of the first occurrence of beam failure and the case of beam failure occurring again in the tail window. Among them, a beam failure recovery window with a shorter length is opened for the case of beam failure occurring again in the tail window, so as to reduce the delay of beam recovery in the case of frequent beam failures. Among them, the first length and the second length can be in units of time slots, and the first length and the second length can be set by the base station. It should be understood that when beam failure recovery occurs continuously multiple times, the length of the beam failure recovery window can be reduced each time, that is, the length of the beam failure recovery window in the subsequent time is less than the length of the beam failure recovery window in the previous time, until the minimum value of the specified length of the beam failure recovery window is reached.

[0131] For ease of understanding, Figure 17 An example of the tail window is shown. Among them, in the first beam failure recovery, in the beam failure detection stage, when M1 consecutive beam failure events are detected, it is considered that beam failure occurs, and a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) is sent to the base station. Subsequently, it listens and receives the BFRQ response from the base station in the beam failure recovery window with a length of T1 ms. After the new beam works properly, the tail window is opened, and a second beam failure recovery occurs in the tail window. In the second beam failure recovery, when M2 consecutive beam failure events are detected in the beam failure detection stage, it is considered that beam failure occurs and a BFRQ is sent to the base station, where M2 < M1. In addition, the length of the beam failure recovery window for listening and receiving the BFRQ response from the base station is also reduced to T2 ms, where T2 < T1. Although Figure 17 not shown in [description], it should be understood that after the second beam failure recovery is completed, the tail window can continue to be opened, and M2 and T2 can be further reduced.

[0132] Correspondingly, Figure 18A schematic flowchart of the tail window mechanism of this embodiment is shown. Among them, the UE detects the beam quality in S21 and finds that the beam quality drops below the threshold, and then judges whether a beam failure occurs in S22, that is, judges whether the number of beam failure events exceeds the maximum number of beam failure events M. If the judgment is no, it returns to S21 to continue detection, otherwise it proceeds to S23 to send a BFRQ to the base station. Subsequently, it is judged in S24 whether a BFRQ response from the base station is received in the beam failure recovery window. If not received, it proceeds to S27 to notify the upper layer for additional processing. If a BFRQ response is received, it proceeds to step S25 to open the tail window and monitor whether the beam quality of the new beam drops below the threshold in the tail window. If the monitoring result is no, it proceeds to step S28, and the beam recovery is successful. If the monitoring result is yes, the maximum number of beam failure events M and the size T of the beam failure recovery window in the beam failure detection are changed and returned to step S22 to perform beam failure detection, and then the following steps are repeated.

[0133] In addition, in one example, the generating unit 403 is further configured to generate a tail window opening request (such as Open_Tail_Window_Request) to be sent to the base station simultaneously with the beam failure recovery request. That is, the setting information of the tail window can be sent in response to the request of the UE. Correspondingly, the information about the tail window from the base station can include, for example, one or more of the following: an indication to open the tail window, the length of the tail window, the maximum number of beam failure events, the length of the beam failure recovery window in the tail window, etc.

[0134] The electronic device and method according to this aspect of the present application can quickly perform beam recovery when the new beam fails again by detecting the beam quality of the new beam in the tail window, reducing the latency.

[0135] <The Fifth Embodiment>

[0136] Figure 19 A functional module block diagram of an electronic device 500 according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. As Figure 19 shown, the electronic device 500 includes: a first generating unit 501, configured to generate a configuration for the beam failure recovery operation of the user equipment and include the configuration in the radio resource control signaling to provide to the user equipment; and a second generating unit 502, configured to generate a beam failure recovery request response in response to a beam failure recovery request from the user equipment, where the configuration includes one or more of the following: a plurality of beam quality thresholds for beam quality evaluation, a first beam quality threshold and a second beam quality threshold for candidate beam selection, a timer length for candidate beam selection, a prediction window length for beam quality evaluation.

[0137] Among them, the first generation unit 501 and the second generation unit 502 can be implemented by one or more processing circuits, which can be implemented as a chip, for example. And it should be understood that Figure 19 Each functional unit in the device shown in Figure 19 is only a logical module divided according to its specific implemented function, rather than a limitation on the specific implementation manner.

[0138] The electronic device 500 can be arranged on the base station side or communicatively connected to the base station, for example. Here, it should also be pointed out that the electronic device 500 can be implemented at the chip level or at the device level. For example, the electronic device 500 can operate as the base station itself and can also include external devices such as a memory, a transceiver (not shown), etc. The memory can be used to store programs and related data information required for the base station to implement various functions. The transceiver can include one or more communication interfaces to support communication with different devices (such as user equipment, other base stations, etc.), and the implementation form of the transceiver is not specifically limited here.

[0139] The electronic device 500 in this embodiment can correspondingly provide RRC configuration signaling and beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) response with one or more of the electronic devices 100 to 400 in the foregoing embodiments. The configuration of beam failure recovery operations in RRC has been described in detail in the first to fourth embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0140] In addition, the second generation unit 502 is further configured to generate a beam switching request response for a beam switching request from the user equipment. The beam switching request response includes, for example, information such as confirmation of the beam switching request or the ID of the new beam to be switched to.

[0141] The second generation unit 502 can also include information about the length of the tail window in the BFRQ response, and the user equipment detects the beam quality of the new beam in this tail window.

[0142] The electronic device and method according to this embodiment can achieve high-efficiency and low-latency beam failure recovery by configuring the beam failure recovery operation of the user equipment.

[0143] For ease of understanding, Figure 20 shows the information flow for beam switching between the base station and the user equipment. As Figure 20As shown, first, the base station sends an RRC configuration to the user equipment. The RRC configuration may include the size of a prediction window related to beam switching, the setting of multiple thresholds, etc. The UE detects the beam quality based on this configuration and finds that the beam quality drops to a specific range defined by the threshold. At this time, the UE activates the prediction window. If it is detected in the prediction window that the beam becomes a bad beam, the UE sends a beam switching request to the base station, which may include information such as the ID and beam quality of the candidate beam as the switching target, and may also include the ID and beam quality of the current bad beam, etc. The base station sends a beam switching request response to the user equipment in response to this beam switching request, which includes an acknowledgement of the beam switching request. The user equipment switches to the candidate beam based on this beam switching request response.

