Beam failure recovery method, device, and computer-readable medium in non-terrestrial networks

Abstract

The present application relates to devices and components, including apparatus, systems and methods for performing beam failure recovery operations in a wireless communication system.

Description

Background Art

[0001] Beam failure recovery techniques are described in existing 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) networks. These techniques include detecting beam failure, finding and selecting a new beam, and restoring the connection. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] Figure 1 A network environment according to some embodiments is shown.

[0003] Figure 2 is a plan view of cell coverage according to some embodiments.

[0004] Figure 3 Beam failure recovery operations are shown according to some embodiments.

[0005] Figure 4 A plan view of cell coverage before and after beam failure recovery operations is shown according to some embodiments.

[0006] Figure 5 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0007] Figure 6 Another operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0008] Figure 7 Another operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0009] Figure 8 A beamforming component of a device according to some embodiments is shown.

[0010] Fig. 9 User equipment according to some embodiments is shown.

[0011] Fig.10 A base station according to some embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The following specific embodiments relate to the accompanying drawings. The same figure numbers may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so that the description of various embodiments will not be obscured by unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0013] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

[0014] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functions, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable system on chip (SoC)), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functions. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0015] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuit" may refer to an application processor, a baseband processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit, a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes).

[0016] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0017] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0018] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing resources or networked resources.

[0019] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time, a processor / CPU usage, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, a device, a system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services that can be accessed through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0020] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" or any other similar term representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection made between two devices for transmitting and receiving information.

[0021] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0022] The term "connected" may mean that two or more elements at a common communication protocol layer have an established signaling relationship with each other through a communication channel, link, interface, or reference point.

[0023] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment or infrastructure for providing wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, virtualized network function, etc.

[0024] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents. An information element may include one or more additional information elements.

[0025] Figure 1 A network environment 100 according to some embodiments is shown. The network environment 100 may include a UE 104 and a base station 108. The base station 108 may provide one or more wireless service cells, such as 3GPP New Radio "NR" cells, through which the UE 104 can communicate with the base station 108. In some embodiments, the service cells may be divided into a primary cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG), each having a primary service cell and possibly one or more secondary service cells. The primary service cell of the MCG may be referred to as a PCell, and the secondary service cell of the MCG may be referred to as an SSCell. The primary service cell of the SCG may be referred to as a PSCell, and the secondary service cell of the SCG may be referred to as an SSCell. Unless otherwise specified, references to the primary service cell include both the PCell and the PSCell, and references to the secondary service cell include both the SCell and the SSCell.

[0026] The UE 104 and the base station 108 can communicate over an air interface compatible with 3GPP technical specifications, such as technical specifications defining fifth generation (5G) NR system standards. The base station 108 can be a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node coupled to a 5G core network. The NG-RAN node can be a gNB that provides NR user plane and control plane protocol termination to the UE 104, or an ng-eNB that provides Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol termination to the UE 104.

[0027] Base station 108 may be coupled to one or more distributed antenna panel APs (e.g., AP 112 and AP 116). Generally speaking, base station 108 may perform most of the operations of the communication protocol stack, while TRP 112 / 116 acts as a distributed antenna. In some embodiments, TRP 112 / 116 may perform some lower-level operations of the communication protocol stack (e.g., emulating physical "PHY" layer operations). Base station 108 may be coupled to TRP 112 / 116 via a wired or wireless backhaul connection. In some embodiments, the antenna panels may be implemented in corresponding transmit-receive points.

[0028] Base stations 108 may use APs 112 / 116 to geographically separate points where signals may be transmitted to or received from UEs 104. This may increase flexibility in communicating with UEs 104 using multiple-input, multiple-output, and beamforming enhancements. APs 112 / 116 may be used to transmit downlink transmissions to UEs 104 and receive uplink transmissions from UEs 104. In some embodiments, the distributed transmission / reception capabilities provided by APs 112 / 116 may be used for coordinated multi-point or carrier aggregation systems.

[0029] In some embodiments, network environment 100 may include at least one of AP 112 / 116 implemented as non-terrestrial AP, in which case network environment 100 may be referred to as non-terrestrial network (NTN). As shown, AP 112 may be considered as non-terrestrial AP, and AP 116 may be considered as terrestrial AP. Non-terrestrial AP 112 can be moved relative to a geographical location, usually moving on a fixed or predetermined route. For example, non-terrestrial AP 112 may be provided by satellites of unmanned aerial vehicles, airplanes, various altitude classifications (e.g., low earth orbit, medium earth orbit, geosynchronous orbit, or high earth orbit), etc. Some embodiments may include mobile ground AP, such as, for example, an AP provided in a similar manner by a vehicle, a train, etc. In an embodiment where AP 112 is a non-terrestrial AP provided by a satellite, a backhaul connection to base station 108 may be provided by an NTN gateway coupled to base station 108 via a high-speed connection (e.g., an Ethernet connection).

[0030] Incorporating mobile or non-terrestrial APs into the network environment 100 may facilitate providing several different beams within a physical cell. Cell coverage within a physical cell may utilize the number of beams to increase desired connectivity throughout a relatively large geographic area. Figure 2 A plan view of cell coverage 200 according to some embodiments is shown. Base stations 108 and APs 112 / 116 may provide different beams applied to different bandwidth parts (BWP) to cell coverage 200. In some embodiments, each AP 112 / 116 may provide a respective cell, in which case cell coverage 200 may be provided by only one AP. In other embodiments, APs 112 / 116 may provide cells cooperatively, in which case cell coverage 200 may be provided by both APs 112 and 116.

[0031] A BWP is a collection of some or all common resource blocks across the channel bandwidth. UE 104 can be configured with multiple BWPs for each component carrier. Different numbers of BWPs can be configured for uplink or downlink. In some embodiments, up to four BWPs can be configured for each carrier. Typically, only a single BWP is active per carrier per direction. This may be referred to as an active BWP. UE 104 may receive physical downlink channel transmissions (e.g., physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)) within an active downlink BWP and send physical uplink channel transmissions (e.g., physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) within an active uplink BWP.

