Method and apparatus for random access procedure in wireless communication system

Abstract

A method for a random access procedure by a terminal in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes transmitting, when the terminal is in an RRC idle state, a random access preamble for a random access procedure to a base station, receiving, from the base station, a random access response including information on a TC-RNTI, transmitting, to the base station, a message 3 of the random access procedure including a CCCH SDU, receiving, from the base station, a PDCCH transmission addressed to the TC-RNTI, determining that a contention resolution is successful based on a decoding of a MAC PDU associated with the PDCCH and a transmission of the message 3 including the CCCH SDU, determining whether to initiate the random access procedure for an SI request in response to determining that the contention resolution is successful, indicating, to an upper layer, that an acknowledgement to the SI request is received in case of initiating the random access procedure for the SI request, and setting a C-RNTI to a value of the TC-RNTI otherwise.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the application filed on December 21, 2018, with application number 201880080043.1, entitled "Method and apparatus for processing an inactive timer in a wireless communication system with a bandwidth portion". Technical Field

[0002] This disclosure relates to a wireless communication system. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for processing a bandwidth portion inactive timer. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for a random access procedure, initiating the random access procedure to request system information. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for a random access procedure, initiating the random access procedure for beam fault recovery. Background Technology

[0003] Since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G (quasi-5G) communication systems to meet the increasing demand for wireless data services. Therefore, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are also referred to as "super 4G networks" or "post-LTE systems." In 5G communication systems, development is underway to improve the system network based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RAN), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile networks, cooperative communication, coordinated multipoint (CoMP), and receiver interference cancellation. In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) have been developed as advanced coding and modulation (ACM), while filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) have been developed as advanced access technologies.

[0004] The Internet, a human-centric connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving into the Internet of Things (IoT), where distributed entities (such as objects) exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything has emerged as a combination of IoT technologies connected to cloud servers and big data processing technologies. With the increasing demand for technological elements such as sensing technology, wired / wireless communication and network infrastructure, service interface technology, and security technology in IoT implementation, sensor networks, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and machine-type communication (MTC) have recently been explored. Such IoT environments can provide intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) technology services that create new value for human life by collecting and analyzing data generated in connected objects. IoT can be applied to a variety of fields through the convergence and combination of existing information technology (IT) with various industrial applications, including smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart or connected cars, smart grids, healthcare, smart appliances, and advanced medical services.

[0005] Consistent with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as sensor networks, machine-type communication (MTC), and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication can be implemented through beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), and array antennas. The application of cloud radio access networks (RAN), as a big data processing technology, can also be seen as an example of the convergence between 5G and IoT technologies.

[0006] The above information is presented only as background information to aid in understanding this disclosure. It has not been determined and is not asserted whether any of the foregoing content can be applied to the prior art of this disclosure. Summary of the Invention

[0007] Technical issues

[0008] Several issues exist regarding the operation of the BWP inactivity timer. If a random access (RA) procedure is initiated, the UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (bandwidth portion inactivity timer) according to the current procedure. The UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the active serving cell for which the random access was initiated. If random access is initiated for a PCell, the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the PCell stops. If random access is initiated for an SCell, the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SCell stops. In the case of a random access procedure on an SCell (except PSCell), only the PRACH preamble is transmitted on the SCell. The UE receives the RAR on the SpCell. The active DL BWP on the SpCell can be switched during the random access procedure. This will result in an interruption because the random access procedure needs to be stopped and restarted after the BWP switch.

[0009] Solution to the problem

[0010] The purpose of this disclosure is to at least address the aforementioned problems and / or disadvantages, and to provide at least the advantages described below.

[0011] Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the presented embodiments.

[0012] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: when the terminal is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, sending a random access preamble to a base station for a random access procedure; receiving a random access response from the base station, the random access response including information about a Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (TC-RNTI); sending a message 3 (Msg3) of the random access procedure including a Common Control Channel (CCCH) Service Data Unit (SDU) to the base station; receiving a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission addressed to the TC-RNTI from the base station; determining that contention resolution has been successful based on the decoding of a Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the PDCCH and the transmission of Msg3 including the CCCH SDU; and responding to the decoding of the MAC PDU associated with the PDCCH and the transmission of Msg3 including the CCCH SDU. If the transmission contention for Msg3 of the SDU is successfully resolved, determine whether to initiate a random access procedure for system information (SI) request; if a random access procedure for SI request is initiated, indicate to the upper layer that an acknowledgment of the SI request has been received; and if a random access procedure for SI request is not initiated, set the cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) to the value of TC-RNTI.

[0013] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: when the terminal is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, receiving a random access preamble from the terminal for a random access procedure; sending a random access response to the terminal, the random access response including information about a Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (TC-RNTI); receiving a message 3 (Msg3) from the terminal for a random access procedure including a Common Control Channel (CCCH) Service Data Unit (SDU); sending a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission addressed to the TC-RNTI to the terminal; and sending a Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the PDCCH to the terminal, determining that contention resolution has been successfully resolved based on the decoding of Msg3 including the CCCH SDU and the MAC PDU, wherein, in response to the decoding of Msg3 including the CCCH SDU and the MAC PDU and the determination that contention resolution has been successfully resolved, initiating a random access procedure for System Information (SI) request, indicating to the upper layer that an acknowledgment of the SI request has been received, and wherein, if a random access procedure for SI request has not been initiated, setting the Temporary Cell Radio Network Identifier (C-RNTI) to the value of the TC-RNTI.

[0014] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a terminal in a wireless communication system is provided. The terminal includes: a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals; and a controller coupled to the transceiver and configured to: when the terminal is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, transmit a random access preamble for a random access procedure to a base station; receive a random access response from the base station, the random access response including information about a Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (TC-RNTI); transmit a message 3 (Msg3) for a random access procedure including a Common Control Channel (CCCH) Service Data Unit (SDU) to the base station; receive a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission addressed to the TC-RNTI from the base station; decode a Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the PDCCH and transmit a message 3 including a CCCH SDU; determine that contention resolution has been successful; and respond to the decoding of a MAC PDU associated with the PDCCH and the transmission of a message 3 including a CCCH SDU. If the SDU's Msg3 transmission contention is resolved successfully, it determines whether to initiate a random access procedure for system information (SI) request. If a random access procedure for SI request is initiated, it indicates to the upper layer that an acknowledgment of the SI request has been received. If a random access procedure for SI request is not initiated, it sets the cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) to the value of TC-RNTI.

[0015] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes: a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals; and a controller coupled to the transceiver and configured to: when a terminal is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, receive from the terminal a random access preamble for a random access procedure; send to the terminal a random access response including information about a Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (TC-RNTI); receive from the terminal a message 3 (Msg3) of a random access procedure including a Common Control Channel (CCCH) Service Data Unit (SDU); send to the terminal a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission addressed to the TC-RNTI; and send to the terminal a Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the PDCCH; determine if a contention has been successfully resolved based on the decoding of the Msg3 including the CCCH SDU and the MAC PDU, wherein the determination is made in response to the decoding of the Msg3 including the CCCH SDU and the MAC PDU. The SDU decodes Msg3 and MACPDU and initiates a random access procedure for a System Information (SI) request upon successful contention resolution, indicating to the upper layer that an acknowledgment of the SI request has been received, and wherein, if no random access procedure for an SI request is initiated, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TC-RNTI.

[0016] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: receiving from a base station first information of a first timer indicating inactivity of a bandwidth portion associated with a bandwidth portion of a primary cell (PCell) and second information of a second timer indicating inactivity of a bandwidth portion associated with a bandwidth portion of a secondary cell (SCell); identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell or the SCell; stopping the first timer (if it is running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell; and stopping the first timer and the second timer (if they are running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell.

[0017] SCell and PCell are associated with the random access procedure.

[0018] Random access procedures are performed based on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell or SCell.

[0019] Random access procedures are performed based on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell.

[0020] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for providing a base station is provided. The method includes: sending to a user equipment (UE) first information of a first timer indicating bandwidth inactivity associated with a bandwidth portion of a primary cell (PCell) and second information of a second timer indicating bandwidth inactivity associated with a bandwidth portion of a secondary cell (SCell); receiving from the UE a first message related to a random access procedure on the PCell or SCell; and sending to the UE a second message related to a random access procedure on the PCell, wherein in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell, the first timer is stopped (if it is running), and wherein in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell, both the first timer and the second timer are stopped (if they are running).

[0021] SCell and PCell are associated with the random access procedure.

[0022] The first message is received on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of the PCell or SCell. The first message includes the physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble.

[0023] A second message is sent on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell, and the second message includes a random access response (RAR).

[0024] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor being configured to: control the transceiver to receive from a base station first information of a first timer for a bandwidth portion of a primary cell (PCell) that is inactive and second information of a second timer for a bandwidth portion of a secondary cell (SCell) that is inactive; identify that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell or the SCell; stop the first timer (if it is running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell; and stop the first timer and the second timer (if they are running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell.

[0025] SCell and PCell are associated with the random access procedure.

[0026] Random access procedures are performed based on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell or SCell.

[0027] Random access procedures are performed based on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell.

[0028] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to: transmit to a user equipment (UE) first information of a first timer indicating bandwidth inactivity associated with a bandwidth portion of a primary cell (PCell) and second information of a second timer indicating bandwidth inactivity associated with a bandwidth portion of a secondary cell (SCell); receive from the UE a first message related to a random access procedure on the PCell or SCell; and transmit to the UE a second message related to a random access procedure on the PCell, wherein in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell, the first timer is stopped (if running), and wherein in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell, the first timer and the second timer are stopped (if running).

[0029] The first message is received on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of the PCell or SCell. The first message includes the physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble.

[0030] A second message is sent on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell, and the second message includes a random access response (RAR).

[0031] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: receiving from a base station first information about a timer associated with inactivity of a bandwidth portion (BWP); receiving from the base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on an active BWP associated with a serving cell; identifying whether an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell; and, in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell, starting or restarting the timer.

[0032] The active BWP differs from the default downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) or the initial BWP.

[0033] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0034] Receive PDCCH on the active BWP, or receive PDCCH for use on the active BWP.

[0035] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a base station is provided. The method includes sending first information to a user equipment (UE) about a timer associated with inactivity of a bandwidth portion (BWP); and sending a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on an active BWP associated with a serving cell to the UE, wherein the timer is started or restarted in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell.

[0036] The active BWP differs from the default downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) or the initial BWP.

[0037] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0038] Send a PDCCH on the active BWP or send a PDCCH for use with the active BWP.

[0039] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor being configured to: receive from a base station first information of a timer associated with inactivity of a bandwidth portion (BWP); receive from the base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on an active BWP associated with a serving cell; identify whether an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell exists; and, in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell exists, start or restart the timer.

[0040] The active BWP differs from the default downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) or the initial BWP.

[0041] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0042] Receive PDCCH on the active BWP, or receive PDCCH for use on the active BWP.

[0043] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to: transmit first information to a user equipment (UE) regarding a timer associated with inactivity of a bandwidth portion (BWP); and transmit to the UE a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on an active BWP associated with a serving cell, wherein the timer is started or restarted in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell is detected.

[0044] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0045] Send a PDCCH on the active BWP or send a PDCCH for use with the active BWP.

[0046] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: sending a random access preamble to a base station to initiate a random access procedure; receiving a random access response from the base station; sending a first message to the base station for requesting system information (SI); receiving from the base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI); identifying whether contention resolution was successful; identifying whether a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated; and, in response to identifying that contention resolution was successful and a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, indicating receipt of an acknowledgment for requesting SI from an upper layer.

[0047] In response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI.

[0048] The random access process is associated with contention-based random access.

[0049] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE received in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU sent in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0050] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a base station is provided. The method includes: receiving a random access preamble from a user equipment (UE) for initiating a random access procedure; sending a random access response to the UE; receiving a first message from the UE for requesting system information (SI); sending a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI) to the UE; and sending an acknowledgment to the UE for requesting SI in response to recognizing that contention resolution was successful and that a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated.