[0144] In contrast, Figure 21 shows the information flow between the base station and the user equipment for beam recovery. As Figure 21 shown, first, the base station sends an RRC configuration to the user equipment. The RRC configuration may include parameters related to beam failure detection, parameters related to the selection of candidate beams, and may also include the above-mentioned parameters related to beam switching. The UE detects the beam quality based on this configuration and finds that a beam failure occurs or predicts that a beam failure will occur (for example, adopting the solution in the third embodiment). At this time, the UE sends a beam failure recovery request to the base station, which may include information such as the ID and beam quality of the candidate beam. The base station sends a beam failure recovery request response to the user equipment in response to this beam failure recovery request, which includes an acknowledgement of the beam failure recovery request. The user equipment switches to the candidate beam based on this beam failure recovery request response.

[0145] In addition, Figure 22 also shows a diagram of an example of the information flow between the base station and the user equipment in the case of setting a tail window. Among them, when the user equipment sends a BFRQ to the base station, it also sends a tail window activation request. The base station sends a BFRQ response to the user equipment in response to these requests. The user equipment switches to a new beam and detects the beam quality of the new beam in the tail window. In the case of detecting that a beam failure occurs again, when sending a BFRQ to the base station again and sending a tail window activation request and receiving a BFRQ response from the base station, and so on, it is repeatedly executed.

[0146] It should be noted that Figures 20 to 22 the information flow in

[0147] <Sixth Embodiment>

[0148] In the process of describing the electronic device for wireless communication in the above embodiments, some processes or methods are obviously also disclosed. In the following, a summary of these methods is given without repeating some details already discussed above. However, it should be noted that although these methods are disclosed in the process of describing the electronic device for wireless communication, these methods do not necessarily use the described components or are not necessarily executed by those components. For example, the embodiments of the electronic device for wireless communication can be implemented partially or completely using hardware and / or firmware, while the methods for wireless communication discussed below can be completely implemented by computer-executable programs, although these methods can also use the hardware and / or firmware of the electronic device for wireless communication.

[0149] Figure 23 A flowchart of a method for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method includes: performing beam failure detection on a current serving beam using a first quality metric of a beam (S31); and selecting a candidate beam from other beams using the first quality metric of the beam and a second quality metric different from the first quality metric, where the candidate beam is used for beam recovery after beam failure (S32).

[0150] The method uses two quality metrics when selecting the candidate beam to avoid the ping-pong effect and reduce the delay of beam failure recovery when the beam quality metric for beam failure detection is different from the beam quality metric for candidate beam selection. The method corresponds to the apparatus 100 described in the first embodiment, and the specific details can be referred to the description at the corresponding position above and will not be repeated here.

[0151] Figure 24 A method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. The method includes: detecting the beam quality of a current serving beam, and determining that beam failure occurs when the beam quality is lower than a first quality (S41); and when the beam failure occurs, detecting the beam quality of other beams, and selecting the beam as a candidate beam when the beam quality is higher than a second quality (S42), where the second quality is higher than the first quality.

[0152] The method can avoid the ping-pong effect and reduce the delay of beam failure recovery by appropriately increasing the threshold of beam quality when selecting the candidate beam. The method corresponds to the apparatus 200 described in the second embodiment, and the specific details can be referred to the description at the corresponding position above and will not be repeated here.

[0153] Figure 25A method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown, the method comprising: detecting the beam quality of a current serving beam (S51); and starting a prediction window when the detected beam quality is within a specific range, and evaluating the beam quality of the current serving beam within the prediction window (S52).

[0154] By setting a prediction window, this method can predict possible beam failures when the beam quality of the serving beam drops to a certain extent, so as to perform beam switching or beam recovery in a timely manner and reduce latency. This method corresponds to the apparatus 300 described in the third embodiment, and its specific details can be seen in the description at the corresponding position above, which will not be repeated here.

[0155] Figure 26 A method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown, the method comprising: determining the length of a tail window to be opened based on information about the tail window included in a beam failure recovery request response from a base station (S61); and opening the tail window and detecting the beam quality of a new beam in the tail window (S62).

[0156] This method realizes fast recovery of frequently occurring beam failures by setting a tail window, reducing latency. This method corresponds to the apparatus 400 described in the fourth embodiment, and its specific details can be seen in the description at the corresponding position above, which will not be repeated here.

[0157] Figure 27 A method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application is shown, the method comprising: generating a configuration for a beam failure recovery operation for a user equipment and including the configuration in RRC signaling to provide to the user equipment (S71); and generating a beam failure recovery request response in response to a beam failure recovery request from the user equipment (S72), wherein the configuration includes one or more of the following: a plurality of beam quality thresholds for beam quality evaluation, a first beam quality threshold and a second beam quality threshold for candidate beam selection, a timer length for candidate beam selection, a prediction window length for beam quality evaluation.

[0158] By configuring the beam failure recovery operation of the user equipment, this method can achieve high-efficiency and low-latency beam failure recovery. This method corresponds to the apparatus 500 described in the fifth embodiment, and its specific details can be seen in the description at the corresponding position above, which will not be repeated here.

[0159] Note that the above various methods can be combined or used alone.

[0160] The technology of the present disclosure can be applied to various products.

[0161] For example, the electronic device 500 may be implemented as various base stations. The base station may be implemented as any type of evolved Node B (eNB) or gNB (5G base station). The eNB includes, for example, a macro eNB and a small eNB. The small eNB may be an eNB that covers a cell smaller than a macro cell, such as a pico eNB, a femto eNB, and a home (femto) eNB. A similar situation may also apply to the gNB. Instead, the base station may be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a NodeB and a base transceiver station (BTS). The base station may include: a main body (also referred to as a base station device) configured to control wireless communication; and one or more remote radio heads (RRHs) provided at a location different from the main body. In addition, various types of user equipment may operate as a base station by temporarily or semi-persistently performing base station functions.

