For fault recovery of serving cell

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to fault recovery for serving cells. A terminal device detects a fault on a serving cell of the terminal device. If a beam fault is detected, the terminal device transmits information about the detected fault to a network device. The network device is associated with the serving cell. The terminal device disables further transmission of the information to the network device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly, to methods, devices, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for fault recovery of serving cells. Background Art

[0002] The new radio access system (which is also referred to as the NR system or NR network) is the next-generation communication system. It has been agreed to support carrier aggregation (CA) in the NR system for Long Term Evolution (LTE)-Advanced to increase the bandwidth. When using CA, there are a number of serving cells. Generally, a primary cell (PCell) and at least one secondary cell (SCell) are provided. When the quality of the (multiple) beam pairs of a serving cell drops to a low enough level (e.g., comparison with a threshold or timeout of an associated timer), a beam failure may occur.

[0003] The beam failure recovery (BFR) process is a mechanism for recovering beams when all or some of the beams of a serving user equipment (UE) fail. BFR may also be referred to as link reconfiguration or link recovery. The purpose of BFR is to detect when one or more physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) links are considered to be in a failed condition and to recover the links. To recover the links, the UE initiates signaling towards the network to indicate the beam failure and new potential links (beams) called candidate links (beams). In response to a beam failure recovery request (BFRR) received from the UE, the network may configure a new PDCCH link for the UE. The BFR of an SCell (which is also referred to as SCell BFR in this document) event is reported to the network by means of a dedicated uplink signal and an SCell BFR medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or only the SCell BFR MAC CE. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Generally, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for fault recovery of serving cells.

[0005] In a first aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to detect a fault on a serving cell of the terminal device; in response to the fault being detected, transmit information about the detected fault to a network device associated with the serving cell; and disable further transmission of the information to the network device.

[0006] In a second aspect, a network device is provided. The network device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the network device to determine configuration information regarding a timer for a terminal device, the configuration information at least indicating a valid period of the timer; and transmit the configuration information to the terminal device such that the terminal device disables further transmission of information that has been transmitted to the network device regarding a fault detected on a serving cell associated with the network device.

[0007] In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method includes detecting a fault on a serving cell of the terminal device at the terminal device; in response to the fault being detected, transmitting information regarding the detected fault to a network device associated with the serving cell; and disabling further transmission of the information to the network device.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes determining, at a network device, configuration information regarding a timer for a terminal device, the configuration information at least indicating a valid period of the timer; and transmitting the configuration information to the terminal device such that the terminal device disables further transmission of information that has been transmitted to the network device regarding a fault detected on a serving cell associated with the network device.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided, including means for detecting a fault on a serving cell of a terminal device at the terminal device; means for transmitting, in response to the fault being detected, information regarding the detected fault to a network device associated with the serving cell; and means for disabling further transmission of the information to the network device.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided, including means for determining, at a network device, configuration information regarding a timer for a terminal device, the configuration information at least indicating a valid period of the timer; and means for transmitting the configuration information to the terminal device such that the terminal device disables further transmission of information that has been transmitted to the network device regarding a fault detected on a serving cell associated with the network device.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided, including program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least execute the method according to the third aspect above.

[0012] In an eighth aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided, including program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least execute the method according to the fourth aspect above.

[0013] It should be understood that the Summary of the Invention section is not intended to identify the key or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily apparent through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0015] Figure 1 An example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown;

[0016] Figure 2 A flowchart showing an example process for reporting beam failures according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0017] Figure 3 A flowchart showing an example method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 4 A flowchart showing an example method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0019] Figure 5 A simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure is shown; and

[0020] Figure 6 A block diagram of an example computer-readable medium according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0021] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that the description of these embodiments is only for the purpose of illustration and to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and implementing the present disclosure, and does not imply any limitation on the scope of the present invention. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0023] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.

[0024] References to "an embodiment", "embodiment", "exemplary embodiment", etc. in the present disclosure mean that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not necessarily every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is considered within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0025] It should be understood that although the terms "first" and "second" etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiment. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0026] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "has", "having" and / or "contains", when used herein, specify the presence of the stated features, elements and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0027] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

[0028] (a) A pure hardware circuit implementation (such as an implementation only in analog and / or digital circuitry) and

[0029] (b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (where applicable):

[0030] (i) A combination of (one or more) analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and

[0031] (ii) Any part of (one or more) hardware processors (including (one or more) digital signal processors) with software, software and (one or more) memories, which work together to enable a device (such as a mobile phone or a server) to perform various functions) and

[0032] (c) (One or more) hardware circuitry and / or (one or more) processors, such as (one or more) microprocessors or a part of (one or more) microprocessors, which require software (such as firmware) to operate, but the software may be absent when the operation does not require it.

[0033] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses implementations of only hardware circuits or processors (or multiple processors) or portions of hardware circuits or processors and their (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. For example, if applicable to a particular claim element, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or a processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0034] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that follows any suitable communication standard, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT), and the like. In addition, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including but not limited to the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols known currently or developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communication, of course, there will also be future types of communication technologies and systems in which the present disclosure can be implemented. It should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to the above systems.

[0035] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network through which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. Depending on the terminology and technology of the application, the network device can refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), such as Node B (NodeB or NB), evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), NR NB (also known as gNB), remote radio unit (RRU), radio head (RH), remote radio head (RRH), relay, low power node (such as femto, pico), integrated access backhaul (IAB), and so on.

[0036] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), user station (SS), portable user station, mobile station (MS), or access terminal (AT). Terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, IP voice (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablet computers, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), game terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless client devices (CPEs), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or automation processing chain environment), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment", and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0037] Figure 1 An example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented is shown. Network 100 includes a network device 110 and terminal devices 120 served by the network device 110. Network 100 may provide one or more serving cells 101, 102, 103 to serve the terminal devices 120. It should be understood that the numbers of network devices, terminal devices, and serving cells are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices, terminal devices, and serving cells suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Note that the terms "cell" and "serving cell" may be used interchangeably herein.