[0051] In response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI.

[0052] The random access process is associated with contention-based random access.

[0053] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE sent in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU received in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0054] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to send a random access preamble to a base station to initiate a random access procedure, and to receive a random access response from the base station, and to send a first message to the base station to request system information (SI), and to receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI) from the base station; identify whether contention resolution was successful; identify whether a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated; and in response to identifying that contention resolution was successful and a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, indicate receipt of an acknowledgment for requesting SI from an upper layer.

[0055] The processor is also configured to set the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI in response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated.

[0056] The random access process is associated with contention-based random access.

[0057] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE received in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU sent in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0058] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to receive a random access preamble from a user equipment (UE) for initiating a random access procedure, and to send a random access response to the UE, and to receive a first message from the UE for requesting system information (SI), and to send a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI) to the UE, and to send an acknowledgment to the UE for requesting SI in response to recognizing that contention resolution was successful and that a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated.

[0059] In response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI.

[0060] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE sent in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU received in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0061] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: receiving from a base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of a serving cell; identifying whether an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell; and performing a BWP handover based on the PDCCH in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure is being performed.

[0062] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0063] In response to the detection of a BWP handover, the ongoing random access procedure is stopped.

[0064] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, the PDCCH used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0065] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a base station is provided. The method includes: transmitting bandwidth portion (BWP) configuration information, including information associated with the active bandwidth portion (BWP) of a serving cell, to a user equipment (UE); and transmitting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to the UE for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of the serving cell, wherein, in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell is present, BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0066] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0067] In response to the detection of a BWP handover, the ongoing random access procedure is stopped.

[0068] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, the PDCCH used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0069] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor being configured to: control the transceiver to receive from a base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of a serving cell; identify whether an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell; and, in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure is being performed, perform a BWP handover based on the PDCCH.

[0070] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0071] In response to the detection of a BWP handover, the ongoing random access procedure is stopped.

[0072] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, the PDCCH used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0073] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to: transmit bandwidth portion (BWP) configuration information, including information associated with the active bandwidth portion (BWP) of a serving cell, to a user equipment (UE); and transmit a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to the UE for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of the serving cell, wherein a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell is detected.

[0074] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0075] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, the DCI used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0076] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: receiving first information about a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information about a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; identifying the number of beam fault instances; identifying whether the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; starting a timer associated with beam fault recovery in response to identifying that the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; sending a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure for a beam fault recovery request; receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI); identifying whether the random access procedure has been successfully completed; and stopping the timer in response to identifying that the random access procedure has been successfully completed.

[0077] The first and second information are received through higher-level signaling.

[0078] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0079] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0080] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a base station is provided. The method includes: sending to a user equipment (UE) first information of a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information of a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; receiving from the UE a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure in response to a beam fault recovery request; and sending to the UE a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), wherein the timer is started in response to the identification that the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information, and the timer is stopped in response to the identification that the random access procedure has been successfully completed.

[0081] The first and second messages are sent via higher-level signaling.

[0082] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0083] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0084] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to: control the transceiver to receive first information of a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information of a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; identify the number of beam fault instances; identify whether the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; start a timer associated with beam fault recovery in response to identifying that the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; control the transceiver to transmit a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure for a beam fault recovery request; control the transceiver to receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI); identify whether the random access procedure has been successfully completed; and stop the timer in response to identifying that the random access procedure has been successfully completed.

[0085] The first and second information are received through higher-level signaling.

[0086] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0087] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0088] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to: transmit to a user equipment (UE) first information of a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information of a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; receive from the UE a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure in response to a beam fault recovery request; and transmit to the UE a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI), wherein the timer is started in response to the identification of a number of beam fault instances being greater than or equal to the second information, and the timer is stopped in response to the identification of a successful completion of the random access procedure.

[0089] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0090] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0091] Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of this disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of various embodiments disclosed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0092] Beneficial effects of the invention

[0093] Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be partially understood from the following description, and will become apparent from the invention itself, or will be well learned from practice of the invention.

[0094] This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for control operations associated with BWP configuration, processing of BWP-InactivityTimer, random access procedures, or beam fault management. Attached Figure Description

[0095] The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain embodiments of this disclosure will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0096] Figure 1 The operation of the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the random access procedure according to an embodiment of this disclosure is illustrated.

[0097] Figure 2 The UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated, which processes the BWP-InactivityTimer when the UE is configured with at least one serving cell and initiates a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0098] Figure 3 The UE operation in another embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated, which processes the BWP-InactivityTimer when the UE is configured with at least one serving cell and initiates a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0099] Figure 4 The UE operation in another embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated, which processes the BWP-InactivityTimer when the UE is configured with at least one serving cell and initiates a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0100] Figure 5 The UE operation in another embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated, which processes the BWP-InactivityTimer when the UE is configured with at least one serving cell and initiates a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0101] Figure 6 The illustration shows UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention to process the BWP-InactivityTimer when the UE is configured with multiple serving cells and completes a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0102] Figure 7 The UE operation in another embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated, which processes the BWP-InactivityTimer when the UE is configured with at least one serving cell and completes a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0103] Figure 8 The illustration shows UE operation in yet another embodiment of the proposed invention to process the BWP-InactivityTimer when the UE is configured with multiple serving cells and completes a random access procedure according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0104] Figure 9 The UE operation in another embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated, which processes the BWP-InactivityTimer when the UE is configured with at least one serving cell and completes a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0105] Figure 10 The UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated to process the BWP-InactivityTimer on an active DL BWP or when a PDCCH with DL assignment is received for an active DL BWP, according to embodiments of this disclosure.

[0106] Figure 11 The UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated to process the BWP-InactivityTimer on or for an active BWP when a UL-licensed PDCCH is received, according to embodiments of this disclosure.

[0107] Figure 12 The UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated to handle measurement gaps during the beam fault recovery response window according to embodiments of this disclosure.

[0108] Figure 13 A UE device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0109] Figure 14 A base station apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0110] In all the accompanying drawings, it should be noted that the same reference numerals are used to describe the same or similar elements, features and structures. Detailed Implementation

[0111] The aspects of this disclosure are intended to at least address the aforementioned problems and / or disadvantages, and to at least provide the advantages described below.

[0112] Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the presented embodiments.

[0113] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: receiving from a base station first information of a first timer indicating inactivity of a bandwidth portion associated with a bandwidth portion of a primary cell (PCell) and second information of a second timer indicating inactivity of a bandwidth portion associated with a bandwidth portion of a secondary cell (SCell); identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell or the SCell; stopping the first timer (if it is running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell; and stopping the first timer and the second timer (if they are running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell.

[0114] SCell and PCell are associated with the random access procedure.

[0115] Random access procedures are performed based on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell or SCell.

[0116] Random access procedures are performed based on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell.

[0117] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for providing a base station is provided. The method includes: sending to a user equipment (UE) first information of a first timer indicating bandwidth inactivity associated with a bandwidth portion of a primary cell (PCell) and second information of a second timer indicating bandwidth inactivity associated with a bandwidth portion of a secondary cell (SCell); receiving from the UE a first message related to a random access procedure on the PCell or SCell; and sending to the UE a second message related to a random access procedure on the PCell, wherein in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell, the first timer is stopped (if it is running), and wherein in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell, both the first timer and the second timer are stopped (if they are running).

[0118] SCell and PCell are associated with the random access procedure.

[0119] The first message is received on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of the PCell or SCell. The first message includes the physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble.

[0120] A second message is sent on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell, and the second message includes a random access response (RAR).

[0121] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor being configured to: control the transceiver to receive from a base station first information of a first timer for a bandwidth portion of a primary cell (PCell) that is inactive and second information of a second timer for a bandwidth portion of a secondary cell (SCell) that is inactive; identify that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell or the SCell; stop the first timer (if it is running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell; and stop the first timer and the second timer (if they are running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell.

[0122] SCell and PCell are associated with the random access procedure.

[0123] Random access procedures are performed based on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell or SCell.

[0124] Random access procedures are performed based on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell.

[0125] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to: transmit to a user equipment (UE) first information of a first timer indicating bandwidth inactivity associated with a bandwidth portion of a primary cell (PCell) and second information of a second timer indicating bandwidth inactivity associated with a bandwidth portion of a secondary cell (SCell); receive from the UE a first message related to a random access procedure on the PCell or SCell; and transmit to the UE a second message related to a random access procedure on the PCell, wherein in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell, the first timer is stopped (if running), and wherein in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell, the first timer and the second timer are stopped (if running).

[0126] The first message is received on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of the PCell or SCell. The first message includes the physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble.

[0127] A second message is sent on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell, and the second message includes a random access response (RAR).

[0128] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: receiving from a base station first information about a timer associated with inactivity of a bandwidth portion (BWP); receiving from the base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on an active BWP associated with a serving cell; identifying whether an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell; and, in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell, starting or restarting the timer.

[0129] The active BWP differs from the default downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) or the initial BWP.

[0130] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0131] Receive PDCCH on the active BWP, or receive PDCCH for use on the active BWP.

[0132] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a base station is provided. The method includes sending first information to a user equipment (UE) about a timer associated with inactivity of a bandwidth portion (BWP); and sending a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on an active BWP associated with a serving cell to the UE, wherein the timer is started or restarted in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell.

[0133] The active BWP differs from the default downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) or the initial BWP.

[0134] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0135] Send a PDCCH on the active BWP or send a PDCCH for use with the active BWP.

[0136] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor being configured to: receive from a base station first information of a timer associated with inactivity of a bandwidth portion (BWP); receive from the base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on an active BWP associated with a serving cell; identify whether an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell exists; and, in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell exists, start or restart the timer.

[0137] The active BWP differs from the default downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) or the initial BWP.

[0138] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0139] Receive PDCCH on the active BWP, or receive PDCCH for use on the active BWP.

[0140] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to: transmit first information to a user equipment (UE) regarding a timer associated with inactivity of a bandwidth portion (BWP); and transmit to the UE a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on an active BWP associated with a serving cell, wherein the timer is started or restarted in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell is detected.

[0141] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0142] Send a PDCCH on the active BWP or send a PDCCH for use with the active BWP.

[0143] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: sending a random access preamble to a base station to initiate a random access procedure; receiving a random access response from the base station; sending a first message to the base station for requesting system information (SI); receiving from the base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI); identifying whether contention resolution was successful; identifying whether a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated; and, in response to identifying that contention resolution was successful and a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, indicating receipt of an acknowledgment for requesting SI from an upper layer.

[0144] In response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI.

[0145] The random access process is associated with contention-based random access.

[0146] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE received in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU sent in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0147] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a base station is provided. The method includes: receiving a random access preamble from a user equipment (UE) for initiating a random access procedure; sending a random access response to the UE; receiving a first message from the UE for requesting system information (SI); sending a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI) to the UE; and sending an acknowledgment to the UE for requesting SI in response to recognizing that contention resolution was successful and that a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated.

[0148] In response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI.

[0149] The random access process is associated with contention-based random access.

[0150] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE sent in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU received in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0151] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to send a random access preamble to a base station to initiate a random access procedure, and to receive a random access response from the base station, and to send a first message to the base station to request system information (SI), and to receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI) from the base station; identify whether contention resolution was successful; identify whether a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated; and in response to identifying that contention resolution was successful and a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, indicate receipt of an acknowledgment for requesting SI from an upper layer.

[0152] The processor is also configured to set the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI in response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated.

[0153] The random access process is associated with contention-based random access.

[0154] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE received in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU sent in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0155] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to receive a random access preamble from a user equipment (UE) for initiating a random access procedure, and to send a random access response to the UE, and to receive a first message from the UE for requesting system information (SI), and to send a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI) to the UE, and to send an acknowledgment to the UE for requesting SI in response to recognizing that contention resolution was successful and that a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated.

[0156] In response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI.