[0162] Any one of the electronic devices 100 to 400 may be implemented as various user equipment. The user equipment may be implemented as a mobile terminal (such as a smart phone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a notebook PC, a portable game terminal, a portable / dongle-type mobile router, and a digital imaging device) or a vehicle-mounted terminal (such as a car navigation device). The user equipment may also be implemented as a terminal that performs machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (also referred to as a machine type communication (MTC) terminal). In addition, the user equipment may be a wireless communication module (such as an integrated circuit module including a single chip) installed on each of the above terminals.

[0163] [Application Example of Base Station]

[0164] (First Application Example)

[0165] Figure 28 FIG. is a block diagram showing a first example of a schematic configuration of an eNB or a gNB to which the technology of the present disclosure may be applied. Note that the following description takes the eNB as an example, but the same may also be applied to the gNB. The eNB 800 includes one or more antennas 810 and a base station device 820. The base station device 820 and each antenna 810 may be connected to each other via an RF cable.

[0166] Each of the antennas 810 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna), and is used for the base station device 820 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As Figure 28 shown, the eNB 800 may include multiple antennas 810. For example, the multiple antennas 810 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the eNB 800. Although Figure 28 an example in which the eNB 800 includes multiple antennas 810 is shown, the eNB 800 may also include a single antenna 810.

[0167] The base station device 820 includes a controller 821, a memory 822, a network interface 823, and a wireless communication interface 825.

[0168] The controller 821 can be, for example, a CPU or a DSP, and operates various functions of the higher layers of the base station device 820. For example, the controller 821 generates data packets based on the data in the signals processed by the wireless communication interface 825, and transmits the generated packets via the network interface 823. The controller 821 can bundle data from multiple baseband processors to generate a bundled packet, and transmit the generated bundled packet. The controller 821 can have a logical function for performing controls such as radio resource control, radio bearer control, mobility management, admission control, and scheduling. The control can be performed in conjunction with a nearby eNB or a core network node. The memory 822 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores programs executed by the controller 821 and various types of control data (such as a terminal list, transmission power data, and scheduling data).

[0169] The network interface 823 is a communication interface for connecting the base station device 820 to the core network 824. The controller 821 can communicate with a core network node or another eNB via the network interface 823. In this case, the eNB 800 and the core network node or other eNBs can be connected to each other through logical interfaces (such as the S1 interface and the X2 interface). The network interface 823 can also be a wired communication interface or a wireless communication interface for a wireless backhaul line. If the network interface 823 is a wireless communication interface, compared with the frequency band used by the wireless communication interface 825, the network interface 823 can use a higher frequency band for wireless communication.

[0170] The wireless communication interface 825 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced), and provides a wireless connection to terminals in the cell located at the eNB 800 via the antenna 810. The wireless communication interface 825 generally may include, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 826 and an RF circuit 827. The BB processor 826 may perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing of layers (such as L1, Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)). Instead of the controller 821, the BB processor 826 may have a part or all of the above-described logical functions. The BB processor 826 may be a memory storing a communication control program, or a module including a processor configured to execute the program and related circuits. The update program may change the functions of the BB processor 826. The module may be a card or blade inserted into a slot of the base station device 820. Alternatively, the module may also be a chip mounted on the card or blade. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 827 may include, for example, mixers, filters, and amplifiers, and transmit and receive wireless signals via the antenna 810.

[0171] As Figure 28 shown, the wireless communication interface 825 may include a plurality of BB processors 826. For example, the plurality of BB processors 826 may be compatible with a plurality of frequency bands used by the eNB 800. As Figure 28 shown, the wireless communication interface 825 may include a plurality of RF circuits 827. For example, the plurality of RF circuits 827 may be compatible with a plurality of antenna elements. Although Figure 28 an example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 825 includes a plurality of BB processors 826 and a plurality of RF circuits 827, the wireless communication interface 825 may also include a single BB processor 826 or a single RF circuit 827.

[0172] In Figure 28 the eNB 800 shown, the transceiver of the electronic device 500 may be implemented by the wireless communication interface 825. At least a part of the functions may also be implemented by the controller 821. For example, the controller 821 may generate RRC signaling including configurations for beam failure recovery operations for a user equipment and generate a BFRQ response by executing the functions of the first generation unit 501 and the second generation unit 502.

[0173] (Second Application Example)

[0174] Figure 29FIG. 0 is a block diagram showing a second example of a schematic configuration of an eNB or gNB to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. Note that, similarly, the following description uses an eNB as an example, but the same can also be applied to a gNB. The eNB 830 includes one or more antennas 840, a base station device 850, and an RRH 860. The RRH 860 and each antenna 840 can be connected to each other via an RF cable. The base station device 850 and the RRH 860 can be connected to each other via a high-speed line such as an optical fiber cable.

[0175] Each of the antennas 840 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used to transmit and receive wireless signals for the RRH 860. As Figure 29 shown, the eNB 830 can include multiple antennas 840. For example, the multiple antennas 840 can be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the eNB 830. Although Figure 29 an example where the eNB 830 includes multiple antennas 840 is shown, the eNB 830 can also include a single antenna 840.

[0176] The base station device 850 includes a controller 851, a memory 852, a network interface 853, a wireless communication interface 855, and a connection interface 857. The controller 851, the memory 852, and the network interface 853 are the same as the controller 821, the memory 822, and the network interface 823 described with reference to Figure 28 the description.

[0177] The wireless communication interface 855 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and provides wireless communication to terminals located in the sector corresponding to the RRH 860 via the RRH 860 and the antenna 840. The wireless communication interface 855 generally can include, for example, a BB processor 856. Except that the BB processor 856 is connected to the RF circuit 864 of the RRH 860 via the connection interface 857, the BB processor 856 is the same as the BB processor 826 described with reference to Figure 28 the description. As Figure 29 shown, the wireless communication interface 855 can include multiple BB processors 856. For example, the multiple BB processors 856 can be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the eNB 830. Although Figure 29 an example where the wireless communication interface 855 includes multiple BB processors 856 is shown, the wireless communication interface 855 can also include a single BB processor 856.