[0038] In the communication network 100, the network device 110 may transmit data and control information to the terminal device 120, and the terminal device 120 may also transmit data and control information to the network device 110. The link from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120 is referred to as the downlink (DL) or forward link, while the link from the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 is referred to as the uplink (UL) or reverse link.

[0039] Communications in network 100 can conform to any suitable standards, including but not limited to Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, LTE-A, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), etc. In addition, communications can be performed according to any generation of communication protocols known currently or developed in the future. Examples of communication protocols include but are not limited to the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, and fifth generation (5G) communication protocols

[0040] CA can be supported in network 100, where two or more component carriers (CCs) are aggregated to support a wider bandwidth. In a CA scenario, network device 110 can provide multiple serving cells to terminal device 120, such as Figure 1 one PCell 101 and two SCell 102, 103 as shown. Although Figure 1 two SCell 102, 103 are shown, network device 110 can provide fewer or more SCell. It should also be understood that Figure 1 the configuration of PCell 101 and SCell102, 103 shown is for illustrative purposes only and does not imply any limitation. PCell 101 and SCell 102, 103 can adopt configurations different from Figure 1 that shown

[0041] In some example embodiments, such as in a dual-connectivity scenario, network 100 can include another network device (not shown), which can adopt the same or different radio access technologies as network device 110. The other network device can also provide serving cells to terminal device 120, such as a primary secondary cell (PSCell) and other SCell. PCell and / or PSCell can also be referred to as a special cell (SpCell) herein. Anywhere referred to as PCell herein can equally apply to PSCell

[0042] In some example embodiments, network device 110 is configured to implement beamforming technology and transmit signals to terminal device 120 via multiple beams. Terminal device 120 is configured to receive signals transmitted by network device 110 via multiple beams. Different beams can be configured for PCell 101 and SCell 102, 103. As Figure 1 shown, DL beams 112 and 113 are correspondingly configured for SCell102 and 103. It should be understood that SCell 102 and 103 can have more beams associated therewith. Although not shown, PCell 101 can also have beams associated therewith

[0043] In some example embodiments, the communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 can be based on an unlicensed frequency band, and more specifically, based on an unlicensed wideband. Although not shown, there may be other communication technologies in the communication network, such as Wi-Fi / 802.11, which share the same unlicensed frequency band. Wideband operation can be supported by, for example, a bandwidth part (BWP) or carrier aggregation or radio channel bonding in the communication network 100. In the case where the communication is based on an unlicensed frequency band, the terminal device 120 can perform listen-before-talk (LBT) before accessing the channel.

[0044] Beam failure may occur on either the PCell or the SCell. To better understand the principles and embodiments of the present disclosure, a brief introduction to beam failure detection (BFD) and BFR is given below.

[0045] As described above, the SCell BFR event is reported to the network device by means of the SCell BFR MAC CE. SCell BFD is performed per cell, and SCell BFD adopts the BFD mechanism for the SpCell. In addition, when the SCell BFR MAC CE has been waiting for transmission, there may be multiple beam failure detection triggers that trigger the transmission of the SCell BFR MAC CE.

[0046] As a result, during the beam failure detection and recovery process, for each serving cell configured for beam failure detection, if a beam failure instance indication has been received from a lower layer (e.g., the physical layer), the MAC entity will start or restart a timer for beam failure detection, such as beamFailureDetectionTimer, and further increment the BFI_COUNTER by 1. BFI_COUNTER is a counter for beam failure instance indication and is initially set to 0. When BFI_COUNTER is equal to or exceeds a threshold, such as beamFailureInstanceMaxCount, if the serving cell is an SCell, the MAC layer will trigger BFR.

[0047] If the BFR procedure determines that at least one BFR has been triggered and not cancelled, the MAC entity shall determine whether the uplink shared (UL-SCH) resource is available for a new transmission and whether the UL-SCH resource can accommodate the SCell BFR MAC CE plus its sub-header as a result of the logical channel prioritization. If it is determined that the UL-SCH resource is available and the UL-SCH resource can accommodate the SCell BFR MAC CE plus its sub-header as a result of the logical channel prioritization, the MAC entity shall instruct the multiplexing and assembly procedure to generate the SCell BFR MAC CE. Otherwise, the MAC entity shall trigger a scheduling request (SR) for the SCell BFR.

[0048] The BFR triggering (which specifically occurs for the SCell) and the result of the MAC action (specifically the MAC entity) are described above. Generally, the MAC entity will check whether it has UL resources to send the SCell BFR MAC CE, and if it has UL resources, it will generate the SCell BFR MAC CE and send the SCell BFR MAC CE by using the given UL resources. If it does not have UL resources, it will trigger the SR procedure to request UL resources and send the SCell BFR MAC CE by using the UL resources allocated for the BFR.

[0049] The network device may configure a set of reference signals (RS) for the terminal device to monitor the quality of the link. For example, the terminal device (such as a UE) may provide a set of periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indices for the serving cell In discontinuous reception (DRX) mode operation, when the set of radio link qualities corresponding to all resource configurations used by the terminal device for evaluating the radio link quality is worse than the threshold Q out,LR the physical layer in the terminal device provides an indication to the higher layer (e.g., the MAC layer). When the radio link quality is worse than the threshold Q out,LR the physical layer notifies the higher layer, and its period is determined by the maximum value between the shortest period in the SS / PBCH block in the periodic CSI-RS configuration and / or the set used by the terminal device for evaluating the radio link quality and 2 milliseconds. In DRX mode operation, when the radio link quality is worse than the threshold Q out,LR the physical layer provides an indication to the higher layer, and its period is determined as described in TS 38.133.

[0050] The indication provided by the physical layer to the higher layer refers to the beam failure instance indication for the MAC entity as described above. It can be seen that when the radio link quality is worse than the threshold Q out,LR i.e., When all the fault detection resources in the set are determined to be in a fault condition, the physical layer periodically indicates a beam fault instance indication to the MAC layer. When the link quality is not worse than the threshold, no indication is provided to the MAC layer.