[0157] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE sent in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU received in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0158] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: receiving from a base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of a serving cell; identifying whether an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell; and performing a BWP handover based on the PDCCH in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure is being performed.

[0159] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0160] In response to the detection of a BWP handover, the ongoing random access procedure is stopped.

[0161] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, the PDCCH used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0162] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a base station is provided. The method includes: transmitting bandwidth portion (BWP) configuration information, including information associated with the active bandwidth portion (BWP) of a serving cell, to a user equipment (UE); and transmitting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to the UE for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of the serving cell, wherein, in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell is present, BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0163] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0164] In response to the detection of a BWP handover, the ongoing random access procedure is stopped.

[0165] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, the PDCCH used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0166] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor being configured to: control the transceiver to receive from a base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of a serving cell; identify whether an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell; and, in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure is being performed, perform a BWP handover based on the PDCCH.

[0167] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0168] In response to the detection of a BWP handover, the ongoing random access procedure is stopped.

[0169] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, the PDCCH used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0170] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to: transmit bandwidth portion (BWP) configuration information, including information associated with the active bandwidth portion (BWP) of a serving cell, to a user equipment (UE); and transmit a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to the UE for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of the serving cell, wherein a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH in response to identifying that no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell is detected.

[0171] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0172] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, the DCI used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0173] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: receiving first information about a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information about a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; identifying the number of beam fault instances; identifying whether the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; starting a timer associated with beam fault recovery in response to identifying that the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; sending a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure for a beam fault recovery request; receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI); identifying whether the random access procedure has been successfully completed; and stopping the timer in response to identifying that the random access procedure has been successfully completed.

[0174] The first and second information are received through higher-level signaling.

[0175] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0176] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0177] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for a base station is provided. The method includes: sending to a user equipment (UE) first information of a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information of a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; receiving from the UE a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure in response to a beam fault recovery request; and sending to the UE a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), wherein the timer is started in response to the identification that the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information, and the timer is stopped in response to the identification that the random access procedure has been successfully completed.

[0178] The first and second messages are sent via higher-level signaling.

[0179] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0180] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0181] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE includes: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor being configured to: control the transceiver to receive first information of a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information of a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; identify the number of beam fault instances; identify whether the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; start a timer associated with beam fault recovery in response to identifying that the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; control the transceiver to transmit a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure for a beam fault recovery request; control the transceiver to receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI); identify whether the random access procedure has been successfully completed; and stop the timer in response to identifying that the random access procedure has been successfully completed.

[0182] The first and second information are received through higher-level signaling.

[0183] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0184] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0185] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to control the transceiver to: transmit to a user equipment (UE) first information of a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information of a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; receive from the UE a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure in response to a beam fault recovery request; and transmit to the UE a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI), wherein the timer is started in response to the identification of a number of beam fault instances being greater than or equal to the second information, and the timer is stopped in response to the identification of a successful completion of the random access procedure.

[0186] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0187] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0188] Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of this disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of various embodiments disclosed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0189] The following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, is provided to aid in a comprehensive understanding of the various embodiments of this disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. The following description includes various specific details to aid understanding, but these should be considered exemplary only. Therefore, those skilled in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications can be made to the various embodiments described herein without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure. Furthermore, for clarity and brevity, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions have been omitted.

[0190] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to their literal meaning, but are used solely by the inventors to enable a clear and consistent understanding of this disclosure. Therefore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of this disclosure is provided for illustrative purposes only and not for the purpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0191] It should be understood that, unless the context explicitly states otherwise, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural indicators. Thus, for example, a reference to “component surface” includes a reference to one or more such surfaces.

[0192] In each figure, the same or similar components may be represented by the same reference numerals.

[0193] Each block of a flowchart and combinations thereof can be executed by computer program instructions. Because these computer program instructions can be mounted on a processor for a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, these instructions, executed by the processor for the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for performing the functions described in the blocks of the flowchart. Because these computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable storage device of a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to implement the functions in a particular manner, the computer program instructions stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable storage device can also produce articles of manufacture, including instruction means for performing the functions described in the blocks of the flowchart. Because the computer program instructions can also be mounted on a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, performing a series of operational steps on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to create a process executed by the computer, thereby executing the instructions of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, can also provide steps for performing the functions described in the blocks of the flowchart.

[0194] Additionally, each box may indicate a module, segment, and / or code, including one or more executable instructions for performing a specific logical function. Furthermore, in some alternative embodiments, the functions mentioned in the boxes occur regardless of the order. For example, two boxes shown consecutively may actually be executed simultaneously, or sometimes in reverse order depending on their corresponding functions.

[0195] In this document, the term "cell" can include software and / or hardware components such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and / or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). However, the meaning of "cell" is not limited to software and / or hardware. For example, a cell can be configured to reside in an addressable storage medium and can also be configured to reproduce one or more processors. Therefore, "cell" can include components such as software components, object-oriented software components, category components, task components, processors, functions, attributes, programs, subroutines, program code segments, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables.

[0196] The functionality provided in components and "units" can be combined into a smaller number of components and / or "units", or it can be divided into additional components and / or "units".

[0197] Additionally, components and units can be implemented to reproduce one or more CPUs in a device or secure multimedia card.

[0198] The terminology used herein is provided to describe particular embodiments without limiting the scope of other embodiments. It should be understood that the singular form includes the plural form unless the context explicitly specifies otherwise. Unless otherwise defined, the terms and words (including technical or scientific terms) used in the following description and claims may have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art. Terms commonly defined in dictionaries may be interpreted as having the same or similar meaning as in the context of related art. Unless otherwise defined, these terms should not be interpreted as having an ideal or overly formal meaning. Even terms as defined herein may not be construed as excluding embodiments of this disclosure when necessary.

[0199] In this document, the base station performs resource allocation to the terminal. Examples of base stations may include eNodeB (eNB), Node B, gNodeB (gNB), radio access unit, base station controller, nodes on the network, etc. Examples of terminals may include user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), cellular phone, smartphone, computer, multimedia system performing communication functions, etc.

[0200] In this paper, the downlink (DL) is the radio transmission path of a signal from the base station to the UE, while the uplink (UL) is the radio transmission path of a signal from the UE to the base station.

[0201] The embodiments disclosed herein can be applied to other communication systems with similar technical backgrounds or channel configurations.

[0202] In recent years, several broadband wireless technologies have been developed to meet the growing number of broadband subscribers and provide more and better applications and services. Second-generation wireless communication systems have been developed, providing voice services while ensuring user mobility. Third-generation wireless communication systems support not only voice services but also data services. Fourth-generation wireless communication systems have been developed in recent years to provide high-speed data services. However, currently, fourth-generation wireless communication systems suffer from resource shortages and cannot meet the growing demand for high-speed data services. Therefore, fifth-generation wireless communication systems are under development to meet the increasing demand for high-speed data services and support ultra-reliable and low-latency applications.

[0203] Fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication systems will be implemented not only in lower frequency bands but also in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, such as the 10 GHz to 100 GHz band, to achieve higher data rates. To mitigate radio wave propagation loss and increase transmission distance, beamforming, massive MIMO, full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, and large antenna technology are considered in the design of 5G wireless communication systems. Furthermore, 5G wireless communication systems are expected to meet diverse use cases with vastly different requirements in terms of data rate, latency, reliability, and mobility. However, the air interface design of 5G wireless communication systems is anticipated to be flexible enough to serve UEs with significantly different performance characteristics, depending on the use case and market segment the UE serves for the end customer. Several example use cases that 5G wireless communication systems are expected to address include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communication (m-MTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLL). eMBB requirements (such as tens of Gbps data rates, low latency, and high mobility) address the market segment representing the need for internet connectivity anytime, anywhere, and on the go for regular wireless broadband subscribers. m-MTC requirements (such as extremely high connection density, infrequent data transfer, ultra-long battery life, and low mobility addresses) address the market segment representing the connectivity of billions of devices envisioned for the Internet of Things (IoT) / Internet of Everything (IoE). URLL requirements (such as extremely low latency, extremely high reliability, and variable mobility) address the market segment representing industrial automation applications (i.e., vehicle-to-vehicle / vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, which is foreseeable as one of the driving forces behind autonomous vehicles).

[0204] Fifth-generation wireless communication systems (also known as next-generation radio or NR) support standalone operating modes as well as dual connectivity (DC). In DC, multiple Rx / Tx UEs can be configured to utilize resources provided by two different nodes (or NBs) connected via a non-ideal backhaul. One node acts as the primary node (MN), and the other as the secondary node (SN). The MN and SN are connected via a network interface, and at least the MN is connected to the core network. NR also supports multi-RAT dual connectivity (MR-DC) operation, which configures a UE in RRC_CONNECTED to utilize radio resources provided by two different schedulers located in two different nodes connected via a non-ideal backhaul, providing E-UTRA (e.g., if the node is an ng-eNB) or NR access (i.e., if the node is a gNB).

[0205] In the NR of a UE in RRC_CONNECTED without CA / DC configured, there is only one serving cell, which includes the primary cell. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED with CA / DC configured, the term "serving cell" is used to refer to the set of cells consisting of the primary cell and all secondary cells.

[0206] In NR, the term Primary Cell Group (MCG) refers to the serving cell group associated with the primary node, which includes PCells and optionally one or more SCells. In NR, the term Secondary Cell Group (SCG) refers to the serving cell group associated with the secondary node, which includes PSCells and optionally one or more SCells. In NR, a PCell (primary cell) is the serving cell in the MCG operating at the primary frequency, where the UE performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure. In NR for UEs configured with CA, an Scell ​​is a cell that provides additional radio resources above a special cell. The primary SCG cell (PSCell) is the serving cell in the SCG, where the UE performs random access during reconfiguration with a synchronization procedure. For dual connectivity operations, the term SpCell (i.e., special cell) refers to either the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG; otherwise, the term special cell refers to the PCell.

[0207] In NR, Bandwidth Adaptive (BA) is supported. With BA, the UE's receive and transmit bandwidth does not need to be as large as the cell's bandwidth and can be adjusted: bandwidth can be commanded to change (e.g., shrinking during less active periods to save power); location can be moved in the frequency domain (e.g., to improve scheduling flexibility); and subcarrier spacing can be commanded to change (e.g., to allow different services). A subset of the cell's total cell bandwidth is called the Bandwidth Part (BWP), and BA is implemented by configuring the UE to have a BWP and telling the UE which configured BWP is currently active.

[0208] When BA is configured, the UE only needs to monitor the PDCCH on one active BWP; that is, it does not need to monitor the PDCCH on the entire DL frequency of the serving cell. The serving cell has one or more BWPs configured, and for the serving cell, there is always one active BWP at any given time. BWP handover in the serving cell is used to activate inactive BWPs and disable active BWPs each time. BWP handover is controlled by the PDCCH indicating downlink allocation or uplink permission, or by RRC signaling. Furthermore, a BWP inactivity timer is used to switch the active DL BWP to the serving cell's default DL BWP or initial DL BWP. One of the configured BWPs in the serving cell can be the default DL BWP, indicated in the BWP configuration received from the gNB. The initial DL BWP is also signaled (in system information or dedicated signaling). One of the configured BWPs in the serving cell can be the first active DL BWP, indicated in the BWP configuration received from the gNB. It should be noted that the BWP inactivity timer may or may not be configured in the BWP configuration received from the gNB for each serving cell. The BWP inactivity timer (if configured) sends a signal independently for each serving cell. A BWP inactivity timer can be configured for no serving cell or multiple serving cells.

[0209] In fifth-generation wireless communication systems, the UE may perform a random access procedure for various reasons, such as for UL timing alignment, requesting UL permission, or requesting on-demand SI. During the random access procedure, if the BWP is switched (e.g., if the BWP inactivity timer expires), the UE will have to abort the ongoing random access procedure and restart it in the newly activated BWP. This increases the latency of completing the random access procedure. Therefore, a method to minimize interruptions is needed.