[0178] The connection interface 857 is an interface for connecting the base station device 850 (wireless communication interface 855) to the RRH 860. The connection interface 857 can also be a communication module for communication in the above-mentioned high-speed line for connecting the base station device 850 (wireless communication interface 855) to the RRH 860.

[0179] The RRH 860 includes a connection interface 861 and a wireless communication interface 863.

[0180] The connection interface 861 is an interface for connecting the RRH 860 (wireless communication interface 863) to the base station device 850. The connection interface 861 can also be a communication module for communication in the above-mentioned high-speed line.

[0181] The wireless communication interface 863 transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 840. The wireless communication interface 863 generally can include, for example, an RF circuit 864. The RF circuit 864 can include, for example, mixers, filters, and amplifiers, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 840. As Figure 29 shown, the wireless communication interface 863 can include a plurality of RF circuits 864. For example, the plurality of RF circuits 864 can support a plurality of antenna elements. Although Figure 29 an example where the wireless communication interface 863 includes a plurality of RF circuits 864 is shown, the wireless communication interface 863 can also include a single RF circuit 864.

[0182] In Figure 29 the eNB 830 shown, the transceiver of the electronic device 500 can be implemented by the wireless communication interface 825. At least a part of the functions can also be implemented by the controller 821. For example, the controller 821 can generate RRC signaling including configurations for beam failure recovery operations for the user equipment and generate BFRQ responses by executing the functions of the first generation unit 501 and the second generation unit 502.

[0183] [Application Examples Regarding User Equipment]

[0184] (First Application Example)

[0185] Figure 30 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a smart phone 900 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The smart phone 900 includes a processor 901, a memory 902, a storage device 903, an external connection interface 904, a camera device 906, a sensor 907, a microphone 908, an input device 909, a display device 910, a speaker 911, a wireless communication interface 912, one or more antenna switches 915, one or more antennas 916, a bus 917, a battery 918, and an auxiliary controller 919.

[0186] The processor 901 can be, for example, a CPU or a system-on-chip (SoC), and controls the functions of the application layer and other layers of the smart phone 900. The memory 902 includes RAM and ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 901. The storage device 903 can include storage media such as semiconductor memories and hard disks. The external connection interface 904 is an interface for connecting external devices (such as memory cards and universal serial bus (USB) devices) to the smart phone 900.

[0187] The imaging device 906 includes image sensors (such as charge-coupled device (CCD) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)), and generates captured images. The sensor 907 can include a set of sensors such as a measurement sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an acceleration sensor. The microphone 908 converts the sound input to the smart phone 900 into an audio signal. The input device 909 includes, for example, a touch sensor configured to detect touches on the screen of the display device 910, a keypad, a keyboard, buttons, or switches, and receives operations or information input from the user. The display device 910 includes a screen (such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display), and displays the output images of the smart phone 900. The speaker 911 converts the audio signal output from the smart phone 900 into sound.

[0188] The wireless communication interface 912 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced), and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 912 generally can include, for example, a BB processor 913 and an RF circuit 914. The BB processor 913 can perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing for wireless communication. At the same time, the RF circuit 914 can include, for example, mixers, filters, and amplifiers, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 916. Note that although the figure shows a case where one RF link is connected to one antenna, this is only illustrative, and also includes a case where one RF link is connected to multiple antennas through multiple phase shifters. The wireless communication interface 912 can be a single chip module on which the BB processor 913 and the RF circuit 914 are integrated. As Figure 30 shown, the wireless communication interface 912 can include multiple BB processors 913 and multiple RF circuits 914. Although Figure 30 an example where the wireless communication interface 912 includes multiple BB processors 913 and multiple RF circuits 914 is shown, the wireless communication interface 912 can also include a single BB processor 913 or a single RF circuit 914.

[0189] In addition to the cellular communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 912 may support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as short-range wireless communication schemes, near-field communication schemes, and wireless local area network (LAN) schemes. In this case, the wireless communication interface 912 may include a BB processor 913 and an RF circuit 914 for each wireless communication scheme.

[0190] Each of the antenna switches 915 switches the connection destination of the antenna 916 among a plurality of circuits (e.g., circuits for different wireless communication schemes) included in the wireless communication interface 912.

[0191] Each of the antennas 916 includes one or more antenna elements (such as the multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for the wireless communication interface 912 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As Figure 30 shown, the smart phone 900 may include a plurality of antennas 916. Although Figure 30 an example in which the smart phone 900 includes a plurality of antennas 916 is shown, the smart phone 900 may also include a single antenna 916.

[0192] In addition, the smart phone 900 may include an antenna 916 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 915 may be omitted from the configuration of the smart phone 900.

[0193] The bus 917 connects the processor 901, the memory 902, the storage device 903, the external connection interface 904, the imaging device 906, the sensor 907, the microphone 908, the input device 909, the display device 910, the speaker 911, the wireless communication interface 912, and the auxiliary controller 919 to each other. The battery 918 supplies power to Figure 30 the respective blocks of the smart phone 900 shown via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a dashed line in the figure. The auxiliary controller 919 operates the minimum necessary functions of the smart phone 900, for example, in the sleep mode.

[0194] In Figure 30In the smart phone 900 shown, the transceivers of the electronic devices 100 to 400 may be implemented by the wireless communication interface 912. At least a part of the functions may also be implemented by the processor 901 or the auxiliary controller 919. For example, the processor 901 or the auxiliary controller 919 may implement beam failure detection and selection of candidate beams to avoid ping-pong effects by executing the functions of the beam failure detection unit 101 and the selection unit 102, select a beam with high beam quality as a candidate beam by executing the functions of the first detection unit 201 and the second detection unit 202, implement prediction of beam failure and beam switching by executing the functions of the detection unit 301, the prediction unit 302, and the switching unit 303, and implement the tail window mechanism by executing the functions of the determination unit 401, the detection unit 402, the generation unit 403, and the response monitoring unit 404.