[0051] In view of the above, whenever a beam is in a fault condition on a given cell, the physical layer will periodically indicate a beam fault instance indication to the MAC layer as described above. In view of this principle regarding the MAC behavior for SCell BFR, even if the terminal device has sent a SCell BFR MAC CE regarding the same beam fault event to the network device, each indication will trigger a new SCell BFR MAC CE (and trigger a dedicated SR transmission / CBRA in the case where no uplink resources are available).

[0052] The beam fault detection process is reset only when a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) is received on the HARQ process for transmitting the SCell BFR MAC CE or a UL grant for a new transmission is received for the HARQ process (which is considered an ACK for the previous transport block (TB)) due to the absence of a physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) in the NR system. Even in the case of a successful beam fault recovery based on the successful delivery of the SCell BFR MAC CE, the fault detection reference signal is not reconfigured as part of the process, and the terminal device still performs fault detection based on the BFD-RS of the fault cell. This is likely to trigger a new beam fault recovery for the same SCell. As a result, the terminal device may end up sending the same SCell BFR MAC CE with information about the (multiple) cells unnecessarily many times.

[0053] In contrast, SpCell BFR can be triggered subsequently in a similar manner while another one is still in progress. However, for SpCell BFR, this may not matter because the BFR process is using the random access (RA) process, and only one RA process can be in progress concurrently in the terminal device. Additionally, until the terminal device has been reconfigured with a new active transmission configuration indication (TCI) state for PDCCH reception (i.e., with a new PDCCH beam).

[0054] Therefore, regarding BFR for the serving cell, especially for SCell BFR, it is desirable to have solutions to avoid unnecessary beam fault reports. Specifically, solutions are needed to prevent unnecessary SCell BFR MAC CE transmissions. A similar problem also occurs when the terminal device reports a UL LBT fault on the serving cell. Therefore, it is also desirable to have solutions to avoid unnecessary LBT fault reports.

[0055] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for fault recovery of a serving cell is proposed, in particular, a solution for beam fault recovery of an SCell or for reporting consistent UL LBT faults of an SCell. In the present disclosure, an example is given of a solution on how to prevent continuous unnecessary fault reports (e.g., SCell BFR MAC CE reports and UL LBT MAC CE reports) due to frequent recovery triggering. If a fault (such as a beam fault or an LBT fault) is detected on a serving cell of a terminal device, the terminal device may initiate a first recovery process and transmit information about the detected fault to a network device in the first recovery process. The terminal device then disables additional transmission of information that has already been transmitted.

[0056] The terminal device may disable further transmission based on whether one or more criteria or conditions have been met, such as whether a corresponding timer is running, whether a response has been received, or whether information has been updated. The solution for fault recovery according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be applicable to beam fault recovery and LBT fault recovery. In this way, unnecessary fault reporting may be avoided, for example, unnecessary SCell BFR MAC CE reporting and unnecessary UL LBT MAC CE reporting may be avoided.

[0057] The following will refer to Figure 2 Describe the principles and implementation of the present disclosure in detail. Figure 2 FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example process 200 for beam failure recovery according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, reference will be made to Figure 1 200. Process 200 may involve Figure 1 Network device 110 and terminal device 120 are shown.

[0058] In the example process 200, the terminal device 120 detects 205 a failure on a serving cell of the terminal device 120. If a failure is detected on the serving cell, the terminal device 120 may obtain information about the detected failure, which may be referred to herein as failure information or failure recovery information. The detected failure may be a UL LBT failure and / or a beam failure on the serving cell. In the case of a beam failure, such information may include an identification of the serving cell and (multiple) identifications of one or more candidate beams for the serving cell, and may be referred to herein as beam failure information. In the case of a UL LBT failure, such information may include an identification of the serving cell.

[0059] For example, in the case of a beam failure, for SCell 102, a lower layer (e.g., the physical layer) may provide a beam failure instance indication to the MAC layer of the terminal device 120, and the MAC layer may increment BFI_COUNTER by 1. When the value of BFI_COUNTER exceeds or is equal to a threshold, the terminal device 120 may determine that a beam failure has been detected on SCell 102.

[0060] In response to the failure being detected, a recovery process for the serving cell is initiated, and for the purpose of discussion, this process may be referred to as the first recovery process. For example, the MAC entity of the terminal device 120 may trigger a BFR for the serving cell, such as for SCell 102.

[0061] Then, in the first recovery process, the terminal device 120 transmits 210 the failure information of the serving cell (e.g., SCell 102) to the network device 110, which is associated with the serving cell or in other words provides the serving cell to the terminal device 120. For example, in the case of a beam failure, the beam failure information of SCell 102 may be included in the SCell BFR MAC CE. If more than one BFR has been triggered, the SCell BFR MAC CE may include the beam failure information of all serving cells for which the BFR has been triggered and / or is pending. For example, if a beam failure is also detected on SCell 103, the SCell BFR MAC CE may also include the beam failure information of SCell 103. If the available UL-SCH resources can accommodate the SCell BFR MAC CE plus its sub-header as a result of the logical channel priority, the terminal device 120 may transmit the SCell BFR MAC CE by using the available UL-SCH resources. Otherwise, the terminal device 120 may trigger a scheduling request for SCell BFR to transmit the SCell BFR MAC CE after receiving a UL grant. It should be understood that the SCell BFR MAC CE may also include the beam failure information of the SpCell, such as PCell101. In the case of a consistent UL LBT failure, a UL LBT MAC CE similar to the SCell BFR MAC CE is transmitted to the network device 110 to indicate the failed serving cell(s).

