Communication method and terminal device

Abstract

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, an apparatus, and a computer-readable medium for communication. A terminal device receives a first indication from a network device indicating a set of TCI states for a CORESET, and determines whether a BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states. If there is no BFR procedure performed, the terminal device stops the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state. If the BFR procedure is performed, the terminal device performs the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state. In this way, it is possible to realize management of a BFR procedure based on beam prediction.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to a communication method, apparatus, and computer storage medium for beam failure recovery (BFR). [Background technology]

[0002] Recently, beam prediction in the time domain based on artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) techniques has been introduced. For beam prediction in the time domain, the network device may indicate a set of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states to be applied to a long-term channel or reference signal in the future. The terminal device may autonomously switch beams according to the order and application time associated with the TCI states among the indicated set of TCI states.

[0003] Beam prediction allows to avoid the occurrence of BFR as much as possible. However, beam prediction may have a certain impact on existing BFR procedures, e.g., whether or not or when BFR is needed. Furthermore, the most accurate prediction methods may still not be able to avoid the occurrence of unexpected events, e.g., obstacles, rotation of the terminal device, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to define how to manage BFR procedures based on beam prediction. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In general, the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, apparatus, and computer storage medium for management of BFR procedures based on beam prediction. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In a first aspect, a method of communication is provided, comprising: receiving, in a terminal device, from a network device, a first indication indicating a set of TCI states for a control resource set (CORESET), determining whether a BFR procedure is to be performed in an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states, stopping the BFR procedure in the application time associated with the at least one TCI state according to a determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed, and performing the BFR procedure in the application time associated with the at least one TCI state according to a determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed.

[0006] In a second aspect, a method of communication is provided, comprising: in a network device, transmitting to a terminal device a first indication indicating a set of TCI states for a CORESET, determining whether a BFR procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states, stopping the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state according to a determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed, and performing the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state according to a determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed.

[0007] In a third aspect, there is provided a terminal device, comprising a processor configured to execute the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, there is provided a network device, comprising a processor configured to perform a method according to the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided having instructions stored thereon that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided having instructions stored thereon that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method according to the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0011] Other features of the present disclosure will become readily apparent from the following description. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description of several embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings.

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0014] [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0015] [Figure 3A] 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example configuration of a set of TCI states in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0016] [Figure 3B] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] [Figure 3C] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] [Figure 3D] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] [Figure 3E] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] [Figure 3F] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0021] [Figure 3G] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] [Figure 4A] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] [Figure 4B] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0024] [Figure 4C] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0025] [Figure 4D] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0026] [Figure 4E] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0027] [Figure 4F] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0028] [Figure 4G] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0029] [Figure 4H] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0030] [Figure 5A] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0031] [Figure 5B] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0032] [Figure 6A] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example problem in a BFD procedure, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0033] [Figure 6B] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFD procedure in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0034] [Figure 6C] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFD procedure in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0035] [Figure 6D] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example management of a BFD procedure in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0036] [Figure 7] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary communication method implemented in a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0037] [Figure 8] FIG. 2 illustrates an example communication method implemented in a network device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0038] [Figure 9] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0039] In the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers represent the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0040] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are provided for illustrative purposes only, to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and implementing the present disclosure, and do not imply any limitations on the scope of the present disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways different from those described below.

[0041] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains.

[0042] As used herein, the term "terminal device" refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of terminal devices include User Equipment (UE), personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, vehicle-mounted devices for V2X communications where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure / network, devices for integrated access and integrated access and backhaul (IAB), Small Data Transmission (SDT), Multicast and Broadcast Services (MBS), positioning, dynamic / flexible duplication in commercial networks, reduced capability (RedCap), High Altitude Platforms (HAP) including satellites and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). These include, but are not limited to, satellite-mounted vehicles or airborne vehicles in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) including the ICT Platform, extended reality (XR) devices including different types of reality such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are aircraft without a human pilot and are commonly referred to as drones, devices on high speed trains (HSTs), image acquisition devices such as digital cameras, sensor game devices, music storage and playback devices, or Internet appliances that enable wireless or wired Internet access and browsing.The "Terminal Equipment" may further have "Multicast / Broadcast" capabilities to support public safety and mission critical V2X applications, transparent IPv4 / IPv6 multicast distribution, IPTV, Smart TV, wireless services, over-the-air software distribution, group communication and IoT applications. It may also incorporate one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), known as multi-SIMs. The term "Terminal Equipment" may be used interchangeably with UE, mobile station, subscriber station, mobile terminal, user terminal, or wireless device.

[0043] The term "network device" refers to a device capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage in which a terminal device can communicate. Examples of network devices include, but are not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a next generation Node B (gNB), a transmit / receive point (TRP), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), an IAB node, a femto node, a pico node, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), a low power node such as a network controlled repeater, etc.

[0044] The terminal device or network device may have the capability of artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning. Generally, it includes a model trained from a large amount of data collected for a specific function and can be used to predict some information.

[0045] The terminal device or network device may operate on several frequency ranges, such as FR1 (410 MHz-7125 MHz), FR2 (24.25 GHz-71 GHz), frequency bands greater than 100 GHz, and Tera Hertz (THz). It can also operate on licensed / unlicensed / shared spectrum. The terminal device may have two or more connections with the network device under Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) application scenarios. The terminal device or network device can operate in full duplex, flexible duplex, and cross division duplex modes.

[0046] The network device may have a function of network energy saving, Self-Organizing Networks (SON) / Minimization of Drive Test (MDT). The terminal may have a function of power saving.

[0047] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in test equipment, such as, for example, a signal generator, a signal analyzer, a spectrum analyzer, a network analyzer, a test terminal equipment, a test network equipment, a channel emulator, and the like.