[0195] (Second application example)

[0196] Figure 31 FIG. is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device 920 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The car navigation device 920 includes a processor 921, a memory 922, a global positioning system (GPS) module 924, a sensor 925, a data interface 926, a content player 927, a storage medium interface 928, an input device 929, a display device 930, a speaker 931, a wireless communication interface 933, one or more antenna switches 936, one or more antennas 937, and a battery 938.

[0197] The processor 921 may be, for example, a CPU or an SoC, and controls the navigation function and other functions of the car navigation device 920. The memory 922 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 921.

[0198] The GPS module 924 measures the position (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) of the car navigation device 920 using GPS signals received from GPS satellites. The sensor 925 may include a set of sensors such as a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor. The data interface 926 is connected to, for example, an in-vehicle network 941 via a terminal (not shown), and acquires data generated by the vehicle (such as vehicle speed data).

[0199] Content player 927 reproduces content stored in a storage medium (such as a CD and a DVD) inserted into the storage medium interface 928. The input device 929 includes, for example, a touch sensor, buttons, or switches configured to detect touches on the screen of the display device 930, and receives operations or information input from the user. The display device 930 includes a screen such as an LCD or an OLED display, and displays images of the navigation function or the reproduced content. The speaker 931 outputs sounds of the navigation function or the reproduced content.

[0200] The wireless communication interface 933 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced), and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 933 generally may include, for example, a BB processor 934 and an RF circuit 935. The BB processor 934 may perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 935 may include, for example, mixers, filters, and amplifiers, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 937. The wireless communication interface 933 may also be a single chip module on which the BB processor 934 and the RF circuit 935 are integrated. As Figure 31 shown, the wireless communication interface 933 may include multiple BB processors 934 and multiple RF circuits 935. Although Figure 31 an example in which the wireless communication interface 933 includes multiple BB processors 934 and multiple RF circuits 935 is shown, the wireless communication interface 933 may also include a single BB processor 934 or a single RF circuit 935.

[0201] In addition, in addition to the cellular communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 933 may support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as short-range wireless communication schemes, near-field communication schemes, and wireless LAN schemes. In this case, for each wireless communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 933 may include a BB processor 934 and an RF circuit 935.

[0202] Each of the antenna switches 936 switches the connection destination of the antenna 937 among multiple circuits (such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes) included in the wireless communication interface 933.

[0203] Each of the antennas 937 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna), and is used for the wireless communication interface 933 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As Figure 31 shown, the car navigation device 920 may include multiple antennas 937. Although Figure 31 an example in which the car navigation device 920 includes multiple antennas 937 is shown, the car navigation device 920 may also include a single antenna 937.

[0204] In addition, the vehicle navigation device 920 may include an antenna 937 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 936 may be omitted from the configuration of the vehicle navigation device 920.

[0205] The battery 938 supplies power to Figure 31 the respective blocks of the vehicle navigation device 920 shown via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a dashed line in the figure. The battery 938 accumulates the power supplied from the vehicle.

[0206] In Figure 31 the illustrated vehicle navigation device 920, the transceivers of the electronic devices 100 to 400 may be implemented by the wireless communication interface 912. At least a part of the functions may also be implemented by the processor 901 or the auxiliary controller 919. For example, the processor 901 or the auxiliary controller 919 may implement beam failure detection and selection of candidate beams to avoid ping-pong effects by executing the functions of the beam failure detection unit 101 and the selection unit 102, select a beam with high beam quality as a candidate beam by executing the functions of the first detection unit 201 and the second detection unit 202, implement prediction of beam failure and beam switching by executing the functions of the detection unit 301, the prediction unit 302, and the switching unit 303, and implement the tail window mechanism by executing the functions of the determination unit 401, the detection unit 402, the generation unit 403, and the response monitoring unit 404..

[0207] The technology of the present disclosure may also be implemented as a vehicle system (or vehicle) 940 including one or more blocks of the vehicle navigation device 920, the in-vehicle network 941, and the vehicle module 942. The vehicle module 942 generates vehicle data (such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fault information), and outputs the generated data to the in-vehicle network 941.

[0208] The basic principles of the present invention have been described above in conjunction with specific embodiments. However, it should be noted that for those skilled in the art, all or any steps or components of the method and apparatus of the present invention can be implemented in any computing device (including a processor, a storage medium, etc.) or a network of computing devices in the form of hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof, which can be achieved by those skilled in the art using their basic circuit design knowledge or basic programming skills after reading the description of the present invention.

[0209] Moreover, the present invention also proposes a program product storing machine-readable instruction codes. When the instruction codes are read and executed by a machine, the method according to the embodiments of the present invention described above can be executed.

[0210] Accordingly, a storage medium for carrying the program product storing the machine-readable instruction code is also included in the disclosure of the present invention. The storage medium includes, but is not limited to, floppy disks, optical discs, magneto-optical discs, memory cards, memory sticks, and the like.

[0211] In the case where the present invention is implemented by software or firmware, a program constituting the software is installed from a storage medium or a network into a computer having a dedicated hardware structure (such as Figure 32 the general-purpose computer 3200 shown). When various programs are installed in this computer, it can execute various functions and the like.

[0212] In Figure 32 , a central processing unit (CPU) 3201 executes various processes according to a program stored in a read-only memory (ROM) 3202 or a program loaded from a storage section 3208 into a random access memory (RAM) 3203. In the RAM 3203, data required when the CPU 3201 executes various processes and the like is also stored as needed. The CPU 3201, the ROM 3202, and the RAM 3203 are connected to each other via a bus 3204. An input / output interface 3205 is also connected to the bus 3204.