[0062] After transmitting the fault information, the terminal device 120 disables 215 the further transmission of the same fault information to the network device 110. As an example, the terminal device 120 may disable the transmission of the same fault information during another recovery process for the same serving cell, which may be referred to as the second recovery process for the purpose of discussion. For example, after transmitting the SCell BFR MAC CE including the beam fault information of SCell 102, the terminal device 120 may prevent another SCell BFR MAC CE including the same beam fault information from being transmitted during another BFR process for SCell 102. As used herein, the action "disable" may be implemented by the actions "prevent", "prohibit", etc. Disabling the further transmission of the fault information may mean directly preventing or prohibiting the fault information from being transmitted, or may mean preventing or prohibiting the triggering or initiation of a recovery process during which the same fault information would otherwise be transmitted.

[0063] In one example aspect, one or more criteria or conditions may be utilized by the terminal device 120 to determine whether to disable the further transmission of the fault information. If one or more criteria or conditions are met, the further transmission of the fault information may be disabled. Some example embodiments are now described. For the purpose of discussion only and without any limitation, in the following description, SCell 102 is used as an example of the serving cell on which a fault has been detected.

[0064] In some example embodiments, a timer having an active period may be introduced, and the terminal device 120 may disable the further transmission of the fault information based on whether the timer is running. For example, if the timer is running, a new recovery process for SCell 102 may be prevented from being triggered. For the purpose of discussion, such a timer may be referred to as a prohibition timer without any limitation. In the case of a beam fault, the prohibition timer may be used to prevent the MAC entity of the terminal device 120 from triggering another BFR for SCell 102 while the terminal device 120 is waiting for a response from the network device 110 to the transmitted SCell BFR MAC CE.

[0065] In an example embodiment, the terminal device 120 may start a prohibition timer associated with the SCell 102 after transmitting the fault information of the SCell 102 during the first recovery process. For example, after transmitting the SCell BFR MAC CE including the beam fault information of the SCell 102 or after instructing the multiplexing and assembly entity to generate the SCell BFR MAC CE including the beam fault information of the SCell 102. The terminal device 120 may disable the further transmission of the fault information during the new recovery process for the SCell 102 before the prohibition timer expires or while the prohibition timer is running. For example, while the prohibition timer is running, a new BFR for the SCell 102 cannot be triggered, or the BFR for the SCell 102 can be triggered but the SCell BFR MAC CE cannot be generated by the instruction of the multiplexing and assembly entity.

[0066] In an example embodiment, if the prohibition timer expires, the terminal device 120 may enable a second recovery process for the SCell 102 and transmit the fault information to the network device 110 again. For example, when the prohibition timer expires, in the case where another beam fault instance indication is received from the lower layer, the MAC entity of the terminal device 120 may trigger another BFR for the SCell 102. In other words, when another beam fault instance indication is received from the lower layer, the terminal device 120 may initiate a new beam fault recovery process and transmit the SCell BFR MAC CE including the beam fault information of the SCell 102 to the network device 110.

[0067] In an example embodiment, if the terminal device 120 receives a response to the fault information of the SCell 102 from the network device 110, the terminal device 120 may stop the prohibition timer. For example, when a response from the network device 110 to the transmitted MAC CE (e.g., SCell BFR MAC CE or UL LBT MAC CE) is received, the prohibition timer may be stopped. Such a response from the network device 110 may be, for example, a HARQ ACK or a UL grant for a new transmission of the HARQ process to which the MAC CE is transmitted.

[0068] Therefore, the prohibition timer may be used as a criterion for disabling the further transmission of the fault information for the SCell 102. In other words, the terminal device 120 may enable the transmission of the fault information during the new recovery process when the prohibition timer expires, and may disable the transmission of the fault information during the new recovery process while the prohibition timer is running. For example, the terminal device 120 may trigger a new BFR after the prohibition timer expires, but should not trigger a new BFR while the prohibition timer is running.

[0069] The prohibition timer can be configured according to the serving cell or according to the MAC entity. The prohibition timer can also be configured according to the SCell group. This group can be a set of SCells determined by the terminal device 120 (for example, based on the TCI state configured for the PDCCH or based on the fault detection reference signal for beam failure detection), or this group can be explicitly configured by the network device 110. The SCell group can also refer to a PUCCH group (of SCells), for example, SCells with the same associated PUCCH configuration (for example, one of the SCells has a PUCCH configured for uplink control transmission, and the uplink control of one or more SCells is associated with the PUCCH configuration). The terminal device 120 can be configured with one or more PUCCH groups.

[0070] In the case of configuring the prohibition timer according to the serving cell, the SCell 102 can have a dedicated timer. In the case of configuring the prohibition timer according to the MAC entity, the prohibition timer is common to all fault cells for which the fault information has been included in the MAC CE. For example, even if the prohibition timer is running, the BFR process for another serving cell (for example, SCell 103) for which the fault information has not been included in the previously transmitted MAC CE can still be triggered. In this case, the terminal device 120 can generate a new MAC CE with multiple entries, and the new MAC CE includes the fault information of SCell 102 and the fault information of other serving cells (for example, SCell 103). Alternatively, the new MAC CE may not include the fault information of SCell 102 but includes the fault information of other serving cells (for example, SCell 103). After the transmission of the newly generated MAC CE that can indicate all fault cells, the prohibition timer is restarted.

[0071] In some example embodiments, when the terminal device 120 transmits the fault information of one or more faulty SCell and cannot accommodate all the information in the authorized uplink resources (such as the faulty SCell index and potential candidate beams, if any), it may prioritize the candidate beam information regarding a specific faulty cell. In one example, the terminal device 120 may prioritize the reporting of the SCell (i.e., PUCCH SCell) that has been configured with PUCCH. In another example, prioritization may be used when the terminal device 120 reports a single-entry BFR MAC CE (e.g., the terminal device 120 may need to generate multiple MAC CEs to indicate the information of multiple faulty SCell) or when the terminal device 120 reports a multi-entry BFR MAC CE (where the terminal device 120 may indicate the information regarding multiple faulty SCell in a single MAC CE).