[0032] The UE 104 may determine the initial uplink / downlink BWP upon initial access to the serving cell. The initial uplink / downlink BWP may be signaled via system information block 1 or dedicated signaling. The initial downlink BWP may be provided by the initialDownlinkBWP parameter. If such a parameter is not provided, the UE 104 may determine the initial downlink based on a set of resource blocks belonging to the control resources (CORESET) and search space for type 0 PDCCH. The set of resource blocks may be determined based on information within a master information block.

[0033] In some embodiments, the BWP may be a default BWP. In some embodiments, the base station 108 may configure a default BWP for the UE 104 using, for example, a defaultDownlinkBWP-ID. This default BWP ID may be one of the identifiers configured with the initial BWP configuration. In operation, the UE 104 may transition from an active BWP to a default BWP when a BWP inactivity timer expires. If a default downlink BWP is not configured, the UE 104 may use the initial downlink BWP as the default BWP.

[0034] Cell coverage 200 includes an initial BWP (BWP 0) in which beam scanning is performed. Base station 108 may cause multiple synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to be transmitted over corresponding multiple beams in BWP 0. Measurements reported from UE 104 to base station 108 on these SSBs may then be used to select one or more desired beams for UE 104 or for other beam management operations.

[0035] The cell coverage 200 may also include four other BWPs. BWP 1 may be provided with beam 1, beam 5, and beam 9. BWP 2 may be provided with beam 2 and beam 6. BWP 3 may be provided with beam 3 and beam 7. And BWP 4 may be provided with beam 4, beam 8, and beam 12. The base station 108 may address inter-beam interference by configuring the cell coverage 200 in a manner that maintains orthogonality between the bandwidths of adjacent BWPs. For example, the BWPs provided by different beams may not be adjacent to each other to mitigate inter-beam interference.

[0036] The base station 108 may configure the UE 104 to perform various beam failure recovery (BFR) operations to detect changes in radio conditions that may cause existing beams to be unreliable. These beam failure recovery operations may be provided by lower layers (e.g., physical (PHY) layer and medium access control (MAC) layer) of the UE 104 to quickly detect beam failures, select new beams, and restore connections. In Release 15 of 3GPP, all BFR processes are completed within one BWP. However, such operations may not properly utilize or take into account the cell coverage 200 that may be provided by a network (e.g., network environment 100) that employs mobile or non-terrestrial APs.

[0037] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide control signaling and UE behavior to support BFR operation in a network environment that may employ mobile or non-terrestrial APs. Specifically, the embodiments describe control signaling and UE behavior for aspects of BFR operation, including, for example, candidate beam detection (CBD), beam failure recovery request (BFRQ), and beam failure recovery response (BFRR). The control signaling and UE behavior for CBD may specify that different beams may be transmitted in different BWPs. The control signaling UE behavior for BFRQ may specify that BFRQs will be transmitted in different BWPs. The control signaling and UE behavior for BFRR may specify that BFRR may also be carried in different BWPs, and UE behavior for BWP and beams may be further provided after receiving the BFRR.

[0038] Figure 3 BFR operations 300 are shown according to some embodiments.

[0039] The BFR operations 300 may include, at 304, the base station 108 transmitting control signaling for the BFR 300. In some embodiments, the control signaling may configure a set of reference signals (RS) for the UE 104 to measure for the BFR operations 300. For example, the base station 108 may use RadioLinkMonitoringRS to configure a set of RS for the UE 104. These RSs may be referred to as beam failure detection (BFD) RSs and may include, for example, channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RS) or synchronization signal blocks (SSBs).

[0040] In some embodiments, the UE 104 may not be specifically configured with a BFD RS, for example, the RadioLinkMonitoring RS may not be provided. In these embodiments, the UE 104 may determine which RS to use as the BFD RS based on other information. For example, if the active transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for PDCCH reception includes only one reference signal, the UE 104 may use the reference signal provided for the active TCI state for PDCCH reception as the BFD RS.

[0041] The control signaling transmitted at 304 may additionally / alternatively configure reference signals for candidate beam detection (CBD). These reference signals may be referred to as CBD RS. Similar to BFD RS, CB RS may include SSB or CSI RS.

[0042] The control signaling transmitted at 304 may additionally / alternatively configure other resources that may be used to measure candidate beams, report BFRQ, or receive BFRR, as will be described herein.

[0043] The BFR 300 may also include, at 308, transmitting downlink reference signals for BFD / CBD for each link. These reference signals may be transmitted periodically, aperiodically, or based on a triggering event. The downlink reference signals for BFD / CBD may be transmitted directly by the base station 108 or through the AP 112 / 116. The BFD RS may be transmitted in all BWPs. The CBD RS may be transmitted in one or more of the BWPs, as further described herein.

[0044] The BFR 300 may include, at 312, performing BFD and CBD based on corresponding downlink reference signals.

[0045] BFD may include a PHY layer (also referred to as Layer 1 (L1)) that receives and measures the BFD RS. The BFD-RS may be quasi-co-located with the PDCCH in the active bandwidth portion. If the radio link quality of the BFD-RS drops to a quality level (Q out_LR), the quality level may correspond to a quality assuming a block error rate (BLER) of 10% for the PDCCH transmission, the PHY layer may generate a beam failure instance. The PHY layer may provide the beam failure instance to the MAC layer. The MAC layer may evaluate the condition of the beam failure based on the beam failure instance received from the PHY layer. If the condition warrants, the MAC layer may declare a beam failure (BF) at 316. In some embodiments, the MAC layer may declare a BF when the BFD-RS is below the quality threshold level a predetermined number of times within a predetermined time period.

[0046] For example, in some embodiments, the MAC layer may include a beam failure instance (BFI) counter that starts at zero and increments each time the MAC layer receives an indication of a beam failure instance from the PHY layer. The MAC layer may also restart a beam failure detection timer upon receiving a beam failure instance. If the beam failure detection timer expires, the counter may be reset to zero. If the BFI counter becomes greater than or equal to a predetermined BFI maximum value while the timer is running, the MAC layer may declare a beam failure.