[0210] If a BWP inactivity timer is configured for the active serving cell, the MAC entity in the UE should perform the following operations for that active serving cell according to the current procedure:

[0211] A) If Default-DL-BWP (the default downlink BWP) is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial DLBWP:

[0212] - If a PDCCH indicating a downlink allocation or uplink grant is received on the active BWP with an addressing C-RNTI or CS-RNTI; or if a MAC PDU is sent in a configured uplink grant or received in a configured downlink allocation;

[0213] Start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP;

[0214] B) If a PDCCH for BWP handover is received, and the MAC entity is switching the active BWP:

[0215] - If defaultDownlinkBWP-Id is configured, and the MAC entity switches to a BWP that is not indicated by defaultDownlinkBWP-Id; or if defaultDownlinkBWP-Id is not configured, and the MAC entity switches to a BWP that is not initialDownlinkBWP:

[0216] Start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP;

[0217] C) If a random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell:

[0218] -Stop BWP-InactivityTimer;

[0219] D) If the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the activity DL BWP expires:

[0220] - If Default-DL-BWP is configured, the BWP is switched to the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP. Otherwise, the BWP is switched to the initial DL BWP.

[0221] The operation of the BWP inactivity timer (as described above) presents several issues. If a random access (RA) procedure is initiated, the UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer according to the current procedure. The UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the active serving cell for which the random access was initiated. If random access is initiated for a PCell, the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the PCell stops. If random access is initiated for an SCell, the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SCell stops. In the case of a random access procedure on an SCell (except PSCell), only the PRACH preamble is transmitted on the SCell. The UE receives the RAR on the SpCell. The active DL BWP on the SpCell can be switched during the random access procedure. This will result in an interruption because the random access procedure needs to be stopped and restarted after the BWP switch.

[0222] Figure 1 The operation of the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the random access procedure according to an embodiment of this disclosure is illustrated.

[0223] refer to Figure 1 The random access procedure is initiated at T = t1 (100) and completed at T = t3 (120). While the random access procedure is in progress, the UE can receive a PDCCH with downlink allocation (e.g., the UE can receive a PDCCH with downlink allocation for RAR). In this case, the UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer at T = t1 (100) to prevent BWP handover during the random access procedure. However, since the UE restarts the BWP-InactivityTimer again at T = t2 (110) during the random access procedure, BWP handover cannot be avoided. This will also result in an interruption, as the random access procedure needs to be stopped and restarted after the BWP handover.

[0224] In this invention, for dual / multi-connectivity operations, the term "Special Cell" (SpCell) refers to the primary cell (PCell) of the primary cell group (MCG) or the primary / secondary cell (PSCell) of the secondary cell group (SCG), depending on whether the MAC entity is associated with an MCG or an SCG. Each cell group (CG) in the UE has one MAC entity. Otherwise, the term "Special Cell" refers to the PCell. In the proposed operation, if the SCell initiating the random access procedure on it belongs to an MCG, then the term SpCell refers to the PCell. If the SCell initiating the random access procedure on it belongs to an SCG, then the term SpCell refers to the PSCell.

[0225] In one method of the present invention, it is proposed to process the BWP inactivity timer when initiating a random access procedure based on the type of the serving cell on which the random access procedure is initiated.

[0226] Random access procedures can be initiated by a PDCCH order from the gNB, by the MAC entity itself, by a beam fault indication from a lower layer, or by an RRC. For example, random access procedures can be initiated or executed for the following PCell-related events:

[0227] - Initial access from RRC_IDLE;

[0228] -RRC connection reconstruction process;

[0229] - Switch;

[0230] - During RRC_CONNECTED, DL data arrival requires a random access procedure:

[0231] - For example, when the UL synchronization status is "out of sync".

[0232] - During RRC_CONNECTED, UL data arrival requires a random access procedure:

[0233] - For example, when the UL synchronization status is "not synchronized" or there is no PUCCH resource available for SR.

[0234] - A random access procedure is required to locate during RRC_CONNECTED;

[0235] - For example, when UE positioning needs to be done in advance at a specific time.

[0236] - Migrate from RRC_INACTIVE;

[0237] - Request other SIs

[0238] A random access procedure is also performed on the SCell to establish time alignment for the corresponding sTAG. In the DC, a random access procedure is also performed on at least the PSCell when DL / UL data arrives during SCG addition / modification (if indicated) or during RRC_CONNECTED and a random access procedure is required. A UE-initiated random access procedure is performed only on the PSCell used for the SCG.

[0239] According to the current procedure, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations for each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0240] If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP:

[0241] - If a random access procedure is initiated, the UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer. The UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the active serving cell for which the random access was initiated. This means that if random access is initiated for a PCell, the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the PCell stops. If random access is initiated for a PSCell, the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the PSCell stops. If random access is initiated for an SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than the PSCell), the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SCell stops.

[0242] In the case of a random access procedure on an SCell (except PSCell), only the PRACH preamble is transmitted on the SCell. The UE receives the RAR on the SpCell. The active DL BWP on the SpCell can be switched during the random access procedure. This will cause an interruption because the random access procedure needs to be stopped and restarted after the BWP handover.

[0243] To address this issue, in embodiments of the present invention, we propose the following UE operation:

[0244] Step 1: Initiate a random access procedure on the serving cell.

[0245] Step 2: If the serving cell on or for which the random access procedure was initiated is an SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell), the UE performs the operations described in Steps 3 and 4. Otherwise, the UE performs the operations described in Step 3.

[0246] Step 3: For the serving cell on which or for which a random access procedure is initiated, the UE performs the following operations:

[0247] A. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DLBWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP, then the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell).

[0248] or

[0249] B. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DLBWP is not the initial DL BWP, the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell).

[0250] Step 4: For a special serving cell (SpCell), the UE performs the following operations:

[0251] A. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DLBWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP, then the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the SpCell's BWP-InactivityTimer or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the SpCell's active DL BWP).

[0252] or

[0253] B. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DLBWP is not the initial BWP, the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the SpCell's BWP-InactivityTimer or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SpCell).

[0254] Figure 2 The illustration shows UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention, processing a BWP-InactivityTimer when initiating a random access procedure, depending on the type of the serving cell on which a random access procedure has been initiated according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0255] refer to Figure 2 The UE operation includes the following steps / operations.

[0256] In Operation 200, a random access procedure is initiated.

[0257] In operation 210, if the serving cell on which the random access procedure is initiated is an SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell), the UE performs the operations described in operations 220 and 230. Otherwise, the UE performs the operations described in operation 240, which are the same as those in operation 220.

[0258] In operation 220, for the serving cell on which or for which a random access procedure is initiated, the UE performs the following operations:

[0259] A. If a BWP inactivity timer is running for the serving cell, then stop the BWP-InactivityTimer for that serving cell; in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running for the serving cell, then stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of that serving cell.

[0260] In operation 230, for a special serving cell (SpCell), the UE performs the following operations:

[0261] B. If a BWP inactivity timer is running for SpCell, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer for SpCell; in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running for SpCell, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of SpCell.

[0262] Figure 3The illustration shows UE operation in another embodiment of the proposed invention, processing the BWP-InactivityTimer when initiating a random access procedure, depending on the type of the serving cell on which a random access procedure has been initiated according to embodiments of this disclosure. In one embodiment, this operation is performed by the MAC entity in the UE for each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer when initiating a random access procedure. In another embodiment, this operation is performed by the MAC entity in the UE for the following serving cells after the random access procedure has been initiated:

[0263] a) If a BWP inactivity timer is configured on the serving cell, then for the serving cell on which the random access procedure is initiated.

[0264] b) If the serving cell on which the random access procedure is initiated is not SpCell, and if a BWP inactivity timer is configured for SpCell, then it applies to SpCell.

[0265] refer to Figure 3 The UE operation includes the following steps / operations.

[0266] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; Operation 300 or

[0267] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP, operation 330:

[0268] 2> If a random access procedure is initiated on or for this serving cell, operation 310:

[0269] 3> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell, operation 320; In an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running for the serving cell, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell.

[0270] 2> Or if a random access procedure is initiated on or for another serving cell, and if that serving cell is a SpCell, operation 340:

[0271] 3> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell, operation 320; In an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running for the serving cell, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell.

[0272] Figure 4 The illustration shows UE operation in another embodiment of the proposed invention, processing a BWP-InactivityTimer when initiating a random access procedure, depending on the type of the serving cell on which a random access procedure was initiated according to an embodiment of this disclosure. References Figure 4 When initiating a random access procedure, the MAC entity in the UE performs the operation on the serving cell on which the random access procedure was initiated.

[0273] In Operation 400, a random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell.

[0274] For this serving cell, the BWP inactivity timer is operated by the UE as follows:

[0275] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not a BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP (Operation 410); or

[0276] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP (Operation 450):

[0277] 2> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell if it is running (operation 420); in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell.

[0278] 2> If the serving cell is an SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell) (Operation 430):

[0279] 3> Stop the SpCell's BWP-InactivityTimer if it is running (operation 440); in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SpCell.

[0280] Figure 5 The illustration shows UE operation in another embodiment of the proposed invention, processing a BWP-InactivityTimer when initiating a random access procedure, depending on the type of the serving cell on which a random access procedure was initiated according to an embodiment of this disclosure. References Figure 5 When initiating a random access procedure, the MAC entity in the UE performs the operation on the serving cell on which the random access procedure was initiated.

[0281] In Operation 500, a random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell.

[0282] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not a BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP (Operation 510); or

[0283] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP (Operation 560):

[0284] 2> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell (operation 520); In an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell.

[0285] 2> If the serving cell is a SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell) (Operation 530):

[0286] 3> If a BWP inactivity timer is configured for SpCell:

[0287] 4> For SpCell, if Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP (Operation 540); or

[0288] 4> For SpCell, if Default-DL-BWP is not configured and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP (Operation 570);

[0289] 5> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer of SpCell (Operation 550); In an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of SpCell.

[0290] In the above operations, "initiating a random access procedure on or for the serving cell" refers to a random access procedure in which a PRACH preamble is sent on the serving cell.

[0291] Optionally, a BWP inactivity timer is proposed to be processed when initiating a random access procedure, depending on the type of the serving cell on which the random access procedure is initiated.

[0292] According to the current procedure, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations for each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0293] If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP:

[0294] - If a random access procedure is initiated, the UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer. The UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the active serving cell for which the random access was initiated. This means that if random access is initiated for a PCell, the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the PCell stops. If random access is initiated for a PSCell, the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the PSCell stops. If random access is initiated for an SCell (other than a PSCell), the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SCell stops.

[0295] In the case of a random access procedure on an SCell (except PSCell), only the PRACH preamble is transmitted on the SCell. The UE receives the RAR on the SpCell. The active DL BWP on the SpCell can be switched during the random access procedure. This will cause an interruption because the random access procedure needs to be stopped and restarted after the BWP handover.

[0296] To address this issue, we propose the following UE operation:

[0297] Step 1: Initiate the random access procedure.

[0298] Step 2: If the serving cell on or for which the random access procedure was initiated is an SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell), the UE performs the operations described in Steps 3 and 4. Otherwise, the UE performs the operations described in Step 3.

[0299] Step 3: For the serving cell on which or for which a random access procedure is initiated, the UE performs the following operations:

[0300] A. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DLBWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP, then the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer; (i.e., the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell).

[0301] or

[0302] B. If the serving cell is PCell, and if a BWP inactivity timer is configured, and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP, then the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DLBWP of the serving cell).

[0303] or

[0304] C. If the serving cell is a SCell, and if a BWP inactivity timer is configured, and if a Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the first active BWP, then the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell); (Note that this condition may not exist in embodiments of the invention).

[0305] Step 4: For a special serving cell (SpCell), the UE performs the following operations:

[0306] A. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DLBWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP, then the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell).

[0307] or

[0308] B. If the serving cell is PCell, and if a BWP inactivity timer is configured, and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP, then the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DLBWP of the serving cell).

[0309] or

[0310] C. If the serving cell is a SCell, and if a BWP inactivity timer is configured, and if a Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the first active BWP, then the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell or the MAC entity stops the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell); (Note that this condition may not exist in embodiments of the invention).