[0072] In some example embodiments using the prohibited timer as a criterion or condition, the network device 110 may configure a prohibited timer for the terminal device 120. For example, the length of the active period may be configured by the network device. The network device 110 may determine the configuration information regarding the prohibited timer and transmit the configuration information to the terminal device 120, such as via RRC signaling.

[0073] In some example embodiments, whether a response to the fault information of the transmission 210 has been received from the network device 110 may be used as a criterion or condition. For example, the terminal device 120 may disable the further transmission of the fault information during the second recovery process before a response to the transmitted fault information (e.g., the previously transmitted SCell BFR MAC CE) is received from the network device 110.

[0074] In some example embodiments, such a response may be a HARQ ACK for the transmitted fault information, a UL grant for transmitting rather than retransmitting the fault information, a command to activate or reconfigure the TCI state for SCell 102, or an indication that SCell 102 is deconfigured, deactivated, or switched to the dormant state. For example, in the case of beam failure, such a response may be a HARQ ACK or a UL grant for a new transmission of the HARQ process to which its MAC CE is transmitted; a TCI state activation command or reconfiguration command for a given faulty SCell 102; an indication that SCell 102 is deconfigured, deactivated, or enters the dormant state; any combination thereof.

[0075] In some example embodiments, if it is required to report that the fault information of the network device 110 has been updated, the terminal device 120 may enable a second recovery process for the SCell 102. If the terminal device 120 determines that the fault information for the SCell 102 has been updated, the terminal device 120 may enable the second recovery process and transmit the updated fault information to the network device 110 during the second recovery process. For example, even if the prohibit timer is running or a response to the previously transmitted fault information has not been received from the network device 110, the MAC CE including the updated fault information may be transmitted to the network device 110.

[0076] In some example embodiments, the fault information of the transmission 210 of the SCell 102 is included in the first MAC CE, and the first MAC CE may also include the fault information of another serving cell, such as the SCell 103. If the fault information of the SCell 103 has been updated, the terminal device 120 may enable a recovery process for the SCell 103 and generate a second MAC CE, which includes the fault information of the SCell 102 and the updated fault information of the SCell 103. Then, the terminal device 120 may transmit the second MAC CE to the network device 110 during the recovery process for the SCell 103. The first MAC CE information and the second MAC CE information may be transmitted in a single MAC CE or in separate MAC CEs.

[0077] In any example embodiment herein, the SCell BFR information may be provided in a single entry format (providing information about only one of the fault SCell) or in a multiple entry format (information of multiple SCell is accommodated in a single MAC CE). Multiple single entry MAC CEs may be included in a single MAC PDU and / or UL resource.

[0078] As an example, the beam fault information of the SCell 102 and the SCell 103 may include the SCell BFR MAC CE that has been transmitted to the network device 110. If the terminal device 120 determines that the beam fault information of the SCell 103 has been updated, a new BFR for the SCell 103 may be triggered, and a new SCell BFR MAC CE including the beam fault information of the SCell 102 and the updated beam fault information of the SCell 103 may be generated and transmitted to the network device 110.

[0079] In some cases, the terminal device 120 may transmit a single-entry MAC CE to indicate the fault information regarding the faulty SCell, and while the MAC CE is pending and one or more SCells are determined to be in a faulty condition, the terminal device 120 may generate and trigger a multi-entry SCell BFR MAC CE. In some examples, the terminal device 120 may ignore the prohibition timer and transmit the MAC CE or a transmission indication (a dedicated SR for BFR).

[0080] For the case of beam failure, some examples of updating the fault information are described. As an example, if the terminal device 120 previously reported in a previously transmitted MAC CE that there is no candidate beam for the faulty SCell and a candidate beam (i.e., a candidate RS with a signal quality higher than the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR threshold) is identified and needs to be reported to the network device 110, the terminal device 120 may determine that the fault information has been updated. In this case, the terminal device 120 may trigger a dedicated SR transmission / contention-based random access (CBRA) to provide a new MAC CE.

[0081] As another example, the terminal device 120 previously reported a candidate beam higher than the threshold, but the previously reported candidate beam is no longer higher than the threshold and another candidate beam higher than the threshold can be indicated. In this case, the terminal device 120 may determine that the fault information of the faulty cell has been updated.

[0082] As a further example, the terminal device 120 previously reported a candidate beam higher than the threshold, but the previously reported candidate beam is no longer higher than the threshold and no other candidate can be indicated. In this case, the terminal device 120 may determine that the fault information of the faulty cell has been updated.

[0083] Regarding the above examples, criteria or conditions for disabling further transmission of the same fault information during the second recovery process are described. In another example aspect, disabling further transmission of the same fault information during the second recovery process can be implemented at various levels. As an example, the (multiple) lower layers may prevent detecting the fault or providing an indication of the fault to the higher layers, such as the MAC layer. As another example, even if the fault detection is performed by the lower layer, the MAC layer may prevent triggering or initiating the second recovery process. As a further example, even if the second recovery process has been triggered, a MAC CE including the same fault information as the previously transmitted MAC CE may be prevented from being transmitted. Some example embodiments in this regard are now described.

[0084] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 may prevent a lower layer from providing an instance indication of a serving cell (e.g., SCell 102) for a failure to the MAC layer of the terminal device 120. This instance indication may be used to trigger a recovery process for the failed serving cell. In the case of a beam failure, when a BFR for SCell 102 is pending, the physical layer is prevented from providing a beam failure instance indication for SCell 102 to the MAC layer. For example, when a prohibit timer associated with SCell 102 is running or before receiving a response to a transmitted SCell BFR MAC CE from the network device 110, the physical layer is prevented or prohibited from providing a beam failure instance indication to the MAC layer.

[0085] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 may prevent the MAC layer of the terminal device 120 from initiating a second recovery process. In other words, the terminal device 120 does not trigger a second recovery process until a previous first recovery process has been cancelled. For example, if there is a pending / triggered BFR for a failed SCell102, the MAC entity does not trigger a new BFR until the previous BFR has been cancelled, even if a beam failure instance indication(s) is / are received from a lower layer.