[0047] UE 104 may perform CBD by measuring the CBD-RS from the new beam and selecting a beam associated with an L1 reference signal received power (RSRP) above a corresponding threshold. In some embodiments, UE 104 may be configured with a list of up to 16 SSB or CSI-RS beams that may be candidate beams. The list may be provided in an RRC parameter such as, for example, candidateBeamRSList provided by base station 108. If the CBD-RS is an SSB, the threshold may correspond to rsrp-ThresholdSSB. If the CBD-RS is a CSI-RS, the threshold may correspond to rsrp-ThresholdSSB+powerControlOffsetSS.

[0048] The BFR 300 may include, at 320, the UE 104 sending a BFRQ to the base station 108. The BFRQ notifies the base station 108 of the beam failure and may potentially provide a new beam index or other indication of the selected candidate beam. The BFRQ may be transmitted in a BWP different from the active BWP. The BFRQ may include one or more transmissions including an indication of the beam failure or the selected candidate beam.

[0049] The BFR 300 may also include the base station 108 sending a BFRR to the UE 104 at 324. The BFRR may be transmitted in a different BWP than the active BWP.

[0050] In some embodiments, the CBD-RS may be transmitted by the base station 108 according to any of a plurality of options. In option 1, all CBD RS may be transmitted in an initial BWP (e.g., BWP 0). In option 2, the CBD RS may be transmitted in one BWP within the cell. This BWP may be different from both the initial BWP and the active BWP. For example, the BWP may be a default BWP or a different BWP. In option 3, the CBD RS may be transmitted in multiple BWPs within the cell.

[0051] In options 1-3, if the CBD RS is in a BWP different from the active BWP, after the UE 104 declares a beam failure, the UE 104 may switch to a BWP with a CBD RS for CBD operation. This BWP may be referred to as a candidate beam (CB) BWP. For example, consider a scenario in which the UE 104 is configured with BWPs 1-4, BWP 1 is active, and the UE 104 is using beam 1. The UE 104 may receive a BFD RS in BWP 1 on beam 1. When the UE 104 declares a beam failure, it may switch to a CB BWP to measure the CBD RS. The CB BWP may be an initial BWP (option 1), a designated BWP (option 2), or one of a plurality of designated BWPs (option 3). The specific BWP among a plurality of designed BWPs selected as the CB BWP in option 3 may be based on the judgment of the UE 104.

[0052] The UE 104 may attempt to detect the CBD RS in the CB BWP within a time window. The time window may be predefined by, for example, a 3GPP technical specification, or may be configured by RRC signaling from the base station 108. If the UE 104 cannot detect the CBD RS, the UE 104 may fall back to the initial BWP and trigger a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure. The CBRA procedure may be performed with respect to the SSB received in the initial BWP. After the CBRA procedure, the UE 104 may communicate with the base station 108 or AP 112 / 116 in the initial BWP based on the beam corresponding to the received SSB.

[0053] In some embodiments, UE 104 may be configured with a designated CB BWP for option 2 or multiple designated BWPs for option 3 via one or more RRC configuration parameters. For example, a beam failure reconfiguration information element (IE) may be defined as follows.

[0054]

[0055] The beam failure recovery configuration IE described above may include control signaling that provides a BWP identifier (ID) to allow the UE 104 to identify the CB BWP and CBD RS (SSB or CSI-RS). This configuration parameter may be used for option 2 or option 3 of the primary serving cell BFR. The BWPID may be included in the parameters that configure the PRACH resources dedicated to the BFR. In this way, the CB BWP may be associated with a dedicated resource (e.g., a PRACH preamble). The UE 104 may then use the dedicated resource (e.g., by transmitting a PRACH preamble) to provide an indication of the selected candidate beam to the base station 108.

[0056] The control signaling for option 2 or option 3 of the secondary serving cell BFR may be provided by the beam failure recovery Scell ​​configuration IE defined as follows.

[0057]

[0058] The BFR configuration provides an indication of the BWP (by providing a BWP ID) for each candidate beam configuration in which the corresponding candidate beam is transmitted. Therefore, with this configuration, the UE 104 will be able to identify the CB BWP. Since the BFRQ for the secondary serving cell can be transmitted by the primary serving cell, the BFR configuration in the secondary serving cell may not require PRACH configuration information.

[0059] In some embodiments, for the primary serving cell BFR, the BFRQ may be transmitted in a BWP other than the currently active BWP and may be carried by the contention-free PRACH (CF-PRACH). This may be accomplished by one of two options.

[0060] In a first option, the BFRQ corresponding to the primary serving cell BFR may be transmitted only in the initial BWP. For example, if UE 104 detects a beam failure in BWP 1 on beam 1, UE 104 may detect CBD in the CB BWP and transmit the BFRQ in the CF-PRACH transmitted in BWP 0. In this embodiment, the CB BWP may be BWP 0 or another configured BWP (e.g., BWP 2, 3, or 4) in addition to the active BWP 1.

[0061] In a second option, a BFRQ corresponding to the primary serving cell BFR may be transmitted in the BWP associated with the newly identified beam. For example, consider that UE 104 detects a beam failure in BWP 1 on beam 1 and then selects CSI-RS x associated with CF-PRACH resource y in BWP 2 via CBD. According to some embodiments, this association may be provided by the PRACH-ResourceDedicatedBFR provided above. UE 104 may then transmit CF-PRACH resource y as the BFRQ in BWP 2. Upon receiving CF-PRACH resource y, base station 108 will know that UE 104 selected CSI-RS x as a candidate beam.

[0062] If CF-PRACH is not configured, the UE 104 may fall back to CBRA, which may be transmitted in the initial BWP (BWP 0). The UE 104 may use CBRA to request an uplink source, which, when granted, may be used to transmit a BFRQ with an indication of the selected candidate beam (e.g., CSI-RS x).

[0063] For secondary serving cell BFR, BFRQ may be transmitted in a BWP other than the currently active BWP. Some embodiments may include a two-step BFRQ report for secondary serving cell BFR. The first step may include transmitting a dedicated scheduling request (SR) to request uplink resources. The second step may include transmitting a BFR MAC CE to report a failed component carrier (CC) index or a candidate beam index.