[0311] In another embodiment of the invention, when initiating a random access procedure, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations. In this embodiment, when initiating a random access procedure, the MAC entity in the UE performs this operation for each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer. In another embodiment, when initiating a random access procedure, the MAC entity in the UE performs this operation for the following serving cells:

[0312] a) If a BWP inactivity timer is configured on the serving cell, then for the serving cell on which the random access procedure is initiated.

[0313] b) If the serving cell on which the random access procedure is initiated is not SpCell, and if a BWP inactivity timer is configured for SpCell, then for SpCell:

[0314] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0315] 1> If the serving cell is a PCell, and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP; or

[0316] 1> If the serving cell is a SCell, and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the first active BWP:

[0317] 2> If a random access procedure is initiated on or for this serving cell:

[0318] 3> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell; in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell.

[0319] 2> Or if a random access procedure is initiated on or for another serving cell, and if that serving cell is a SpCell:

[0320] 3> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell; in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell.

[0321] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, when initiating a random access procedure on a serving cell, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations for that serving cell:

[0322] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0323] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP; or

[0324] 1> If the serving cell is a SCell, and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the first active BWP:

[0325] 2> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell; in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell.

[0326] 2> If the serving cell is a SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell):

[0327] 3> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SpCell (if it is running); in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer of the SpCell (if it is running).

[0328] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, when initiating a random access procedure on a serving cell, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations for that serving cell:

[0329] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0330] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP; or

[0331] 1> If the serving cell is a SCell, and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the first active BWP:

[0332] 2> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell; in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell.

[0333] 2> If the serving cell is a SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell):

[0334] 3> If a BWP inactivity timer is configured for SpCell:

[0335] 4> For SpCell, if Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0336] 4> For SpCell, if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP;

[0337] 5> Stop the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SpCell; in an alternative embodiment, if a BWP inactivity timer is running, stop the BWP-InactivityTimer of the SpCell.

[0338] In the above operations, "initiating a random access procedure on or for the serving cell" refers to a random access procedure in which a PRACH preamble is sent on the serving cell. The BWP configuration received from the gNB indicates the first active BWP among the configured BWPs.

[0339] In one method of the present invention, it is proposed to process the BWP inactivity timer when the random access procedure is completed.

[0340] Here are some examples of situations where the random access procedure is considered to have completed successfully:

[0341] 1. After sending a contention-free random access preamble for a beam fault recovery request, the UE receives a PDCCH transmission addressed to C-RNTI in the bfr response window.

[0342] 2. After sending the contention-free random access preamble for the SI request, if a downlink allocation for RA-RNTI has been received on the PDCCH and the received TB has been successfully decoded, and if the random access response contains a random access preamble identifier corresponding to the transmitted preamble, and if the random access response contains only RAPID.

[0343] 3. After sending a contention-free random access preamble, if a downlink allocation for RA-RNTI has been received on the PDCCH and the received TB has been successfully decoded, and if the random access response contains a random access preamble identifier corresponding to the transmitted preamble, and if the random access response contains more than just RAPID.

[0344] 4. After sending Msg3, if PDCCH is received, and if C-RNTI MAC CE is included in Msg3, and if a random access procedure is initiated by the MAC sublayer itself or by the RRC sublayer, and the PDCCH transmission is addressed to C-RNTI and contains UL permission for the new transmission.

[0345] 5. After sending Msg3, if PDCCH is received, and if C-RNTI MAC CE is included in Msg3, and if a random access procedure is initiated by the PDCCH order, and the PDCCH transport is addressed to C-RNTI.

[0346] 6. After sending Msg3, if PDCCH is received, and if C-RNTI MAC CE is included in Msg3, and if a random access procedure is initiated for beam fault recovery, and the PDCCH transmission is addressed to C-RNTI.

[0347] 7. After sending Msg3, if a PDCCH is received, and if a CCCH SDU is included in Msg3, and the PDCCH transport is addressed to its TEMPORARY_C-RNTI, and if a MAC PDU is successfully decoded, and if the MAC PDU contains the UE contention resolution identifier MAC CE; and if the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE matches the CCCH SDU sent in Msg3:

[0348] In one embodiment of the proposed invention, the UE operates as follows:

[0349] Step 1: Successfully complete the random access procedure initiated in or for the serving cell.

[0350] Step 2: If the serving cell on which the random access procedure was initiated (and successfully completed) is an SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than PSCell), then the UE performs the operations described in Steps 3 and 4. Otherwise, the UE performs the operations described in Step 3.

[0351] Step 3: For the serving cell on which the random access procedure was initiated (and successfully completed), the UE performs the following operations:

[0352] A. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DLBWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP, then the MAC entity starts a BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., starts a BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or starts a BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell).

[0353] or

[0354] B. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DLBWP is not the initial DL BWP, the MAC entity starts a BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., starts a BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or starts a BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell).

[0355] Step 4: For a special serving cell (SpCell), the UE performs the following operations:

[0356] C. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DLBWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP, then the MAC entity starts a BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., starts a BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or starts a BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell).

[0357] or

[0358] D. If a BWP inactivity timer is configured and if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DLBWP is not the initial DL BWP, the MAC entity starts a BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., starts the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or starts the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0359] Note: For dual / multi-connection operations, the term "Special Cell (SpCell)" refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG, depending on whether the MAC entity is associated with the MCG or the SCG. Otherwise, the term "Special Cell" refers to the Pcell.

[0360] Figure 6 The UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated to process the BWP-InactivityTimer when a random access procedure is completed according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0361] refer to Figure 6 In Operation 600, the initiated random access procedure was successfully completed.

[0362] In operation 610, if the serving cell on which the random access procedure was initiated (and successfully completed) is an SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than PSCell), the UE performs the operations described in operations 620 and 630. Otherwise, the UE performs the operations described in operation 640, which are the same as those in operation 620.

[0363] In Operation 620, for the serving cell on which or for which a random access procedure was initiated (and successfully completed), the UE performs the following operations:

[0364] A. Start the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell; in an alternative embodiment, start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell.

[0365] In Operation 630, for a special serving cell (SpCell), the UE performs the following operations:

[0366] B. Start the SpCell's BWP-InactivityTimer; in an alternative embodiment, start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the SpCell's active DLBWP.

[0367] Figure 7 The illustration shows UE operation in yet another embodiment of the proposed invention, processing the BWP-InactivityTimer during a random access procedure according to an embodiment of this disclosure. References Figure 7 In one embodiment, during the completion of the random access procedure, the operation is performed by the MAC entity in the UE for each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer. In another embodiment, during the completion of the random access procedure, the operation is performed by the MAC entity in the UE for the following serving cells:

[0368] a) If a BWP inactivity timer is configured on the serving cell, then for the serving cell on which the random access procedure was initiated.

[0369] b) If the serving cell on which the completed random access procedure was initiated is not SpCell, and if a BWP inactivity timer is configured for SpCell, then for SpCell.

[0370] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP (Operation 700); or

[0371] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP (Operation 730):

[0372] 2> If the random access procedure initiated on the serving cell completes successfully (Operation 710):

[0373] 3> Start BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., start BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or start BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell) (Operation 720);

[0374] 2> Or if a random access procedure is initiated on another serving cell, and if that serving cell is SpCell (Operation 740)

[0375] 3> Start the associated BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell) (Operation 720);

[0376] Figure 8 The illustration shows UE operation in yet another embodiment of the proposed invention, processing the BWP-InactivityTimer during a random access procedure according to an embodiment of this disclosure. References Figure 8 When the random access procedure is completed, the MAC entity in the UE performs the operation on the serving cell on which the completed random access procedure was initiated.

[0377] In Operation 800, the random access process was successfully completed.

[0378] If a BWP inactivity timer is configured, the UE will perform the following operations on the BWP inactivity timer:

[0379] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not a BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP (Operation 810); or

[0380] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP (Operation 850):

[0381] 2> Start BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., start BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or start BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell) (Operation 820);

[0382] 2> If the serving cell is a SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell) (Operation 830):

[0383] 3> Start the BWP-InactivityTimer of SpCell (if configured) (i.e., start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of SpCell or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of SpCell) (Operation 840);

[0384] Figure 9 The illustration shows UE operation in yet another embodiment of the proposed invention, processing the BWP-InactivityTimer during a random access procedure according to an embodiment of this disclosure. References Figure 9 When the random access procedure is completed, the MAC entity in the UE performs the operation on the serving cell on which the completed random access procedure was initiated.

[0385] In Operation 900, the random access process was successfully completed.

[0386] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not a BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP (Operation 910); or

[0387] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP (Operation 960):

[0388] 2> Start BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., start BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or start BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell) (Operation 920);

[0389] 2> If the serving cell is a SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell) (Operation 930):

[0390] 3> If a BWP inactivity timer is configured for SpCell:

[0391] 4> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP (Operation 940); or

[0392] 4> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP (Operation 970);

[0393] 5> Start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the SpCell (i.e., start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the SpCell or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the SpCell) (Operation 950);

[0394] In one method of the present invention, it is proposed to process the BWP inactivity timer when it is active on the DL BWP or when it receives a PDCCH with DL assignment.

[0395] If a random access procedure is initiated, the UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer. Stopping the BWP-InactivityTimer is to prevent BWP handover (i.e., switching to the default BWP or the initial BWP) during the random access procedure. If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or if Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP: if a PDCCH indicating downlink allocation is received on the active BWP, the MAC entity in the UE starts or restarts the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP. In the above process, BWP handover cannot be avoided because the UE can restart the BWP-InactivityTimer during the random access procedure. This results in an interruption because the random access procedure needs to be stopped and restarted during BWP handover.

[0396] In embodiments of the proposed invention, we propose that when the UE receives a PDCCH indicating a DL allocation for an active DLBWP for the serving cell, the UE follows the following... Figure 10 The operation shown.

[0397] Figure 10 The UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated to process the BWP-InactivityTimer when a PDCCH with DL assignment is received for an active DL BWP, according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0398] refer to Figure 10 In Operation 1000, a PDCCH indicating a DL allocation for active DL BWP X can be received in active DL BWP X, or it can be received in another active DL BWP Y. For example, a PDCCH received in DL BWP Y may include a DL allocation for DL ​​BWP X. DL BWP X and Y can be BWPs of the same serving cell or different serving cells.

[0399] In operation 1010, if there is any ongoing random access procedure associated with a serving cell in which an active DL BWP allocated by the DL has been received, then in operation 1020, the UE does not (re)start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP in which the DL has been received. The random access procedure is associated with the serving cell if the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the serving cell and / or receives a RAR on the serving cell. In some cases, multiple serving cells can be associated with a random access procedure. For example, when a random access procedure is initiated for an SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than the PSCell), where the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the SCell and receives a RAR on the SpCell. Therefore, in this case, the random access procedure is associated with both the SCell and the SpCell. For example, if a random access procedure is initiated on the SpCell, the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the SpCell and receives a RAR on the SpCell. Therefore, in this case, the random access procedure is associated with the SpCell.

[0400] In operation 1010, if there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell in which the active DL BWP allocated by the DL is received, then in operation 1030, the UE does (re)start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP in which the DL is received.

[0401] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0402] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0403] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial DL BWP:

[0404] 2> If a PDCCH indicating downlink allocation, addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI, is received on the active DL BWP of the serving cell:

[0405] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell:

[0406] 4> Start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0407] For example, the UE receives a PDCCH addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI indicating downlink allocation. The PDCCH is received on the active DL BWP of serving cell X. If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with serving cell X, the UE (re)starts the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of serving cell X. In this embodiment, if multiple active DL BWPs exist in the serving cell, starting or restarting the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell is used for the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP that receives a PDCCH addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI indicating downlink allocation.