[0086] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 may not react or respond to a beam failure instance indication(s) from a lower layer for a failed SCell 102. In one example embodiment, the terminal device 120 may prevent a counter for the instance indication from being incremented, and this instance indication is used to trigger a recovery process for SCell 102. For example, in the case of a beam failure, even if a beam failure instance indication for SCell 102 is received from the physical layer, the BFI_COUNTER for SCell 102 may not be incremented. In one example embodiment, the terminal device 120 may prevent a timer for failure detection for SCell 102 from being started. In the case of a beam failure, even if a beam failure instance indication for SCell 102 is received from the physical layer, the beamFailureDetectionTimer for SCell 102 may not be started.

[0087] In some example embodiments where failure information of a failed cell(s) is included in a MAC CE, the terminal device 120 may prevent the transmission of an additional MAC CE having the same information as a previously transmitted MAC CE. For example, in a case where the terminal device 120 has not received a response to a previously transmitted SCell BFR MAC CE, or where a prohibit timer is running, another SCell BFR MAC CE for the same serving cell that triggered the BFR is prohibited from being transmitted.

[0088] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 120 may determine when it will cancel a pending dedicated beam failure recovery (BFR) SR / SCell BFR MAC CE transmission. In one example, the terminal device 120 cancels the pending SR for beam failure recovery and / or the pending SCell BFR MAC CE regarding the failure information of, for example, SCell 102 only when the SCell BFR MAC CE is multiplexed into a MAC PDU transmitted on a non-failing SCell (e.g., SCell 103). Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 performs the cancellation only when the SCell BFR MAC CE is multiplexed into a MAC PDU transmitted on the SpCell (PCell / PSCell). In these cases, the terminal device 120 may not disable the triggering of beam failure recovery for SCell102, the transmission of the BFR SR for beam failure recovery, or the transmission of the SCell BFR MAC CE including the failure information of SCell 102, unless the SCell BFR MAC CE is transmitted on a non-failing SCell (e.g., SCell 103). In other words, if the SCell BFR MAC CE is transmitted in SCell 102 where a beam failure is detected, the disabling is not mandatory. By doing so, the loss of the failure information of SCell 102 reported by the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 can be mitigated, and the failure reporting process can be faster.

[0089] In another example embodiment, if the SR configuration for beam failure recovery is provided on the PUCCH SCell and a beam failure is detected on the PUCCH SCell, the terminal device 120 triggers a random access procedure on the SpCell (PCell / PSCell). This is to ensure that UL resources are authorized on the SpCell available for transmitting the SCell BFR MAC CE when the SR for beam failure recovery may experience a failure on the PUCCH SCell (in the case where a beam failure is detected on the PUCCH SCell).

[0090] The above aspects equally apply to consistent UL LBT failure detection.

[0091] The aspects described above regarding different example embodiments may be combined. As an example implementation, a prohibit timer may be used as a criterion for disabling additional transmissions, and the disabling of additional transmissions may be achieved by preventing the physical layer from providing a beam failure instance indication to the MAC layer.

[0092] will be referred to Figures 3 to 4Describe more details of example embodiments according to the present disclosure.

[0093] Figure 3 FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method 300 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 300 may be implemented at a device, such as at the terminal device 120 as shown. For purposes of discussion, the method 300 will be described with reference to Figure 1 FIG. 4. Figure 1 to describe the method 300.

[0094] At block 310, the terminal device 120 detects a fault on the serving cell of the terminal device. If a beam fault is detected, then at block 320, the terminal device 120 transmits information about the detected fault to the network device 110. The network device 110 is associated with the serving cell. At block 330, the terminal device 120 disables further transmission of the information to the network device 110.

[0095] In some example embodiments, disabling further transmission of the information includes: starting a first timer associated with the serving cell after transmitting the information, the first timer having a valid period; and disabling further transmission of the information before the first timer expires.

[0096] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further includes: if it is determined that the first timer expires, enabling further transmission of the information; and transmitting the information about the detected fault to the network device 110.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further includes: receiving a response to the transmitted information from the network device 110; and stopping the first timer in response to receiving the response.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further includes: receiving configuration information about the first timer from the network device 110, the configuration information at least indicating the valid period.

[0099] In some example embodiments, disabling further transmission of the information includes: determining whether a response to the transmitted information is received from the network device 110; and disabling further transmission of the information based on the determination that a response to the transmitted information has not been received from the network device 110.

[0100] In some example embodiments, the response includes at least one of the following: a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement of the transmitted information, an uplink grant for a transmission other than a retransmission of the information, a command to activate or reconfigure a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state for the serving cell, or an indication that the serving cell is deconfigured, deactivated, or switched to a dormant state.

[0101] In some example embodiments, disabling further transmission of the disabling information includes preventing the media access control layer of the terminal device 120 from initiating a recovery process for the serving cell.

[0102] In some example embodiments, disabling further transmission of the disabling information includes preventing a lower layer of the terminal device from providing an instance indication for the serving cell to the media access control layer of the terminal device 120, where the instance indication is used to trigger a recovery process for the serving cell.

[0103] In some example embodiments, disabling further transmission of the disabling information includes at least one of the following: preventing a counter for the instance indication, which is used to trigger a recovery process for the serving cell, from being incremented, or preventing a second timer for fault detection of the serving cell from being started.

[0104] In some example embodiments, disabling further transmission of the disabling information includes preventing the transmission of a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) including the information to the network device 110.

[0105] In some example embodiments, method 300 further includes: if it is determined that information about the detected fault has been updated, transmitting the updated information to the network device 110.

[0106] In some example embodiments, information about the detected fault is transmitted in a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE), and method 300 further includes: if it is determined that additional information about a fault on an additional serving cell of the terminal device 120 has been updated, generating a second MAC CE that includes the information and the updated additional information, where the additional information is included in the first MAC CE; and transmitting the second MAC CE to the network device 110.