[0064] In the first option of two-step BFRQ reporting for secondary serving cell BFR, the SR and BFR MAC CE may be transmitted in the initial BWP in the current serving cell. Thus, the UE 104 may send the SR in BWP 0 of the secondary serving cell where the beam failure is detected. The base station 108 may then schedule uplink resources for the BFR MAC CE in the same BWP 0 of the secondary serving cell.

[0065] In the second option of two-step BFRQ reporting, the SR may be transmitted in a BWP of the current serving cell other than the active BWP or the initial BWP of the current serving cell. For example, if UE 104 detects a failure of beam 1 in BWP 1 of a secondary serving cell, UE 104 may send the SR in BWP 2 of the secondary serving cell or in some other BWP configured by RRC in the secondary serving cell for SR reporting.

[0066] In some embodiments, the base station 108 may configure one BFR-SR in each BWP of the current serving cell of the UE 104. In this case, the candidate beams are based on the beams used for the SR. The transmission of the SR may be sufficient to provide the base station 108 with information related to the selected candidate beams. A MAC CE may not be required. Therefore, this variation of the second option of the secondary serving cell BFRQ reporting may be considered a one-step BFRQ reporting. However, in some embodiments, a MAC CE may be reported separately to provide information related to the failed CC index.

[0067] In the third option of two-step BFRQ reporting, the SR may be transmitted in a serving cell other than the current serving cell. The SR may be transmitted in any BWP of the other serving cells, e.g., the active BWP, the initial BWP, or the BWP designated by RRC for BFR SR. For example, if UE 104 detects failed beam 1 in BWP 1 of the secondary serving cell, the SR may be transmitted in the active, initial, or designated BWP of the primary serving cell.

[0068] In the second and third options of two-step BFRQ reporting, the BFR MAC CE may be transmitted in any BWP in any serving cell.

[0069] If SR is not configured, the UE may fall back to the initial BWP and trigger a CBRA procedure corresponding to the SSB.The MAC CE may be reported in the uplink resources allocated as a result of the CBRA procedure.

[0070] Base station 108 may transmit the BFRR via the PDCCH, as described below with respect to various embodiments.

[0071] For primary serving cell BFR and secondary serving cell BFRQ option two (where SR is reported in the BWP of the current serving cell in addition to the initial / active BWP), BFRR can be carried by PDCCH in a dedicated CORESET configured by RRC. This can be done according to one of two options.

[0072] In a first option, the dedicated CORESET may be in the same BWP as the BFRQ.

[0073] In a second option, the dedicated CORESET may always be in the initial BWP. If the BFRQ is not transmitted in the initial BWP, a protection period may be reserved for the UE 104 to switch to the initial BWP after the UE 104 transmits the BFRQ. The protection period may be predefined (e.g., 2 ms), configured by RRC signaling, or reported by UE capability signaling.

[0074] For secondary serving cell BFRQ option 1 (SR and BFR MAC CE transmitted in the initial BWP of the current serving cell) and option 3 (SR reported in any BWP of a different serving cell), the BFRR may be carried by a PDCCH that schedules a new transmission with the same HARQ process ID as the PUSCH used to carry the BFR MAC CE. For example, consider that the PUSCH used to carry the BFR MAC CE includes HARQ process x. The BFRR may then be carried by a PDCCH (e.g., PDSCH) that schedules a new transmission with HARQ process x. Scheduling a new transmission with the same HARQ process may provide an indication to the UE 104 that the base station 108 correctly decoded the PUSCH, and therefore the UE 104 may clear its retransmission buffer and allocate a new transport block.

[0075] In some implementations, base station 108 may transmit the BFRR in the same portion of bandwidth in which the BFR MAC CE was received.

[0076] Figure 4 FIG. 2 shows a plan view of cell coverage 200 before and after BFR operation according to some embodiments. In this embodiment, UE 104 may initially connect to cell 1 via BWP 1 and beam 1. The active BWP is represented by Figure 4 1. UE 104 may declare a beam failure with respect to beam 1, and may also select beam 2 of BWP 2 as a candidate beam. This may be due to the location of UE 104 in an area associated with beam 2 and BWP 2. UE 104 may send a BFRQ indicating the beam failure and the candidate beam selection to base station 108, and may receive a BFRR as described herein.

[0077] UE 104 may begin communicating with base station 108 using the newly identified beam (e.g., beam 2) a predetermined number of time slots after UE 104 receives the BFRR. In various implementations, UE 104 may use the newly identified beam in various BWPs.

[0078] In the first option, UE 104 begins communicating with base station 108 using the newly identified beam reported by the BFRQ associated with the newly identified beam. Thus, in the above example, UE 104 may communicate with base station 108 using beam 2 in BWP 2. This option is Figure 4 This is illustrated by indicating that BWP 2 becomes the active BWP after the BFR operation.

[0079] In the second option, UE 104 starts using the newly identified beam reported by BFRQ in the initial BWP to communicate with base station 108. Thus, in the above example, UE 104 can communicate with base station 108 using beam 2 in BWP 0.

[0080] In the third option, UE 104 starts using the newly identified beam reported by BFRQ in the BWP for BFRQ / BFRR to communicate with base station 108. For example, consider transmitting BFRQ and BFRR in BWP 4, which is configured by RRC specifically for this type of BFR signaling. In this embodiment, UE can communicate with base station 108 using beam 2 in BWP 4.

[0081] The predetermined number of time slots after which the UE 104 can communicate with the base station 108 using the newly identified beam can be determined in any of a variety of ways. For example, the predetermined number can be predefined by the 3GPP technical specification, configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC layer), or reported by UE capability signaling.

[0082] Figure 5 An operational flow / algorithm structure 500 is shown according to some embodiments. The operational flow / algorithm structure 500 may be performed or implemented by a UE such as, for example, UE 104 or UE 900; or a component thereof, such as baseband processor 904A.

[0083] The operational flow / algorithm structure 500 may include declaring a beam failure for a first beam in a first BWP for a cell at 504. The cell may be a primary serving cell or a secondary serving cell. The beam failure may be triggered by the MAC layer of the UE 104 based on the number of beam failure instances received from the physical layer of the UE 104.