[0213] The following components are connected to the input / output interface 3205: an input section 3206 (including a keyboard, a mouse, etc.), an output section 3207 (including a display, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), etc., and a speaker, etc.), a storage section 3208 (including a hard disk, etc.), a communication section 3209 (including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, etc.). The communication section 3209 performs communication processing via a network such as the Internet. As needed, a drive 3210 may also be connected to the input / output interface 3205. A removable medium 3211 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, a semiconductor memory, etc. is installed on the drive 3210 as needed, so that a computer program read therefrom is installed into the storage section 3208 as needed.

[0214] In the case where the above series of processes are implemented by software, a program constituting the software is installed from a network such as the Internet or a storage medium such as the removable medium 3211.

[0215] Those skilled in the art should understand that such a storage medium is not limited to Figure 32A removable medium 3211 which stores a program and is distributed separately from a device to provide the program to a user. Examples of the removable medium 3211 include a disk (including a floppy disk (registered trademark)), an optical disk (including a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and a digital versatile disc (DVD)), a magneto-optical disk (including a mini disc (MD) (registered trademark)), and a semiconductor memory. Alternatively, the storage medium may be a ROM 3202, a hard disk included in the storage section 3208, etc., which store a program and are distributed to the user together with the devices containing them.

[0216] It should also be noted that in the device, method, and system of the present invention, each component or each step can be decomposed and / or recombined. These decompositions and / or recombinations should be regarded as equivalent solutions of the present invention. Moreover, the steps of performing the above series of processes can naturally be executed in chronological order according to the described order, but it is not necessary to be executed in chronological order. Certain steps can be executed in parallel or independently of each other.

[0217] Finally, it should also be noted that the term "comprising", "including" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device comprising a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not expressly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In addition, without further limitation, an element defined by the statement "comprising one..." does not exclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or device comprising the said element.

[0218] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention and do not constitute a limitation to the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes to the above embodiments without departing from the essence and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is only defined by the appended claims and their equivalent meanings.

[0219] The present technology can also be implemented as follows.

[0220] (1) An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

[0221] A processing circuit configured to:

[0222] Perform beam failure detection on a current serving beam using a first quality metric of the beam; and

[0223] Select a candidate beam from other beams using the first quality metric of the beam and a second quality metric different from the first quality metric, the candidate beam being used for beam recovery after beam failure.

[0224] (2) The electronic device according to (1), wherein the processing circuit is configured to select, from the beams whose first quality metric meets a first predetermined condition, one or more beams whose second quality metric meets a second predetermined condition and is optimal as the candidate beams.

[0225] (3) The electronic device according to (1), wherein the processing circuit is configured to select, from the beams whose second quality metric meets a second predetermined condition, one or more beams whose first quality metric meets a first predetermined condition and is optimal as the candidate beams.

[0226] (4) The electronic device according to (1), wherein the processing circuit is configured to, for the beams whose second quality metric meets a second predetermined condition, determine in sequence whether the first quality metric of each beam meets the first predetermined condition in the order from high to low of the beam quality indicated by the second quality metric, and select the beams whose first quality metric meets the first predetermined condition as candidate beams until the number of candidate beams reaches the requirement.

[0227] (5) The electronic device according to (4), wherein the first quality metric is the block error rate of the physical downlink control channel, and the second quality metric is the reference signal received power.

[0228] (6) The electronic device according to (1), wherein the processing circuit is configured to compare the first quality metric of the current serving beam with a first threshold to perform beam failure detection, and respectively compare the first quality metric of other beams with a third threshold and compare the second quality metric of other beams with a second threshold to perform selection of candidate beams.

[0229] (7) The electronic device according to (6), wherein the third threshold is equal to the first threshold, and the beam quality represented by the second threshold is better than the beam quality represented by the first threshold.

[0230] (8) The electronic device according to (6), wherein the beam quality represented by the third threshold is better than the beam quality represented by the first threshold, and the beam quality represented by the second threshold is better than the beam quality represented by the first threshold.

[0231] (9) The electronic device according to (6), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to set a timer when performing selection of candidate beams to detect the first quality metric and the second quality metric of the beam within the timing duration of the timer, and select the beam as the candidate beam when both the first quality metric and the second quality metric of the beam meet the predetermined conditions for being a candidate beam within the timing duration.

[0232] (10) The electronic device according to (6), wherein the processing circuit is configured to obtain settings of one or more of the first threshold, the second threshold, and the third threshold from a base station via radio resource control signaling.

[0233] (11) An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

[0234] A processing circuit configured to:

[0235] Detect the beam quality of the current serving beam, and determine that a beam failure has occurred when the beam quality is lower than a first quality; and

[0236] When the beam failure occurs, detect the beam quality of other beams, and select the beam as a candidate beam when the beam quality is higher than a second quality,

[0237] wherein the second quality is higher than the first quality.

[0238] (12) The electronic device according to (11), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to set a timer when performing candidate beam selection to detect the beam quality of the beam within the timing duration of the timer, and select the beam as the candidate beam when the beam quality of the beam is higher than the second quality within the timing duration.

[0239] (13) The electronic device according to (11), wherein the beam quality is represented by the block error rate of the physical downlink control channel or the reference signal received power.

[0240] (14) The electronic device according to (12), wherein the processing circuit is configured to obtain settings of one or more of the first quality, the second quality, and the timing duration of the timer from a base station via radio resource control signaling.

[0241] (15) An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

[0242] A processing circuit configured to:

[0243] Detect the beam quality of the current serving beam; and

[0244] When the detected beam quality is within a specific range, start a prediction window and evaluate the beam quality of the current serving beam within the prediction window.

[0245] (16) The electronic device according to (15), wherein the beam quality is represented by one or more of the following: the block error rate of the physical downlink control channel, the reference signal received power, the reference signal received quality.

[0246] (17) The electronic device according to (15), wherein the specific range includes a range between two thresholds among a plurality of thresholds for the beam quality.

[0247] (18) The electronic device according to (17), wherein one of the two thresholds includes the threshold indicating the worst beam quality among the plurality of thresholds.