[0408] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0409] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0410] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP:

[0411] 2> If an active DL BWP for the serving cell receives a PDCCH addressing to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI indicating downlink allocation (this PDCCH can be received in the same active DL BWP X, or in another active DL BWP Y. For example, a PDCCH received in DL BWP Y may include the DL allocation for DL ​​BWP X. DL BWP X and Y can be BWPs for the same serving cell or different serving cells):

[0412] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell:

[0413] 4> Start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0414] For example, the UE receives a PDCCH addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI indicating a DL allocation. The DL allocation is for the active DL BWP of serving cell X. If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with serving cell X, the UE (re)starts the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of serving cell X. It should be noted that the PDCCH indicating the DL allocation can be received on the active DL BWP of serving cell X or another serving cell Y. In this embodiment, if multiple active DL BWPs exist in the serving cell, the operation of starting or restarting the BWP-InactivityTimer is for the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP for which a downlink allocation has been received.

[0415] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0416] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0417] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP:

[0418] 2> If a PDCCH indicating downlink allocation is received on the active DL BWP and addressed to C-RNTI or CS-RNTI; or

[0419] 2> If a PDCCH addressing to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI indicating downlink allocation is received for an active DL BWP (the PDCCH indicating DL allocation for active DL BWP X can be received in the same active DL BWP X, or it can be received in another active DL BWP Y. For example, the PDCCH received in DL BWP Y may include the DL allocation for DL ​​BWP X. DL BWP X and Y can be BWPs of the same serving cell or different serving cells):

[0420] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell:

[0421] 4> Start or restart BWP-InactivityTimer (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell);

[0422] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0423] 1> If the active DL BWP of the serving cell or the PDCCH for which an indication of downlink allocation is received is addressed to C-RNTI or CS-RNTI:

[0424] 2> If the serving cell is a SpCell:

[0425] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure (no ongoing random access procedure initiated on the serving cell or any SCell of the CG associated with the SpCell), start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0426] 2> or

[0427] 3> If no ongoing random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell, start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or start the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell).

[0428] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0429] 1> If the active DL BWP of the serving cell or the PDCCH for which an indication of downlink allocation is received is addressed to C-RNTI or CS-RNTI:

[0430] 2> If the serving cell is a SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell):

[0431] 3> If no ongoing random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell, start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0432] 2> or

[0433] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure (no ongoing random access procedure initiated on the serving cell or any SCell of the CG associated with the SpCell), start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0434] In one method of the present invention, it is proposed to process the BWP inactivity timer when it is active on the BWP or when it receives a PDCCH with UL authorization.

[0435] If a random access procedure is initiated, the UE stops the BWP-InactivityTimer. Stopping the BWP-InactivityTimer is to prevent BWP handover (i.e., switching to the default BWP or the initial BWP) during the random access procedure. If Default-DL-BWP is configured and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or if Default-DL-BWP is not configured and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP: if a PDCCH indicating UL permission is received on or for the active BWP; the MAC entity initiates or restarts the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP. In the above process, BWP handover cannot be avoided because the UE can restart the BWP-InactivityTimer during the random access procedure. This results in an interruption because the random access procedure needs to be stopped and restarted.

[0436] In embodiments of the proposed invention, we propose that when the UE receives a PDCCH indicating UL authorization for an active BWP (i.e., an active ULBWP), the UE follows the following... Figure 11 The operation shown.

[0437] Figure 11The UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated to process the BWP-InactivityTimer when a UL-licensed PDCCH is received on an active BWP, according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0438] refer to Figure 11 In operation 1100, a PDCCH indicating UL authorization is received for the active BWP.

[0439] In operation 1110, if there is any ongoing random access procedure associated with a serving cell where an active BWP that has received UL clearance exists, then in operation 1120, the UE does not (re)start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DLBWP of that serving cell. The random access procedure is associated with the serving cell if the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the serving cell and / or receives a RAR on the serving cell. In some cases, multiple serving cells can be associated with a random access procedure. For example, when a random access procedure is initiated for an SCell (other than a PSCell), where the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the SCell and receives a RAR on the SpCell. Therefore, in this case, the random access procedure is associated with both the SCell and the SpCell. For example, if a random access procedure is initiated on the SpCell, the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the SpCell and receives a RAR on the SpCell. Therefore, in this case, the random access procedure is associated with the SpCell.

[0440] In operation 1110, if there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell in which the active BWP that received UL authorization is located, then in operation 1130, the UE determines to (re)start the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP in which the active DL BWP that received UL authorization is located.

[0441] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0442] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0443] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP:

[0444] 2> If a PDCCH indicating uplink permission is received on the active BWP of the serving cell, addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI:

[0445] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell:

[0446] 4> Start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or (re)start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0447] For example, the UE receives a PDCCH addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI indicating uplink clearance. The PDCCH is received on the active DL BWP of serving cell X. If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with serving cell X, the UE (re)starts the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of serving cell X. In this embodiment, if multiple active DL BWPs exist in the serving cell, the operation of starting or restarting the BWP-InactivityTimer is for the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP, on which the PDCCH addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI indicating uplink clearance is received.

[0448] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0449] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is configured, and the active DL BWP is not the BWP indicated by Default-DL-BWP; or

[0450] 1> If Default-DL-BWP is not configured, and the active DL BWP is not the initial BWP:

[0451] 2> If the active BWP for the serving cell receives a PDCCH indicating uplink permission addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI:

[0452] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell:

[0453] 4> Start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0454] For example, the UE receives a PDCCH addressed to a C-RNTI or CS-RNTI indicating uplink clearance. The UL clearance is used for the active UL BWP of serving cell X. If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with serving cell X, the UE (re)starts the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of serving cell X. It should be noted that the PDCCH indicating the UL clearance can be received on the active DL BWP of serving cell X or another serving cell Y. In this embodiment, if multiple active DL BWPs exist in the serving cell, the operation of starting or restarting the BWP-InactivityTimer is used for the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP, which is linked to the ULBWP that received the UL clearance (i.e., has the same BWP ID as the UL BWP).

[0455] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0456] 1> If the active BWP of the serving cell receives an address to C-RNTI or CS-RNTI, indicate the uplink permission of the PDCCH:

[0457] 2> If the serving cell is a SpCell:

[0458] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure (no ongoing random access procedure initiated on the serving cell or any SCell of the CG associated with the SpCell), start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0459] 2> or

[0460] 3> If no ongoing random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell, start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or start the BWP-InactivityTimer for the serving cell).

[0461] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the MAC entity in the UE performs the following operations on each active serving cell configured with a BWP inactivity timer:

[0462] 1> If the active BWP of the serving cell or the PDCCH receiving an indication of uplink permission addressed to C-RNTI or CS-RNTI:

[0463] 2> If the serving cell is a SCell (i.e., a secondary cell other than a PSCell):

[0464] 3> If no ongoing random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell, start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell, or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0465] 2> or

[0466] 3> If there is no ongoing random access procedure (no ongoing random access procedure initiated on the serving cell or any SCell of the CG associated with the SpCell), start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell (i.e., start or restart the BWP-InactivityTimer associated with the active DL BWP of the serving cell or start the BWP-InactivityTimer of the serving cell).

[0467] In one method of the present invention, it is proposed to handle the measurement gap during the beam fault recovery response window.

[0468] The beam fault recovery request procedure is used to indicate a new SSB or CSI-RS to the serving gNB when a beam fault is detected on the serving SSB / CSI-RS. For a beam fault recovery request, the UE sends a contention-free random access preamble. It is important to note that the random access preamble and / or PRACH resources can be dedicated to beam fault recovery requests. After sending the contention-free random access preamble to initiate the beam fault recovery request, the UE starts the bfr-ResponseWindow (i.e., the RAR window configured in the beam fault recovery configuration sent by the gNB to the UE) at the beginning of the first PDCCH timing after a fixed duration of X symbols following the end of the preamble transmission. The bfr-ResponseWindow is configured in the system information or dedicated RRC signaling (in units of time slots, subframes, TTIs, PDCCH timings, or OFDM symbols). When the bfr-ResponseWindow is running, the UE monitors the PDCCH of the SpCell in response to the beam fault recovery request identified by the C-RNTI.

[0469] It is possible that one or more time slots in the bfr-ResponseWindow may overlap with measurement gaps. During measurement gaps, the UE typically does not monitor the PDCCH, perform HARQ feedback and CQI / PMI / RI / CRI transmissions, report SRS, or transmit UL-SCH (except Msg3). We recommend that if a measurement gap occurs during the bfr-ResponseWindow, the UE should prioritize monitoring the PDCCH of the SpCell in response to a beam fault recovery request identified by the C-RNTI, rather than skipping PDCCH monitoring. The beam fault recovery process is more important than measurements performed during the measurement gap.

[0470] Figure 12 The UE operation in one embodiment of the proposed invention is illustrated to handle measurement gaps during the beam fault recovery response window according to embodiments of this disclosure.

[0471] refer to Figure 12 In operation 1200, the UE receives the measurement gap configuration from the gNB.

[0472] In operation 1210, the UE performs measurements during the measurement interval.

[0473] In operation 1220, if a beam fault is detected, the UE initiates a beam fault recovery procedure.

[0474] In Operation 1230, the UE sends a beam fault recovery request to the gNB.

[0475] In operation 1240, the UE monitors the beam fault recovery response in the bfr-ResponseWindow.

[0476] In this embodiment, during the measurement gap, the UE (or the MAC entity within the UE) should:

[0477] 1> If bfr-ResponseWindow is running:

[0478] 2> Monitor the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI; the UE monitors the PDCCH of the SpCell in response to a beam fault recovery request identified by the C-RNTI.

[0479] In this embodiment, during the measurement gap, the MAC entity should:

[0480] 1> If ra-ResponseWindow, bfr-ResponseWindow, or ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is running:

[0481] 2. Monitor the PDCCH; (Note: In the case of ra-ResponseWindow, the UE monitors the PDCCH addressed to RA-RNTI. In the case of bfr-ResponseWindow, the UE monitors the PDCCH addressed to C-RNTI. In the case of ra-ContentionResolutionTimer, the UE monitors the PDCCH addressed to C-RNTI.)

[0482] 1 or:

[0483] 2> Do not monitor PDCCH.

[0484] In Operation 1250, during the measurement gaps within the bfr-ResponseWindow, the UE monitors the PDCCH for beam fault recovery response.

[0485] In one method of the present invention, an enhanced beam fault recovery process is proposed.

[0486] The current procedure for beam fault recovery is defined as follows: The beam fault recovery request procedure is used to indicate a new SSB or CSI-RS to the serving gNB when a beam fault is detected on the serving SSB / CSI-RS. The beam fault is detected by the lower layer and indicated to the MAC entity.

[0487] MAC entities should:

[0488] 1> If a beam fault indication has been received from a lower layer:

[0489] 2> Start or restart beamFailureRecoveryTimer;

[0490] 2> Increment BFI_COUNTER by 1;

[0491] 2> If BFI_COUNTER >= beamFailureInstanceMaxCount:

[0492] 3> If beamFailureRecoveryConfig is configured for the active UL BWP:

[0493] 4> Start beamFailureRecoveryTimer (if configured);

[0494] 4> Initiate the random access procedure on SpCell by applying the parameters powerRampingStep, preambleReceivedTargetPower, and preambleTransMax configured in beamFailureRecoveryConfig (see 3GPP TS 38.321 Sub-clause 5.1).

[0495] 3 or:

[0496] 4> Initiate a random access procedure on SpCell (see 3GPP TS 38.321 Sub-clause 5.1).

[0497] 1> If beamFailureRecoveryTimer expires; or

[0498] 1> If beamFailureDetectionTimer, beamFailureInstanceMaxCount, or any reference signal used for beam failure detection is reconfigured by the upper layer:

[0499] 2> Set BFI_COUNTER to 0

[0500] 1> If a downlink allocation or uplink clearance has been received on the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI:

[0501] 2> Stop and reset beamFailureRecoveryTimer;

[0502] 2> It is believed that the beam fault recovery request process has been successfully completed.