[0084] The operational flow / algorithm structure 500 may also include switching to a second BWP (e.g., CB BWP) based on the beam failure at 508. In various embodiments, the second BWP may be an initial BWP, a default BWP, or another BWP designated for transmitting CBD-RS. The designation of one or more BWPs for transmitting CBD RS may be accomplished through a BFR configuration IE transmitted by the network to the UE.

[0085] In some embodiments, a BWP configured to transmit a CBD RS may be specifically configured to do so. For example, in these embodiments, the network may designate only one BWP in a cell for transmission of a CBD RS. The BWP may be an initial BWP, a default BWP, or another BWP. The designation and any modifications thereof may be configured to a UE connected to the cell via higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). In other embodiments, multiple BWPs may be configured to transmit a CBD RS simultaneously.

[0086] The operation flow / algorithm structure 500 may also include, at 512, attempting to detect a CBD-RS in a time window. The time window may be predefined by a 3GPP technical specification or configured by an RRC. The CBD-RS may be transmitted (by a base station 108, an AP 112, or an AP 116) using a plurality of different beams in a CB BWP. If the measurement result of the CBD RS obtained within the time window is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the UE may detect the CBD RS.

[0087] If no CBD-RS is detected at 512, the operational flow / algorithm structure 500 may proceed to perform a CBRA procedure in the initial BWP. The CBRA procedure may be based on the SSB transmitted in the initial BWP. After completing the CBRA procedure, the UE may reestablish a connection with the network.

[0088] If a CBD-RS is detected at 512, the operational flow / algorithm structure 500 may proceed to sending a BFRQ with a beam index corresponding to the beam of the detected CBD-RS. In this way, the UE may communicate its selection of a desired candidate beam to the network for further communication.

[0089] Figure 6 An operational flow / algorithm structure 600 is shown according to some embodiments. The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may be performed or implemented by a UE such as, for example, UE 104 or UE 900; or a component thereof, such as baseband processor 904A.

[0090] The operation flow / algorithm structure 600 may include storing candidate beam configuration information at 604. The candidate beam configuration information may configure one or more reference signals to be used as CBD RS. The reference signal may include an SSB signal or a CSI-RS signal. The candidate beam configuration information may also configure one or more BWPs (e.g., one or more CB BWPs) for the CBD RS. The CB BWP may be a BWP other than the active BWP.

[0091] The candidate beam configuration information may be UE-specific or cell-specific configuration information.

[0092] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may also include detecting a beam failure in the active BWP at 608. The beam failure may be detected as described elsewhere herein.

[0093] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may also include, at 612, determining beam measurements for the candidate beams based on the beam configuration information. The UE may switch to the CB BWP to measure the CBD RS as configured by the beam configuration information. In some embodiments, the UE may measure the CBD RS as transmitted by multiple candidate beams. The UE may select a candidate beam from the multiple candidate beams based on the measurements.

[0094] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may also include generating a BFRQ at 616. The BFRQ may be generated in a manner that provides information to the network about which candidate beam the UE has selected. In some embodiments, the BFRQ may be a CF-PRACH or SR associated with the selected candidate beam. In other embodiments, the BFRQ may include a BFR MAC CE that includes an indication of an index of the candidate beam. In some embodiments, the BFR MAC CE may also provide an index of a failed beam.

[0095] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may also include transmitting the BFRQ in the second BWP at 620. In some embodiments, the second BWP may be a BWP other than the active BWP in the serving cell with the failed beam. In some embodiments, the second BWP may be the initial / default / configured BWP of the serving cell. In other embodiments, the second BWP may be any BWP in the serving cell other than the serving cell with the failed beam. For example, if a beam of the secondary serving cell fails, the BFRQ may be transmitted in the initial / default / configured BWP of the primary serving cell.

[0096] The transmission of BFRQ may include sending a CF-PRACH transmission or an SR when configured in a manner to associate the SR with a specific beam / BWP. Alternatively, the transmission of BFRQ may include obtaining uplink resources by sending a dedicated SR or performing a CBRA procedure, and sending a BFR MAC CE in the uplink resources.

[0097] Figure 7 An operational flow / algorithm structure 700 according to some embodiments may be included. The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may be performed or implemented by a base station such as, for example, base station 108 or 1000 or a component thereof, such as baseband processor 1004A.

[0098] The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may include transmitting configuration information to configure a dedicated CORESET at 704. The CORESET may define various physical layer characteristics (e.g., a set of resource blocks and number of symbols available for a search space set) dedicated to PDCCH transmissions used in BFR operations. In some embodiments, operation 704 may be optional.

[0099] The operation flow / algorithm structure 700 may also include processing a BFRQ received from the UE at 708. The BFRQ may provide an indication of a candidate beam selected by the UE during BFR operation. The BFRQ may be a CF-PRACH or SR associated with the selected candidate beam, or a BFR MAC CE indicating a candidate beam index of the selected candidate beam.

[0100] The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may also include transmitting the BFRR to the UE at 712. The BFRR may indicate to the UE that the BFR operation was successful, wherein the UE may continue to communicate with the network using the selected candidate beam.

[0101] In some embodiments, BFRQ and BFRR may be transmitted in the same bandwidth portion. In other embodiments, BFRQ and BFRR may be transmitted in different bandwidth portions. For example, in some embodiments, BFRR may be transmitted in an initial bandwidth portion and BFRQ may be transmitted in another bandwidth portion.

[0102] In some embodiments, the BFRR may be transmitted in a PDCCH transmission in a CORESET dedicated to BFR. In other embodiments, the BFRR may be transmitted in a PDCCH transmission that schedules a transmission with the same HARQ process identifier included in a PUSCH transmission carrying the BFRQ.

[0103] Figure 8 A receiving component 800 of a device according to some embodiments is shown. The device may be a UE 104, a base station 108, an AP 112, or an AP 116. The receiving component 800 may include a first antenna panel, panel 1 804, and a second antenna panel, panel 2 808. Each antenna panel may include a plurality of antenna elements.

[0104] The antenna panels may be coupled to respective analog beamforming (BF) components. For example, panel 1 804 may be coupled to analog BF component 812 and panel 2 808 may be coupled to analog BF component 816.