[0107] In some example embodiments, the detected fault includes at least one of the following: a beam fault on the serving cell or a listen-before-talk fault on the serving cell.

[0108] Figure 4 A flowchart of an example method 400 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Method 400 may be implemented at a device, such as at the network device 110 as Figure 1 shown. For the purpose of discussion, method 400 will be described with reference to Figure 1 this.

[0109] At block 410, network device 110 determines configuration information regarding a timer for terminal device 120. The configuration information at least indicates an active period of the timer. At block 420, network device 110 transmits the configuration information to terminal device 120 such that terminal device 120 disables further transmission of information that has been transmitted to network device 110 regarding a fault detected on a serving cell associated with network device 110.

[0110] In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing method 300 may include components for performing the corresponding steps of method 300. The components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

[0111] In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes: a component for detecting a fault on a serving cell of the terminal device at the terminal device; a component for transmitting information regarding the detected fault to a network device in response to the detected fault, the network device being associated with the serving cell; and a component for disabling further transmission of the information to the network device.

[0112] In some example embodiments, the component for disabling further transmission of the information includes: a component for starting a first timer associated with the serving cell after transmitting the information, the first timer having an active period; and a component for disabling further transmission of the information before the first timer expires.

[0113] In some example embodiments, the apparatus further includes: a component for enabling further transmission of the information if it is determined that the first timer has expired; and a component for transmitting information regarding the detected fault to the network device.

[0114] In some example embodiments, the apparatus further includes: a component for receiving a response to the transmitted information from the network device; and a component for stopping the first timer in response to receiving the response.

[0115] In some example embodiments, the apparatus further includes: a component for receiving configuration information regarding the first timer from the network device, the configuration information at least indicating the active period.

[0116] In some example embodiments, the component for disabling further transmission of the information includes: a component for determining whether a response to the transmitted information is received from the network device; and a component for disabling further transmission of the information if it is determined that a response to the transmitted information has not been received from the network device.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the response includes at least one of the following: a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) acknowledgement for the transmitted information, an uplink grant for a transmission other than a retransmission of the information, a command to activate or reconfigure a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state for the serving cell, or an indication that the serving cell is deconfigured, deactivated, or switched to a dormant state.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the component for disabling further transmission of information includes: a component for preventing the Medium Access Control layer of the terminal device from initiating a recovery process for the serving cell.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the component for disabling further transmission of information includes: a component for preventing a lower layer of the terminal device from providing an instance indication for the serving cell to the Medium Access Control layer of the terminal device, where the instance indication is used to trigger a recovery process for the serving cell.

[0120] In some example embodiments, the component for disabling further transmission of information includes at least one of the following: a component for preventing a counter for the instance indication, which is used to trigger a recovery process for the serving cell, from being incremented, or a component for preventing a second timer for fault detection for the serving cell from being started.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the component for disabling further transmission of information includes: a component for preventing a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) including the information from being transmitted to the network device.

[0122] In some example embodiments, the apparatus further includes: a component for transmitting updated information to the network device if it is determined that information about the detected fault has been updated.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the information about the detected fault is transmitted in a first Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), and the apparatus further includes: a component for generating a second MAC CE based on that additional information about a fault on another serving cell of the terminal device has been updated, where the second MAC CE includes the information and the updated additional information, and the additional information is included in the first MAC CE; and a component for transmitting the second MAC CE to the network device.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the detected fault includes at least one of the following: a beam fault on the serving cell or a listen-before-talk fault on the serving cell.

[0125] In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing method 400 may include components for performing the corresponding steps of method 400. The components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

[0126] In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes: components for determining, at a network device, configuration information regarding a timer for a terminal device, the configuration information indicating at least an active period of the timer; and components for transmitting the configuration information to the network device such that the terminal device disables further transmission of information that has been transmitted to the network device regarding a fault detected on a serving cell associated with the network device.

[0127] Figure 5 is a simplified block diagram of a device 500 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 500 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as Figure 1 the terminal device 120 or the network device 110 as shown. As shown, the device 500 includes one or more processors 510, one or more memories 520 coupled to the processors 510, and one or more communication modules 540 coupled to the processors 510.

[0128] The communication module 540 is for two-way communication. The communication module 540 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary for communicating with other network elements.

[0129] The processor 510 may be of any type suitable for a local technical network and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of the following: a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 500 may have multiple processors, such as an application-specific integrated circuit chip that is subordinate in time to a clock synchronized with a main processor.

[0130] The memory 520 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 524, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), and other magnetic and / or optical storage. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 522 and other volatile memories that do not persist during a power outage.

[0131] The computer program 530 includes computer-executable instructions executed by the associated processor 510. The program 530 may be stored in the ROM 520. The processor 510 may perform any appropriate actions and processes by loading the program 530 into the RAM 520.

[0132] Embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented by program 530 such that device 500 can execute Figures 3 to 4 any process of the present disclosure discussed herein. Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0133] In some embodiments, program 530 can be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which can be included in device 500 (such as in memory 520) or other storage devices accessible by device 500. Device 500 can load program 530 from the computer-readable medium into RAM 522 for execution. The computer-readable medium can include any type of tangible non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Figure 6 An example of a computer-readable medium 600 in the form of a CD or DVD is shown. Program 530 is stored on the computer-readable medium.

[0134] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware or special-purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects can be implemented in hardware, while other aspects can be implemented in firmware or software executable by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other graphical representation, it should be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein can be implemented, by way of non-limiting example, in: hardware, software, firmware, special-purpose circuits or logic, general-purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0135] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform a method 300 or 400 as described above with reference to Figures 3 to 4 the description. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functions of program modules can be combined or split as needed among program modules. The machine-executable instructions for program modules can be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules can be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0136] The program code for implementing the methods of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes can be provided to a processor or a controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing devices, such that when the program codes are executed by the processor or the controller, the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams are implemented. The program codes can be executed entirely on the machine, partially on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0137] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data can be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus, or processor to execute the various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include signals, computer-readable media, etc.