[0248] (19) The electronic device according to (15), wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine that the beam quality of the current serving beam is poor and generate a beam switching request to be sent to the base station when the number of events in which the beam quality is within the specific range is detected to exceed a predetermined value in the prediction window.

[0249] (20) The electronic device according to (19), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to detect the beam quality of other beams to select one or more candidate beams as the switching target and include information of the selected candidate beams in the beam switching request when determining that the beam quality of the current serving beam is poor.

[0250] (21) The electronic device according to (19), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to start a beam switching window after the beam switching request is sent and monitor a beam switching request response from the base station in the beam switching window.

[0251] (22) The electronic device according to (15), wherein the processing circuit is configured to detect the beam quality of the current serving beam a predetermined number of times in the prediction window, record the detection value of each detection, and predict whether the current serving beam will fail based on the recorded detection values.

[0252] (23) The electronic device according to (22), wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine the change trend of the beam quality of the current serving beam by comparing the ratio of a subsequent detection value to a previous detection value with a specific parameter for the prediction, wherein the specific parameter is related to the upper and lower limits of the specific range and the predetermined number of times.

[0253] (24) The electronic device according to (23), wherein the processing circuit is configured to count the comparisons with a consistent change trend and predict that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches the predetermined number of times, and the processing circuit is further configured to adjust the predetermined number of times when the change trends are inconsistent and predict that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches the adjusted predetermined number of times.

[0254] (25) The electronic device according to (24), wherein the processing circuit is configured to adjust by adding the following value to the predetermined number of times: the difference between the serial number of the previous detection value corresponding to the comparison with inconsistent change trends and the serial number of the previous proximity detection value of this previous detection value, where the previous proximity detection value is the previous detection value among the previously performed comparison of the subsequent detection value and the previous detection value when the subsequent detection value corresponding to the comparison with inconsistent change trends is included within the range between the previously performed comparison of the subsequent detection value and the previous detection value.

[0255] (26) The electronic device according to (15), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to obtain one or more of the following via radio resource control signaling: information about the specific range, information about the size of the prediction window.

[0256] (27) The electronic device according to (19), wherein the beam switching request further includes an identifier of the current serving beam and beam quality information.

[0257] (28) The electronic device according to (18), wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate a beam failure recovery request to be sent to the base station when it detects that the beam quality of the current serving beam is lower than the worst beam quality indicated by a threshold.

[0258] (29) An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

[0259] A processing circuit configured to:

[0260] Determine the length of the tail window to be opened based on information about the tail window included in the beam failure recovery request response from the base station; and

[0261] Open the tail window and detect the beam quality of a new beam in the tail window.

[0262] (30) The electronic device according to (29), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate a tail window opening request to be sent to the base station simultaneously with the beam failure recovery request.

[0263] (31) The electronic device according to (29), wherein,

[0264] The processing circuit is further configured to generate a beam failure recovery request when the number of times the beam quality of the current serving beam is detected to be lower than a predetermined threshold exceeds a first number; and

[0265] The processing circuit is further configured to generate a new beam failure recovery request when the number of times the beam quality of the new beam is detected to be lower than a predetermined threshold in the tail window exceeds a second number.

[0266] Wherein, the first number is greater than the second number.

[0267] (32) The electronic device according to (31), wherein,

[0268] The processing circuit is further configured to open a beam failure recovery window of a first length after the beam failure recovery request is sent to wait for the beam failure recovery request response; and

[0269] The processing circuit is further configured to open a beam failure recovery window of a second length after the new beam failure recovery request is sent to wait for the beam failure recovery request response,

[0270] Wherein, the first length is greater than the second length.

[0271] (33) The electronic device according to (32), wherein the first length and the second length are in units of time slots.

[0272] (34) An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

[0273] A processing circuit, configured to:

[0274] Generate a configuration for beam failure recovery operations for a user equipment and include the configuration in radio resource control signaling to provide to the user equipment; and

[0275] Generate a beam failure recovery request response in response to a beam failure recovery request from the user equipment,

[0276] Wherein, the configuration includes one or more of the following: a plurality of beam quality thresholds for beam quality assessment, a first beam quality threshold and a second beam quality threshold for candidate beam selection, a timer length for candidate beam selection, a prediction window length for beam quality assessment.

[0277] (35) The electronic device according to (34), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate a beam handover request response for a beam handover request from the user equipment.

[0278] (36) The electronic device according to (34), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to include information about the length of a tail window in the beam failure recovery request response, and the user equipment detects the beam quality of a new beam in the tail window.

[0279] (37) A method for wireless communication, comprising:

[0280] Performing beam failure detection on a current serving beam using a first quality metric of a beam; and

[0281] Select a candidate beam from other beams using the first quality metric of the beam and a second quality metric different from the first quality metric, where the candidate beam is used for beam recovery after a beam failure.

[0282] (38) A method for wireless communication, comprising:

[0283] Detect the beam quality of the current serving beam, and determine that a beam failure has occurred when the beam quality is below a first quality; and

[0284] When the beam failure occurs, detect the beam quality of other beams, and select the beam as a candidate beam when the beam quality is higher than a second quality,

[0285] wherein the second quality is higher than the first quality.

[0286] (39) A method for wireless communication, comprising:

[0287] Detect the beam quality of the current serving beam; and

[0288] When the detected beam quality is within a specific range, start a prediction window, and evaluate the beam quality of the current serving beam within the prediction window.

[0289] (40) A method for wireless communication, comprising:

[0290] Determine the length of a tail window to be opened based on information about the tail window included in a beam failure recovery request response from a base station; and

[0291] Open the tail window and detect the beam quality of a new beam within the tail window.

[0292] (41) A method for wireless communication, comprising:

[0293] Generate a configuration for beam failure recovery operations for a user equipment and include the configuration in radio resource control signaling to provide to the user equipment; and

[0294] Generate a beam failure recovery request response in response to a beam failure recovery request from the user equipment,

[0295] wherein the configuration includes one or more of the following: multiple beam quality thresholds for beam quality evaluation, a first beam quality threshold and a second beam quality threshold for candidate beam selection, a timer length for candidate beam selection, a prediction window length for beam quality evaluation.