[0105] The analog BF components may be coupled to one or more radio frequency (RF) chains. For example, the analog BF components 812 may be coupled to one or more RF chains 820, and the analog BF components 816 may be coupled to one or more RF chains 824. The RF chains may amplify the received analog RF signal, down-convert the RF signal to baseband, and convert the analog baseband signal to a digital baseband signal that may be provided to the digital BF components 828. The digital BF components 828 may provide the baseband (BB signal) for further BB processing.

[0106] In various embodiments, control circuitry, which may reside in a baseband processor, may provide BF weights to analog / digital BF components to provide receive beams at corresponding antenna panels. These BF weights may be determined by the control circuitry based on received reference signals and corresponding QCL / TCI information as described herein. In some embodiments, the BF weights may be phase shift values ​​provided to the phase shifters of the analog BF components 812 or complex weights provided to the digital BF components 828. In some embodiments, the BF components and antenna panels may operate together to provide a dynamic phased array capable of steering a beam in a desired direction.

[0107] In various embodiments, beamforming may include analog beamforming, purely digital beamforming, or hybrid analog-digital beamforming.Digital beamforming may utilize separate RF chains corresponding to antenna elements, respectively.

[0108] Although beamforming component 800 describes receive beamforming, other embodiments may include a beamforming component that performs transmit beamforming in a similar manner.

[0109] Fig. 9 UE 900 according to some embodiments is shown. UE 900 may be similar to Figure 1 UE 104 and is substantially interchangeable therewith.

[0110] UE 900 can be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as, for example, a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet, an industrial wireless sensor (e.g., microphone, carbon dioxide sensor, pressure sensor, humidity sensor, thermometer, motion sensor, accelerometer, laser scanner, fluid level sensor, inventory sensor, voltage / current meter, actuator, etc.), video monitoring / surveillance equipment (e.g., camera, camcorder, etc.), a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), or a loose IoT device.

[0111] UE 900 may include a processor 904, RF interface circuitry 908, memory / storage 912, a user interface 916, a sensor 920, a driver circuit 922, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 924, antenna structures 926, and a battery 928. The components of UE 900 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion of an integrated circuit, a discrete electronic device or other module, logical component, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. Fig. 9 The block diagram of UE 900 is intended to show a high-level view of certain of the components of UE 900. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0112] Components of the UE 900 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 932, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., which allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipset) to interact with each other.

[0113] The processor 904 may include processor circuits such as a baseband processor circuit (BB) 904A, a central processor unit circuit (CPU) 904B, and a graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 904C. The processor 904 may include any type of circuit or processor circuit that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program codes, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage device 912) to cause the UE 900 to perform operations as described herein.

[0114] In some embodiments, the baseband processor circuit 904A can access the communication protocol stack 936 in the memory / storage device 912 to communicate through a 3GPP compatible network. Generally speaking, the baseband processor circuit 904A can access the communication protocol stack to: perform user plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and PDU layer; and perform control plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, RRC layer, and non-access layer. In some embodiments, the PHY layer operations can be additionally / alternatively performed by components of the RF interface circuit 908.

[0115] The baseband processor circuit 904A may generate or process baseband signals or waveforms that carry information in a 3GPP-compatible network. In some embodiments, the waveforms used for NR may be based on cyclic prefix OFDM ("CP-OFDM") in the uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM ("DFT-S-OFDM") in the uplink.

[0116] The memory / storage 912 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions (e.g., a communication protocol stack 936) that may be executed by one or more processors in the processor 904 to cause the UE 900 to perform various operations described herein. The memory / storage 912 includes any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 900. In some embodiments, some of the memory / storage 912 may be located on the processor 904 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage 912 is located outside the processor 904 but is accessible via a memory interface. The memory / storage 912 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0117] The RF interface circuit 908 may include a transceiver circuit and a radio frequency front end module (RFEM), which allows the UE 900 to communicate with other devices through a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 908 may include various elements arranged in a transmit path or a receive path. These elements may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuits, control circuits, etc.

[0118] In the receive path, the RFEM may receive the radiated signal from the air interface via the antenna structure 926 and continue to filter and amplify the signal (using a low noise amplifier). The signal may be provided to the transceiver's receiver, which down-converts the RF signal to a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor of the processor 904.

[0119] In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides an RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier before the signal is radiated across the air interface via the antenna 926.

[0120] In various embodiments, the RF interface circuit 908 may be configured to transmit / receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technology.

[0121] Antenna 926 may include antenna elements to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and convert received radio waves into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. Antenna 926 may have an antenna panel that is omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to achieve beamforming and multiple input / multiple output communications. Antenna 926 may include a microstrip antenna, a printed antenna manufactured on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, a patch antenna, a phased array antenna, etc. Antenna 926 may have one or more panels that are designed for a specific frequency band included in a band in FR1 or FR2.

[0122] The user interface circuit 916 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with the UE 900. The user interface 916 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for accepting input, including in particular one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, including in particular one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators (such as light emitting diodes "LEDs") and multi-character visual outputs), or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays "LCDs", LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the UE1100.

[0123] Sensor 920 may include a device, module, or subsystem whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit including an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system or nanoelectromechanical system including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.); a depth sensor; an ambient light sensor; an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0124] The driver circuit 922 may include software elements and hardware elements for controlling a specific device embedded in the UE 900, attached to the UE 1100, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 900. The driver circuit 922 may include various drivers, thereby allowing other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in the UE 900 or connected to the UE. For example, the driver circuit 922 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 920 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 920, a driver for obtaining an actuator position of an electromechanical component or controlling and allowing access to an electromechanical component, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0125] The PMIC 924 may manage power provided to various components of the UE 900. Specifically, with respect to the processor 904, the PMIC 924 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0126] In some embodiments, the PMIC 924 may control or otherwise be a part of various power saving mechanisms of the UE 900, including DRX, as discussed herein.

[0127] The battery 928 can power the UE 900, but in some examples, the UE 900 can be installed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 928 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some specific implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 928 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0128] Fig.10 FIG. 1 shows a gNB 1000 according to some embodiments. The gNB node 1000 may be similar to Figure 1 base station 108 and is essentially interchangeable therewith.