[0503] If a contention-based random access procedure is used for beam failure recovery and the recovery is successful, the beamFailureRecoveryTimer will continue to run and reset BFI_COUNTER upon expiration. As a result, subsequent beam failure detection and recovery will be affected.

[0504] To overcome the aforementioned problems, the following enhanced process is proposed in the embodiments of the invention. The key point is that, after successfully completing the random access procedure initiated for beam failure recovery, if beamFailureRecoveryTimer is configured in the gNB in ​​the RRC signaling, beamFailureRecoveryTimer is stopped.

[0505] 1> If a beam fault indication has been received from a lower layer (i.e., the physical layer):

[0506] 2> Start or restart beamFailureRecoveryTimer;

[0507] 2> Increment BFI_COUNTER by 1;

[0508] 2> If BFI_COUNTER >= beamFailureInstanceMaxCount:

[0509] 3> If beamFailureRecoveryConfig is configured for the active UL BWP:

[0510] 4> Start beamFailureRecoveryTimer (if configured);

[0511] 4> Start the random access procedure on SpCell by applying the parameters powerRampingStep, preambleReceivedTargetPower, and preambleTransMax configured in beamFailureRecoveryConfig (see Sub-clause 5.1).

[0512] 3 or:

[0513] 4> Initiate a random access procedure (e.g., on SpCell);

[0514] 1> If beamFailureRecoveryTimer expires; or

[0515] 1> If beamFailureDetectionTimer, beamFailureInstanceMaxCount, or any reference signal used for beam failure detection is reconfigured by the upper layer:

[0516] 2> Set BFI_COUNTER to 0;

[0517] 1> If the random access procedure initiated for beam fault recovery has been successfully completed:

[0518] 3> Stop beamFailureRecoveryTimer (if configured);

[0519] 3> Set BFI_COUNTER to 0;

[0520] 3> It is believed that the beam fault recovery request process has been successfully completed;

[0521] In this embodiment, if a contention-free random access preamble and / or PRACH timing is used to transmit the PRACH preamble, and a PDCCH addressed to the recovery search space of the C-RNTI is received while the RandomAccessResponseWindow is running, the random access procedure initiated for beam fault recovery is considered to have completed successfully. Otherwise, if a contention-based random access preamble is selected for transmitting the PRACH preamble, and a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI is received while the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is running, the random access procedure initiated for beam fault recovery is considered to have completed successfully. As explained above, if the random access procedure initiated by the UE is not for beam fault recovery, if a contention-based random access preamble is selected for transmitting the PRACH preamble, and a PDCCH addressable to the C-RNTI indicating UL allocation for a new transmission is received while the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is running, the random access procedure is considered to have completed successfully.

[0522] In another embodiment, a random access procedure initiated for beam fault recovery is considered successful if a contention-free random access preamble and / or PRACH timing is used to transmit the PRACH preamble, and if a PDCCH addressed to the recovery search space of the C-RNTI is received while the RandomAccessResponseWindow is running. Otherwise, a random access preamble initiated for beam fault recovery is considered successful if a contention-based random access preamble is selected for transmitting the PRACH preamble, and if a PDCCH addressable to the C-RNTI indicating DL or UL allocation is received while the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is running. As explained above, if the random access procedure initiated by the UE is not for beam fault recovery, a random access preamble is considered successful if a contention-based random access preamble is selected for transmitting the PRACH preamble, and if a PDCCH addressable to the C-RNTI indicating UL allocation for new transmission is received while the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is running.

[0523] In one method of the present invention, a provisional C-RNTI is proposed for use in a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure.

[0524] The CBRA process includes the following four steps:

[0525] 1. The UE sends the random access preamble to the gNB. A random access preamble is selected from the contention-based random access preamble.

[0526] 2. The GNB transmits the RAR on the PDSCH addressed to the RA-RNTI. The RA-RNTI identifies the time slot in which the GNB detects the RA preamble. The RAR conveys the RA preamble identifier, timing alignment information, temporary C-RNTI, and UL authorization for message 3. The RAR may also include a backoff indicator to instruct the UE to backoff for a period of time before retrying the RA attempt. The RAR is transmitted within a RAR window. The RAR window size is configurable.

[0527] 3. The UE sends a CCCH SDU in the UL clearance received in the RAR. It is used to transmit messages such as RRC connection request, RRC connection re-establishment request, RRC handover confirmation, scheduling request, SI request, etc. This is usually referred to as MSG3. After sending Msg3, the UE waits for Msg4. The UE also starts a contention resolution timer.

[0528] 4. If the UE receives a PDCCH addressed to TEMPORARY_C-RNTI and the MAC PDU has been successfully decoded, then:

[0529] 1> If the MAC PDU contains the UE contention resolution identifier MAC CE; and

[0530] 1> If the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE matches the CCCH SDU sent in Msg3:

[0531] 2> This competition is considered successfully resolved;

[0532] 2> Set C-RNTI to the value of TEMPORARY_C-RNTI;

[0533] In the current process, the UE always upgrades TEMPORARY_C-RNTI to C-RNTI after successful contention resolution. In this invention, we propose that the UE decides whether to upgrade TEMPORARY_C-RNTI to C-RNTI based on the type of message included in the CCCH SDU. If contention resolution is successful, and if the CCCH SDU does not include an SI request, or if no SI request is sent in Msg3, or if no random access procedure is triggered for the SI request, then the UE upgrades TEMPORARY_C-RNTI to C-RNTI. Otherwise, the UE does not upgrade TEMPORARY_C-RNTI to C-RNTI. It only indicates receipt of an acknowledgment of the SI request from the upper layer.

[0534] 1> After sending the CCCH SDU in Msg3, if the UE receives the PDCCH addressed to TEMPORARY_C-RNTI and the MAC PDU has been successfully decoded, then:

[0535] 2> If the MAC PDU contains the UE contention resolution identifier MAC CE; and

[0536] 2> If the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE matches the CCCH SDU sent in Msg3:

[0537] 3> This competition has been successfully resolved;

[0538] 3> If no SI request is sent in Msg3:

[0539] 4> Set C-RNTI to the value of TEMPORARY_C-RNTI;

[0540] 3> Alternatively, if an SI request is sent in Msg3:

[0541] 4> Notify the upper layer that SI confirmation has been received.

[0542] In one method of the present invention, a PDCCH for processing BWP switching is proposed.

[0543] Method 1

[0544] In existing designs, the UE always performs a BWP handover upon receiving a BWP handover command. This may interrupt the ongoing random access procedure and thus delay its completion. In one embodiment of the proposed invention, the UE operates as follows:

[0545] The UE receives a PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message from the gNB for BWP handover of the serving cell. The UE checks whether there is any ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell.

[0546] If there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell,

[0547] - Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0548] Alternatively, if an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell:

[0549] - Option 1: Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0550] - Option 2: Ignore the PDCCH used for BWP switching.

[0551] - If the MAC entity decides to perform a BWP handover, it should stop the ongoing random access procedure and initiate a random access procedure on the newly activated BWP. If the MAC entity decides to ignore the PDCCH used for BWP handover, it should continue the ongoing random access procedure on the active BWP.

[0552] The random access procedure is associated with the serving cell if the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the serving cell and / or receives a RAR on the serving cell. For example, if the random access procedure is initiated on an SCell (except for a PSCell), the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the SCell and receives a RAR on the SpCell. Therefore, in this case, the random access procedure is associated with both the SCell and the SpCell. Similarly, if the random access procedure is initiated on an SpCell, the UE sends a PRACH preamble on the SpCell and receives a RAR on the SpCell. Therefore, in this case, the random access procedure is associated with the SpCell.

[0553] In another embodiment of the proposed invention, the UE operates as follows:

[0554] The UE receives a PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message for BWP handover of the serving cell.

[0555] If the serving cell is a SpCell:

[0556] - If there is no ongoing random access procedure (no ongoing random access procedure initiated on any SCell of the serving cell or the CG associated with the SpCell),

[0557] - Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message;

[0558] -or

[0559] - Option 1: Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0560] - Option 2: Ignore the PDCCH used for BWP switching.

[0561] If the MAC entity decides to perform a BWP handover, it should stop the ongoing random access procedure and initiate a random access procedure on the newly activated BWP. If the MAC entity decides to ignore the PDCCH used for the BWP handover, it should continue the ongoing random access procedure on the serving cell.

[0562] Alternatively, if the serving cell is not SpCell:

[0563] -If no ongoing random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell,

[0564] - Perform a BWP switch as indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0565] -or

[0566] - Option 1: Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0567] - Option 2: Ignore PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration messages used for BWP switching.

[0568] - If the MAC entity decides to perform a BWP handover, it should stop the ongoing random access procedure and initiate a random access procedure on the newly activated BWP. If the MAC entity decides to ignore the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message used for BWP handover, it should continue the ongoing random access procedure on the serving cell.

[0569] Method 2

[0570] The UE receives a PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message from the gNB for BWP handover of the serving cell.

[0571] - If the serving cell is an SCell and the duplex scheme on the serving cell is TDD, and the received PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message for BWP handover is used to handover the active DL BWP, then the MAC entity performs the BWP handover to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0572] - If the serving cell is an SCell, and the duplex scheme on the serving cell is TDD, and the received PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message for BWP handover is used for handover of the active UL BWP:

[0573] -If an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell:

[0574] - Option 1: Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0575] - Option 2: Ignore the PDCCH used for BWP switching.

[0576] If the MAC entity decides to perform a BWP handover, it should stop the ongoing random access procedure and initiate a random access procedure on the newly activated BWP. If the MAC entity decides to ignore the PDCCH used for the BWP handover, it should continue the ongoing random access procedure on the serving cell.

[0577] -or

[0578] - Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0579] - If the serving cell is a SpCell, and the duplex scheme on the serving cell is TDD, and the received PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message for BWP handover is used for handover of active DL BWP:

[0580] -If an ongoing random access procedure is associated with the serving cell:

[0581] - Option 1: Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0582] - Option 2: Ignore the PDCCH used for BWP switching.

[0583] If the MAC entity decides to perform a BWP handover, it should stop the ongoing random access procedure and initiate a random access procedure on the newly activated BWP. If the MAC entity decides to ignore the PDCCH used for the BWP handover, it should continue the ongoing random access procedure on the serving cell.

[0584] - If the serving cell is a SpCell, and the duplex scheme on the serving cell is TDD, and the received PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message for BWP handover is used for handover of the active UL BWP:

[0585] - If an ongoing random access procedure is initiated on the serving cell (i.e., an RA preamble is sent):

[0586] - Option 1: Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0587] - Option 2: Ignore the PDCCH used for BWP switching.

[0588] If the MAC entity decides to perform a BWP handover, it should stop the ongoing random access procedure and initiate a random access procedure on the newly activated BWP. If the MAC entity decides to ignore the PDCCH used for the BWP handover, it should continue the ongoing random access procedure on the serving cell.

[0589] -or

[0590] - Perform a BWP switch to the BWP indicated by the PDCCH or RRC reconfiguration message.

[0591] The advantage of Method 2 is that, for TDD cells, BWP handover commands can be processed even in certain cases where a random access procedure is in progress, without stopping the ongoing random access procedure.

[0592] Figure 13 A UE device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0593] refer to Figure 13 The UE (1300) includes a transceiver (1310), a controller (1320), and a memory (1330). Alternatively, the transceiver can be implemented as a transmitter and a receiver, and each component can be implemented by one or more processors.

[0594] The transceiver (1310) is configured to receive and transmit signals, data and control information associated with BWP configuration, handling of BWP-InactivityTimer, random access procedures or beam fault management.

[0595] The transceiver (1310) is configured to send a random access preamble and receive random access responses and scheduled transmissions.

[0596] The controller (1320) is configured to control operations associated with BWP configuration, processing of BWP-InactivityTimer, random access procedure or beam fault management in the above embodiments of this disclosure.

[0597] The controller (1320) is configured to control the transceiver to receive from the base station first information of a first timer that is inactive in the bandwidth portion associated with the bandwidth portion of the primary cell (PCell) and second information of a second timer that is inactive in the bandwidth portion associated with the bandwidth portion of the secondary cell (SCell); identify that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell or the SCell; stop the first timer (if it is running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell; and stop the first timer and the second timer (if they are running) in response to identifying that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell.