[0296] (42) A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, which, when executed, perform the method for wireless communication according to any one of (37) to (41).

Claims

1. An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising: A processing circuit, configured to: Detect the beam quality of the current serving beam; And When the detected beam quality is within a specific range, start a prediction window, and evaluate the beam quality of the current serving beam within the prediction window, Wherein, the beam quality is represented by the block error rate of an imaginary physical downlink control channel, Wherein, the processing circuit is configured to determine that a beam failure is detected, generate a beam failure recovery request to be sent to the base station, and Wherein, the processing circuit is configured to detect the beam quality of the current serving beam a predetermined number of times within the prediction window, record the detection value of each detection, determine the change trend of the beam quality of the current serving beam by comparing the ratio of the latter detection value to the former detection value with a specific parameter, and count the consistent comparisons of the change trend, and predict that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches the predetermined number of times.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein, The specific range includes the range between two thresholds among a plurality of thresholds for the beam quality.

3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein, One of the two thresholds includes the worst threshold indicating the beam quality among the plurality of thresholds.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein, The processing circuit is further configured to, when determining that the beam quality of the current serving beam is poor, detect the beam quality of other beams to select one or more candidate beams as handover targets, and include the information of the selected candidate beams in the beam failure recovery request.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein, The processing circuit is further configured to start a beam handover window after the beam failure recovery request is sent, and monitor the beam failure recovery request response from the base station within the beam handover window.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein, The specific parameter is related to the upper and lower limits of the specific range and the predetermined number of times.

7. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein, The processing circuit is further configured to adjust the predetermined number of times when the change trend is inconsistent, and predict that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches the adjusted predetermined number of times.

8. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein, The processing circuit is configured to adjust by adding the following value to the predetermined number of times: the difference between the sequence number of the former detection value corresponding to the inconsistent comparison of the change trend and the sequence number of the former close detection value before it, where the former close detection value is the former detection value among the latter detection value and the former detection value that have been compared when the latter detection value corresponding to the inconsistent comparison of the change trend is included within the range between the latter detection value and the former detection value that have been compared.

9. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein, The electronic device is a user terminal, and further includes an antenna and / or a radio frequency circuit, and the processing circuit is further configured to obtain one or more of the following via radio resource control signaling: information about the specific range, information about the size of the prediction window.

10. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein, The beam failure recovery request further includes the identifier and beam quality information of the current serving beam.

11. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein, The processing circuit is configured to generate a beam failure recovery request to be sent to the base station when detecting that the beam quality of the current serving beam is lower than the worst beam quality indicated by the threshold.

12. An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising: A processing circuit, configured to: Generate a configuration for beam failure detection and recovery operations for a user equipment and include the configuration in radio resource control signaling for providing to the user equipment; And Generate a beam failure recovery request response in response to a beam failure recovery request from the user equipment, Wherein, the configuration includes information on the duration of beam quality assessment before beam failure is detected and a predetermined value of the number of events where the beam quality is within a specific range, Wherein, the beam quality is represented by the block error rate of an imaginary physical downlink control channel, and Wherein, receive a beam failure recovery request generated and sent by the user equipment when the number of events where the beam quality is detected to be within the specific range within the duration exceeds the predetermined value, wherein the user equipment performs a predetermined number of detections on the beam quality of the current serving beam in a prediction window, records the detection value of each detection, determines the change trend of the beam quality of the current serving beam by comparing the ratio of a latter detection value to a former detection value with a specific parameter, counts the comparisons with consistent change trends, and predicts that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches the predetermined number.

13. The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein, The electronic device is a base station device and further includes an antenna and / or a radio frequency circuit.

14. The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein, When the number of events where the beam quality is detected to be within the specific range within the duration exceeds the predetermined value, the user equipment further selects a candidate beam as a handover target, and the processing circuit is further configured to receive information on the selected candidate beam in the beam failure recovery request from the user equipment.

15. A method for wireless communication, comprising: Detect the beam quality of the current serving beam, wherein the beam quality is represented by the block error rate of an imaginary physical downlink control channel; When the detected beam quality is within a specific range, start a prediction window and evaluate the beam quality of the current serving beam within the prediction window; and When the number of events where the beam quality is detected to be within the specific range within the prediction window exceeds a predetermined value, determine that beam failure is detected, generate a beam failure recovery request to send to the base station, Wherein, the method further includes: performing a predetermined number of detections on the beam quality of the current serving beam in the prediction window, recording the detection value of each detection, determining the change trend of the beam quality of the current serving beam by comparing the ratio of a latter detection value to a former detection value with a specific parameter, and counting the comparisons with consistent change trends, and predicting that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches the predetermined number.

16. A method for wireless communication, comprising: Generate a configuration for beam failure detection and recovery operations for a user equipment and include the configuration in radio resource control signaling for providing to the user equipment; And Generate a beam failure recovery request response in response to a beam failure recovery request from the user equipment, Wherein, the configuration includes information on the duration of beam quality assessment before beam failure is detected and a predetermined value of the number of events where the beam quality is within a specific range, wherein the beam quality is represented by the block error rate of an imaginary physical downlink control channel, and Among them, a beam failure recovery request generated and sent when the number of events in which the user equipment detects that the beam quality is within the specific range during the duration exceeds the predetermined value, wherein the user equipment detects the beam quality of the current serving beam a predetermined number of times in a prediction window, records the detection value of each detection, determines the change trend of the beam quality of the current serving beam by comparing the ratio of the latter detection value to the former detection value with a specific parameter, counts the comparisons with the same change trend, and predicts that the current serving beam will fail when the count reaches the predetermined number of times.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to execute the method for wireless communication according to claim 15 or 16.

18. A computer program product, comprising a computer program / instructions, wherein, When the computer program / instructions are executed by a processor, the steps of the method for wireless communication according to claim 15 or 16 are implemented.

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