[0129] gNB 1000 may include a processor 1004, an RF interface circuit 1008, a core network “CN” interface circuit 1012, a memory / storage device circuit 1016, and an antenna structure 1026.

[0130] Components of gNB 1000 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1028.

[0131] The processor 1004, RF interface circuit 1008, memory / storage circuit 1016 (including communication protocol stack 1010), antenna structure 1026 and interconnect 1028 may be similar to those described with reference to Fig. 9 Like named elements are shown and described.

[0132] The CN interface circuitry 1012 may provide connectivity to a core network (e.g., a 5GC using a 5th generation core network "5GC" compatible network interface protocol such as a Carrier Ethernet protocol or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity may be provided to / from the gNB 1000 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuitry 1012 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuitry 1012 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0133] In some embodiments, gNB 1000 may couple to an AP such as AP 112 or 116 using antenna structure 1026, CN interface circuitry, or other interface circuitry.

[0134] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0135] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following examples. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the example section below.

[0136] Example

[0137] In the following sections, additional exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0138] Embodiment 1 includes a method comprising: declaring a beam failure regarding a first beam in a first bandwidth portion of a cell; switching to a second bandwidth portion of the cell based on the beam failure; and attempting to detect a candidate beam detection (CBD) reference signal (RS) of a second beam in the second bandwidth portion.

[0139] Embodiment 2 includes the method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the second bandwidth portion is an initial bandwidth portion of the cell.

[0140] Embodiment 3 includes a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising receiving beam failure recovery configuration information to configure the second bandwidth portion exclusively for transmitting a reference signal for candidate beam detection.

[0141] Embodiment 4 includes the method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment of the present invention, and the method also includes receiving beam failure recovery configuration information to configure multiple CBD RSs in corresponding multiple bandwidth parts in the cell, wherein the CBD RS is one CBD RS among the multiple CBD RSs.

[0142] Embodiment 5 includes a method according to embodiment 3 or embodiment 4 or some other embodiment herein, wherein receiving the beam failure recovery configuration information includes processing: a beam failure recovery (BFR) configuration information element to detect a BFR dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) resource parameter having one or more bandwidth part identifiers; or a BFR secondary cell configuration information element to detect a candidate beam reference signal parameter having one or more bandwidth part identifiers.

[0143] Embodiment 6 includes a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising determining that the CBD RS is undetectable within a time window predefined or configured by radio resource control signaling; and triggering a contention-based random access (CBRA) process corresponding to a synchronization signal block within an initial bandwidth portion of the cell.

[0144] Embodiment 7 includes a method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: initiating communication with a transmit-receive point in the initial bandwidth portion based on a beam associated with the synchronization signal block.

[0145] Embodiment 8 includes the method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment of the present invention, the method also including: successfully detecting the CBD-RS of the second beam in the second bandwidth part; and based on the successful detection of the CBD-RS of the second beam, sending a beam failure recovery request with a beam index corresponding to the second beam to the base station.

[0146] Embodiment 9 includes the method comprising: storing candidate beam configuration information; detecting a beam failure in an active bandwidth part (BWP) of a cell; determining a beam measurement of a candidate beam based on the candidate beam configuration information; generating a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) based on the beam failure and the beam measurement; and transmitting the BFRQ in a second BWP of the cell.

[0147] Embodiment 10 includes a method according to embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the beam failure is with respect to a primary serving cell.

[0148] Embodiment 11 includes the method of embodiment 10 or some other embodiment herein, wherein to transmit the BFRQ, the processing circuit is to: transmit the BFRQ in a contention-free physical random access channel.

[0149] Embodiment 12 includes the method of embodiment 10 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the second BWP is an initial BWP.

[0150] Embodiment 13 includes a method according to embodiment 12 or some other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting the BFRQ in the initial BWP includes: obtaining uplink resources in the initial BWP using a contention-based physical random access channel; and transmitting the BFRQ in the uplink resources.

[0151] Embodiment 14 includes the method according to embodiment 10 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: receiving the candidate beam in the second BWP.

[0152] Embodiment 15 includes a method according to embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the beam failure is about a secondary cell.

[0153] Embodiment 16 includes a method according to embodiment 15 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the BFRQ includes a beam failure recovery (BFR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), the BFR MAC CE includes an indication of a failed component carrier index or a candidate beam index, and transmitting the BFR MAC CE includes: transmitting a dedicated scheduling request (SR) to request uplink resources; processing a response indicating the allocation of the uplink resources; and transmitting the BFR MAC CE in the uplink resources, wherein: the second BWP is an initial BWP, and the method also includes transmitting both the BFR MAC CE and the dedicated SR in the initial BWP; or the beam failure is detected in a first service cell, and the method also includes transmitting the dedicated SR in an active BWP, an initial BWP, or a configured BWP of a second service cell different from the first service cell.

[0154] Embodiment 17 includes a method according to embodiment 15 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: processing BFR configuration information from a base station, the BFR configuration information configuring multiple BFR scheduling requests in corresponding multiple bandwidth parts; selecting a first BFR corresponding to a first bandwidth part in which the candidate beam is transmitted from the multiple BFR-SRs; and transmitting the first BFR-SR as the BFRQ, wherein the first bandwidth part is different from the active bandwidth part and the initial bandwidth part of the cell.

[0155] Embodiment 18 includes a method according to embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: receiving a beam failure recovery response (BFRR) from the base station; and a predetermined number of time slots after receiving the BFRR, starting communication with the base station using the candidate beam in the initial BWP, the second BWP, or the BWP associated with the candidate beam.

[0156] Embodiment 19 includes a method of operating a base station, the method comprising: transmitting configuration information to configure a control resource set (CORESET) dedicated to beam failure recovery; processing a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) from a user equipment (UE); and transmitting a beam failure recovery response (BFRR) in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission in the CORESET dedicated to beam failure recovery.

[0157] Embodiment 19.1 includes a method according to embodiment 19 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: receiving the BFRQ in a first bandwidth portion and transmitting the BFRR; or receiving the BFRQ in a first bandwidth portion different from an initial bandwidth portion and transmitting the BFRR in the initial bandwidth portion.