[0598] SCell and PCell are associated with the random access procedure.

[0599] Random access procedures are performed based on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell or SCell.

[0600] Random access procedures are performed based on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell.

[0601] The controller (1320) is configured to control the transceiver to receive first information from the base station about a timer associated with inactivity of the bandwidth portion (BWP); control the transceiver to receive from the base station the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on the active BWP associated with the serving cell; identify whether there is an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell; and start or restart the timer in response to identifying that there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell.

[0602] The active BWP differs from the default downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) or the initial BWP.

[0603] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0604] Receive PDCCH on the active BWP, or receive PDCCH for use on the active BWP.

[0605] The controller (1320) is configured to control the transceiver to send a random access preamble to the base station to initiate a random access procedure, and to receive a random access response from the base station, and to send a first message to the base station to request system information (SI), and to receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI) from the base station; to identify whether contention resolution was successful; to identify whether a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated; and, in response to identifying that contention resolution was successful and a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, to indicate that an acknowledgment for requesting SI from the upper layer has been received.

[0606] The processor is also configured to set the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI in response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated.

[0607] The random access process is associated with contention-based random access.

[0608] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE received in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU sent in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0609] The controller (1320) is configured to control the transceiver to receive from the base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of the serving cell; identify whether there is an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell; and perform BWP handover based on the PDCCH in response to the identification that there is no ongoing random access procedure.

[0610] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0611] In response to the detection of a BWP handover, the ongoing random access procedure is stopped.

[0612] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure, the PDCCH used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0613] The controller (1320) is configured to control the transceiver to receive first information of a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information of a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; identify the number of beam fault instances; identify whether the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; start a timer associated with beam fault recovery in response to identifying that the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information; control the transceiver to send a contention-free random access preamble for initiating a random access procedure for a beam fault recovery request; control the transceiver to receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI); identify whether the random access procedure has been successfully completed; and stop the timer in response to identifying that the random access procedure has been successfully completed.

[0614] The first and second information are received through higher-level signaling.

[0615] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0616] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0617] The memory (1330) is configured to store information associated with BWP configuration, processing BWP-InactivityTimer, random access procedure or beam fault management in the above embodiments of this disclosure.

[0618] Figure 14 A base station apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0619] refer to Figure 14 The base station (1400) includes a transceiver (1410), a controller (1420), and a memory (1430). Alternatively, the transceiver can be implemented as a transmitter and a receiver, and each component can be implemented by one or more processors.

[0620] refer to Figure 14 The transceiver (1410) is configured to receive and transmit signals, data and control information associated with the BWP configuration, and to process BWP-InactivityTimer, random access procedure or beam fault management.

[0621] The transceiver (1410) is configured to receive random access preambles and send random access responses and scheduled transmissions.

[0622] The controller (1420) is configured to control operations associated with BWP configuration, processing of BWP-InactivityTimer, random access procedure or beam fault management in the above embodiments of this disclosure.

[0623] The controller (1420) is configured to control the transceiver to send to the user equipment (UE) first information of a first timer for a bandwidth portion inactive associated with the bandwidth portion of the primary cell (PCell) and second information of a second timer for a bandwidth portion inactive associated with the bandwidth portion of the secondary cell (SCell); receive from the UE a first message related to a random access procedure on the PCell or SCell; and send to the UE a second message related to a random access procedure on the PCell, wherein the first timer is stopped (if running) in response to the recognition that a random access procedure has been initiated on the PCell, and wherein the first timer and the second timer are stopped (if running) in response to the recognition that a random access procedure has been initiated on the SCell.

[0624] The first message is received on the active uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of the PCell or SCell. The first message includes the physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble.

[0625] SCell and PCell are associated with the random access procedure.

[0626] A second message is sent on the active downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) of PCell, and the second message includes a random access response (RAR).

[0627] The controller (1420) is configured to control the transceiver to send first information to the user equipment (UE) about a timer associated with inactivity of the bandwidth portion (BWP); and to send to the UE the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on the active BWP associated with the serving cell, wherein the timer is started or restarted in response to the identification that there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell.

[0628] The active BWP differs from the default downlink (DL) bandwidth portion (BWP) or the initial BWP.

[0629] PDCCH indicates downlink allocation or uplink permission.

[0630] Send a PDCCH on the active BWP or send a PDCCH for use with the active BWP.

[0631] The controller (1420) is configured to control the transceiver to receive a random access preamble from the user equipment (UE) for initiating a random access procedure, and to send a random access response to the UE, and to receive a first message from the UE for requesting system information (SI), and to send the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TEMPORARY C-RNTI) to the UE, and to send an acknowledgment to the UE for requesting SI in response to recognizing that contention resolution was successful and that a random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated.

[0632] In response to the recognition that the contention resolution was successful and no random access procedure for requesting SI was initiated, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TEMPORARY C-RNTI.

[0633] The random access process is associated with contention-based random access.

[0634] In response to the identification that the UE contention resolution identifier in the MAC CE sent in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU received in the first message, contention resolution is identified as successful.

[0635] The controller (1420) is configured to control the transceiver to send bandwidth portion (BWP) configuration information, including information associated with the active bandwidth portion (BWP) of the serving cell, to the user equipment (UE); and to send a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to the UE for bandwidth portion (BWP) handover of the serving cell, wherein BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH in response to the identification that there is no ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell.

[0636] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, a BWP handover is performed based on the PDCCH.

[0637] In response to the detection of a BWP handover, the ongoing random access procedure is stopped.

[0638] In response to the identification of an ongoing random access procedure associated with the serving cell, the PDCCH used for BWP handover is ignored.

[0639] The controller (1420) is configured to control the transceiver to send to the user equipment (UE) first information of a timer associated with beam fault recovery and second information of a maximum count value associated with beam fault instances; receive a contention-free random access preamble from the UE for initiating a random access procedure for a beam fault recovery request; and send to the UE a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the UE's cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), wherein the timer is started in response to the identification that the number of beam fault instances is greater than or equal to the second information, and the timer is stopped in response to the identification that the random access procedure has been successfully completed.

[0640] The first and second messages are sent via higher-level signaling.

[0641] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the number of beam fault instances is set to zero.

[0642] In response to the recognition that the random access procedure has been successfully completed, the beam fault recovery is recognized as complete.

[0643] The memory (1430) is configured to store information associated with BWP configuration, processing BWP-InactivityTimer, random access procedure or beam fault management in the above embodiments of this disclosure.

[0644] The embodiments and accompanying drawings described above are provided as specific examples to aid in understanding this disclosure and do not limit its scope. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that other variations based on the technical concept of this disclosure can be made without departing from its scope.

[0645] Although this disclosure has been shown and described with reference to various embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0646] Operations performed by modules, programming modules, or any other components according to various embodiments can be executed sequentially, in parallel, repeatedly, or heuristically. Furthermore, some operations can be executed in a different order, some can be omitted, or any other operations can be added.

[0647] Figures 1 to 12 The methods in the embodiments shown may include combinations of methods from more than one of the illustrations. For example, Figures 1 to 12 Operations related to a random access procedure are illustrated, and based on various embodiments, the method may include a combination of methods from more than one of the illustrations.

Claims

1. A method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: When the terminal is in the Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, it sends a random access preamble to the base station for the random access procedure. Receive a random access response from the base station, the random access response including information about the Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (TC-RNTI); Send message 3 (Msg3) to the base station, which includes the Common Control Channel (CCCH) Service Data Unit (SDU) for the random access procedure; From base station receive addressing to TC-RNTI physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; Based on the decoding of the Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the PDCCH and the transmission of Msg3 including the CCCH SDU, the contention resolution is determined to be successful. In response to the successful resolution of the contention, based on the decoding of the MAC PDU associated with the PDCCH and the transmission of Msg3 including the CCCH SDU, it is determined whether to initiate a random access procedure for a System Information (SI) request. When initiating a random access procedure for an SI request, indicate to the upper layer that an acknowledgment of the SI request has been received; as well as If no random access procedure is initiated for the SI request, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TC-RNTI.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CCCH SDU includes an RRC system information request message.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the random access procedure is a contention-based random access.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein contention resolution is determined to be successful by determining that the User Equipment (UE) Contention Resolution Identifier MAC Control Element (CE) included in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU.

5. A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: When the terminal is in the Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, it receives the random access preamble for the random access procedure from the terminal. Send a random access response to the terminal, the random access response including information about the Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (TC-RNTI); Receive message 3 (Msg3) from the terminal, which includes the Common Control Channel (CCCH) Service Data Unit (SDU) for the random access procedure; Send the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission addressed to the TC-RNTI to the terminal; as well as The Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the PDCCH is sent to the terminal. The success of the contention resolution is determined based on the decoding of Msg3 (including the CCCHSDU) and the MAC PDU. Specifically, in response to the decoding of Msg3 and MAC PDU based on CCCH SDU and the determination of successful contention resolution, a random access procedure is initiated for a System Information (SI) request, indicating to the upper layer that an acknowledgment of the SI request has been received, and In cases where no random access procedure is initiated for the SI request, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TC-RNTI.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the CCCH SDU includes an RRC system information request message.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the random access procedure is a contention-based random access procedure.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein contention resolution is determined to be successful by determining that the User Equipment (UE) Contention Resolution Identifier MAC Control Element (CE) included in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU.

9. A terminal in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising: A transceiver, configured to send and receive signals; as well as A controller, coupled to the transceiver and configured to: When the terminal is in Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, it sends a random access preamble to the base station for the random access procedure. A random access response is received from the base station, the random access response including information about the Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (TC-RNTI). The system sends message 3 (Msg3) to the base station, which includes a Common Control Channel (CCCH) Service Data Unit (SDU) for the random access procedure. From base station receive addressing to TC-RNTI physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission, Based on the decoding of the Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the PDCCH and the transmission of Msg3 including the CCCH SDU, it is determined that the contention resolution was successful. In response to the successful resolution of the contention, based on the decoding of the MAC PDU associated with the PDCCH and the transmission of Msg3 including the CCCH SDU, it is determined whether to initiate a random access procedure for a System Information (SI) request. When initiating a random access procedure for an SI request, the system indicates to the upper layer that an acknowledgment of the SI request has been received, and If no random access procedure is initiated for the SI request, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TC-RNTI.

10. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein the CCCH SDU includes an RRC system information request message.

11. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein the random access procedure is a contention-based random access.

12. The terminal of claim 9, wherein contention resolution is determined to be successful by determining that the User Equipment (UE) Contention Resolution Identifier MAC Control Element (CE) included in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU.

13. A base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: A transceiver, configured to send and receive signals; as well as A controller, coupled to the transceiver and configured to: When the terminal is in Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, it receives the random access preamble for the random access procedure from the terminal. A random access response is sent to the terminal, the random access response including information about the Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (TC-RNTI). Receive message 3 (Msg3) from the terminal, which includes the Common Control Channel (CCCH) Service Data Unit (SDU) for the random access procedure. Send the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission addressed to the TC-RNTI to the terminal, and The Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the PDCCH is sent to the terminal. The success of the contention resolution is determined based on the decoding of Msg3 (including the CCCHSDU) and the MAC PDU. Specifically, in response to the decoding of Msg3 and MAC PDU based on CCCH SDU and the determination of successful contention resolution, a random access procedure is initiated for a System Information (SI) request, indicating to the upper layer that an acknowledgment of the SI request has been received, and In cases where no random access procedure is initiated for the SI request, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) is set to the value of TC-RNTI.

14. The base station according to claim 13, wherein the CCCH SDU includes an RRC system information request message.

15. The base station of claim 13, wherein contention resolution is determined to be successful by determining that the User Equipment (UE) Contention Resolution Identifier MAC Control Element (CE) included in the MAC PDU matches the CCCH SDU.

16. The base station according to claim 13, wherein the random access procedure is a contention-based random access.

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