[0138] The computer-readable media can be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable media can include, but are not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, devices, or apparatuses, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer-readable storage media will include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer floppy disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0139] Furthermore, although the operations are described in a specific order, this should not be construed as requiring that the operations be performed in the specific order shown or sequentially, or that all of the shown operations be performed to obtain the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to a particular embodiment. Certain features described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented separately or in any suitable sub-combination in multiple embodiments.

[0140] Although the present disclosure has been described in a language specific to structural features and / or method acts, it should be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the above specific features or acts. On the contrary, the above specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms for implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A terminal device, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory, including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to at least: detect a fault on a serving cell of the terminal device; in response to the fault being detected, transmit information about the detected fault to a network device associated with the serving cell; disable further transmission of the information to the network device; and if it is determined that the information about the detected fault has been updated, transmit the updated information to the network device at least in the following cases: a first timer is running, where the first timer has an active period and further transmission of the information is disabled before the first timer expires; or a response to the transmitted information has not been received from the network device.

2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to disable further transmission of the information by: starting the first timer after transmitting the information, where the first timer is associated with the serving cell; and disabling further transmission of the information before the first timer expires.

3. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: enable further transmission of the information if it is determined that the first timer has expired; and transmit the information about the detected fault to the network device.

4. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: receive a response to the transmitted information from the network device; and stop the first timer in response to receiving the response.

5. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: receive configuration information about the first timer from the network device, the configuration information at least indicating the active period.

6. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to disable further transmission of the information by: determining whether a response to the transmitted information has been received from the network device; and disabling further transmission of the information if it is determined that a response to the transmitted information has not been received from the network device.

7. The terminal device according to claim 6, wherein the response includes at least one of the following: a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) acknowledgement of the transmitted information, an uplink grant for a transmission other than a retransmission of the information, a command to activate or reconfigure a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state for the serving cell, or an indication that the serving cell is deconfigured, deactivated or switched to a dormant state.

8. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to disable further transmission of the information by: preventing a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer of the terminal device from initiating a recovery process for the serving cell.

9. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to disable the additional transmission of the information by: preventing a lower layer of the terminal device from providing an instance indication for the serving cell to a media access control layer of the terminal device, the instance indication being used to trigger a recovery process for the serving cell.

10. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to disable the additional transmission of the information by at least one of: preventing a counter for the instance indication from being incremented, the instance indication being used to trigger a recovery process for the serving cell, or preventing a second timer for fault detection of the serving cell from being started.

11. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to disable the additional transmission of the information by: preventing a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) including the information from being transmitted to the network device.

12. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the information about the detected fault is transmitted in a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE), and the terminal device is further caused to: generate a second MAC CE including the information and updated additional information, the additional information being included in the first MAC CE, according to determining that additional information about a fault on another serving cell of the terminal device has been updated; and transmit the second MAC CE to the network device.

13. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the detected fault includes at least one of: a beam fault on the serving cell or a listen-before-talk fault on the serving cell.

14. A method, comprising: detecting, at a terminal device, a fault on a serving cell of the terminal device; in response to the fault being detected, transmitting information about the detected fault to a network device associated with the serving cell; disabling additional transmission of the information to the network device; and transmitting the updated information to the network device at least in the following cases according to determining that the information about the detected fault has been updated: a first timer is running, wherein the first timer has an active period and the additional transmission of the information is disabled before the first timer expires; or a response to the transmitted information has not been received from the network device.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein disabling the additional transmission of the information comprises: starting the first timer after transmitting the information, wherein the first timer is associated with the serving cell; and disabling the additional transmission of the information before the first timer expires.

16. The method according to claim 14, further comprising: enabling the additional transmission of the information according to determining that the first timer has expired; and transmitting the information about the detected fault to the network device.

17. The method according to claim 14 further comprises: Receiving, from the network device, a response to the transmitted information; And Stopping the first timer in response to receiving the response.

18. The method according to claim 14 further comprises: Receiving, from the network device, configuration information about the first timer, the configuration information at least indicating the valid period.

19. The method according to claim 14, wherein disabling the additional transmission of the information comprises: Determining whether a response to the transmitted information is received from the network device; And Disabling the additional transmission of the information according to a determination that the response to the transmitted information has not been received from the network device.

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein the response comprises at least one of the following: A hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement of the transmitted information, An uplink grant for a transmission other than a retransmission of the information, A command for activating or reconfiguring a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state for the serving cell, or An indication that the serving cell is deconfigured, deactivated, or switched to a dormant state.

21. The method according to claim 14, wherein disabling the additional transmission of the information comprises: Preventing a media access control (MAC) layer of the terminal device from initiating a recovery process for the serving cell.

22. The method according to claim 14, wherein disabling the additional transmission of the information comprises: Preventing a lower layer of the terminal device from providing an instance indication for the serving cell to the MAC layer of the terminal device, the instance indication being used to trigger a recovery process for the serving cell.

23. The method according to claim 14, wherein disabling the additional transmission of the information comprises at least one of the following: Preventing a counter for an instance indication, which is used to trigger a recovery process for the serving cell, from being incremented, or Preventing a second timer for fault detection of the serving cell from being started.

24. The method according to claim 14, wherein disabling the additional transmission of the information comprises: Preventing a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) including the information from being transmitted to the network device.

25. The method according to claim 14, wherein information about the detected fault is transmitted in a first media access control (MAC) control element (CE), and the method further comprises: Generating a second MAC CE according to a determination that additional information about a fault on another serving cell of the terminal device has been updated, the second MAC CE including the information and the updated additional information, the additional information being included in the first MAC CE; And Transmitting the second MAC CE to the network device.

26. The method according to claim 14, wherein the detected fault comprises at least one of the following: a beam fault on the serving cell or a listen-before-talk fault on the serving cell.

27. An apparatus, comprising components for performing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.

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