[0158] Embodiment 20 includes a method of operating a base station, the method comprising: processing a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) received in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission including a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier; and transmitting a beam failure recovery response (BFRR) in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission that schedules a transmission with the HARQ process identifier.

[0159] Embodiment 20.1 includes a method according to embodiment 20 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: receiving the PUSCH transmission, and transmitting the PDCCH transmission and the first bandwidth portion.

[0160] Embodiment 21 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0161] Embodiment 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 20 or any other method or process described herein.

[0162] Embodiment 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0163] Embodiment 24 may include methods, techniques or processes described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or parts or components thereof.

[0164] Embodiment 25 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20.

[0165] Embodiment 26 may include a signal as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof.

[0166] Embodiment 27 may include a datagram, information element, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message, or a portion or component thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0167] Embodiment 28 may include a signal encoded with data as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0168] Embodiment 29 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, IE, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0169] Embodiment 30 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors will cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20.

[0170] Embodiment 31 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion thereof.

[0171] Embodiment 32 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0172] Embodiment 33 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0173] Embodiment 34 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0174] Embodiment 35 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0175] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of the various embodiments.

[0176] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a user equipment (UE) to: declaring a beam failure for a first beam in a first bandwidth portion of a cell; switching to a second bandwidth portion of the cell based on the beam failure; Determining that a candidate beam detection CBD reference signal RS of a second beam in the second bandwidth part is undetectable within a time window predefined or configured by radio resource control signaling; as well as A contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure corresponding to a synchronization signal block within an initial bandwidth portion of the cell is triggered.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the second bandwidth portion is the initial bandwidth portion of the cell.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: The method further comprises receiving beam failure recovery configuration information to configure the second bandwidth portion exclusively for transmitting a reference signal for candidate beam detection.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: The beam failure recovery configuration information is received to configure a plurality of CBD RSs in a corresponding plurality of bandwidth parts in the cell, wherein the CBD RS is one CBD RS among the plurality of CBD RSs.

5. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 3 or 4, wherein to receive the beam failure recovery configuration information, the UE is to process: a beam failure recovery (BFR) configuration information element to detect a BFR dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) resource parameter having one or more bandwidth part identifiers; or a BFR secondary cell configuration information element, To detect candidate beam reference signal parameters having one or more bandwidth part identifiers.

6. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: initiate communication with a transmit-receive point in the initial bandwidth portion based on a beam associated with the synchronization signal block.

7. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 1, wherein the CBD RS is a first CBD RS, the time window is a first time window, and the instructions when executed also cause the UE to: successfully detect a second CBD RS of the second beam in the second bandwidth part within a second time window; and based on the successful detection of the second CBD RS of the second beam, send a beam failure recovery request with a beam index corresponding to the second beam to a base station.

8. A communication method, comprising: declaring a beam failure for a first beam in a first bandwidth portion of a cell; switching to a second bandwidth portion of the cell based on the beam failure; Determining that a candidate beam detection CBD reference signal RS of a second beam in the second bandwidth part is undetectable within a time window predefined or configured by radio resource control signaling; as well as A contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure corresponding to a synchronization signal block within an initial bandwidth portion of the cell is triggered.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second bandwidth portion is the initial bandwidth portion of the cell.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: The method further comprises receiving beam failure recovery configuration information to configure the second bandwidth portion exclusively for transmitting a reference signal for candidate beam detection.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: The beam failure recovery configuration information is received to configure a plurality of CBD RSs in a corresponding plurality of bandwidth parts in the cell, wherein the CBD RS is one CBD RS among the plurality of CBD RSs.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11 includes processing the following items to receive the beam failure recovery configuration information: a beam failure recovery BFR configuration information element to detect a BFR dedicated physical random access channel PRACH resource parameter having one or more bandwidth part identifiers; or a BFR secondary cell configuration information element to detect a candidate beam reference signal parameter having one or more bandwidth part identifiers.

13. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: Communications are initiated with a transmit-receive point in the initial bandwidth portion based on a beam associated with the synchronization signal block.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the CBD RS is a first CBD RS, the time window is a first time window, and the method further comprises: successfully detecting a second CBD RS of the second beam in the second bandwidth portion within a second time window; And based on the successful detection of the second CBD RS of the second beam, sending a beam failure recovery request with a beam index corresponding to the second beam to a base station.

15. A communication device comprising a processor circuit, wherein the processor circuit is configured to: declaring a beam failure for a first beam in a first bandwidth portion of a cell; switching to a second bandwidth portion of the cell based on the beam failure; Determining that a candidate beam detection CBD reference signal RS of a second beam in the second bandwidth part is undetectable within a time window predefined or configured by radio resource control signaling; as well as A contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure corresponding to a synchronization signal block within an initial bandwidth portion of the cell is triggered.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the second bandwidth portion is the initial bandwidth portion of the cell.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to: The method further comprises receiving beam failure recovery configuration information to configure the second bandwidth portion exclusively for transmitting a reference signal for candidate beam detection.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to: The beam failure recovery configuration information is received to configure a plurality of CBD RSs in a corresponding plurality of bandwidth parts in the cell, wherein the CBD RS is one CBD RS among the plurality of CBD RSs.

19. An apparatus according to claim 17 or 18, wherein in order to receive the beam failure recovery configuration information, the processor circuit will process: a beam failure recovery BFR configuration information element to detect a BFR dedicated physical random access channel PRACH resource parameter having one or more bandwidth part identifiers; or a BFR secondary cell configuration information element to detect a candidate beam reference signal parameter having one or more bandwidth part identifiers.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, the processor circuit further configured to initiate communication with a transmit-receive point in the initial bandwidth portion based on a beam associated with the synchronization signal block.

21. An apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the CBD RS is a first CBD RS, the time window is a first time window, and the processor circuit is further used to: successfully detect a second CBD RS of the second beam in the second bandwidth part within a second time window; and based on the successful detection of the second CBD RS of the second beam, send a beam failure recovery request with a beam index corresponding to the second beam to a base station.

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