[0048] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in accordance with any generation of communication protocols now known or developed in the future, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or sixth generation (6G) networks.

[0049] In one embodiment, the terminal device can connect to a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs). In one embodiment, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In one embodiment, the first RAT device is an eNB and the second RAT device is a gNB. Information about the different RATs may be transmitted from at least one of the first network device or the second network device to the terminal device. In one embodiment, the first information may be transmitted from the first network device to the terminal device, and the second information may be transmitted from the second network device to the terminal device directly or via the first network device. In one embodiment, information about the configuration of the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information regarding the reconfiguration of the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device directly to the terminal device or via the first network device.

[0050] As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "said" include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term "comprises" and variations thereof should be understood as open-ended terms meaning "including, but not limited to." The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on." The terms "one embodiment" and "embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment." The term "another embodiment" should be understood as "at least one other embodiment." Terms such as "first," "second," and the like may refer to different or the same object. The following may include other explicit and implicit definitions.

[0051] In some instances, values, procedures, or devices are referred to as "best," "lowest," "highest," "minimum," "maximum," etc. It should be understood that such descriptions are intended to illustrate that selections can be made from among many functional alternatives used, and that such selections are not necessarily better, smaller, higher, or otherwise more preferred than other selections.

[0052] In the context of this application, the term "PSCell" refers to an SpCell in a secondary cell group (SCG), the term "PCell" refers to an SpCell in a master cell group (MCG), and "SpCell" refers to a primary cell of an SCG or MCG. The term "cell" refers to a secondary cell of an SCG or MCG.

[0053] As mentioned above, it is necessary to define how to manage the BFR procedure based on the beam prediction, e.g., whether or not a BFR procedure is needed, when a BFR procedure is needed, and how the BFR procedure executes based on a set of TCI conditions.

[0054] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution to solve the above and other potential problems. In this solution, a terminal device receives an indication indicating a set of TCI states for a CORESET and determines whether a BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states. If no BFR procedure is performed, the terminal device stops the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state. If the BFR procedure is performed, the terminal device performs the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state. In this way, a BFR procedure based on a set of TCI states can be clearly defined.

[0055] In the context of this application, the term "stop" may be used interchangeably with the terms "terminate" or "pause." Also, "application time associated with a TCI state" means an application time corresponding to the TCI state.

[0056] The principles and embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Communication Network Example

[0057] 1 illustrates an exemplary communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 includes a terminal device 110 and a network device 120 served by the terminal device 110.

[0058] As shown in FIG. 1 , the terminal device 110 may have multiple beams, e.g., beams 111, 112, and 113, and the network device 120 may have multiple beams, e.g., beams 121, 122, and 123. A channel (or, in this case, referred to as a subchannel) may be formed between one of the beams 111, 112, and 113 and one of the beams 121, 122, and 123. The terminal device 110 may transmit information to the network device 120 or receive information from the network device 120 via one or more of the beams 111, 112, and 113. The network device 120 may transmit information to the terminal device 110 or receive information from the terminal device 110 via one or more of the beams 121, 122, and 123.

[0059] It should be understood that the number of devices and beams in Figure 1 are given for illustrative purposes and do not imply any limitations to the present disclosure. Communications network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and / or terminal devices and / or beams suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0060] The terminal devices 110 may communicate with the network devices 120 via channels, such as wireless communication channels. Communications in the communications network 100 may conform to any suitable standard, including, but not limited to, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Furthermore, communications may be performed according to any currently known or future developed generation of communications protocols. Examples of communications protocols include, but are not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or sixth generation (6G) communications protocols.

[0061] Communications in the direction from terminal device 110 to network device 120 are referred to as UL communications, and communications in the direction from network device 120 to terminal device 110 are referred to as DL communications. The wireless communication channels may include a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical random-access channel (PRACH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

[0062] In some scenarios, the terminal device 110 may detect the quality (e.g., block error rate (BLER), etc.) of a current beam (e.g., beam 111) of the PDCCH and compare this quality with a first threshold quality. For example, the current beam may correspond to a reference signal (RS) of a set of RSs (denoted as q0) for beam failure detection (BFD). If the quality of the current beam is worse than the first threshold quality, the terminal device 110 may notify this event from a lower layer to a higher layer of the terminal device 110. For example, the terminal device 110 may transmit a beam failure indicator (BFI) from a lower layer to a higher layer. At this time, a counter configured for the BFI (denoted here as BFI_COUNTER) may be incremented by 1. If such an event occurs N times in a row (e.g., N=2), a beam failure may be declared. This procedure is referred to as BFD.

[0063] When a beam failure is declared, the terminal device 110 may select a new beam (denoted as q_new) from a set of configured candidate beams (q1), and the quality of the new beam (e.g., layer 1-reference signal receiving power (L1-RSRP)) must be equal to or greater than a second threshold quality. In response to a request from the upper layer, the lower layer of the terminal device 110 may provide the new beam to the upper layer. This procedure is called new beam indication (NBI).

[0064] The terminal device 110 may report the selected new beam to the network device 120. This procedure is referred to as a BFR request (BFRQ).

[0065] Terminal device 110 may start monitoring PDCCHs in a BFR-dedicated CORESET (herein denoted as CORESET-BFR) after a period of time after reporting the new beam. Network device 120 may transmit the PDCCH in CORESET-BFR using the new beam. Terminal device 110 may receive a first one of the PDCCHs as a BFR response (BFRR). After a predefined number of symbols (e.g., 28 symbols) upon receipt of the BFRR, terminal device 110 may apply the new beam to all PDCCHs, scheduled PDSCHs, and PUCCHs in all CORESETs. This procedure is referred to as BFRR.

[0066] In some scenarios, the network device 120 may obtain a set of TCI states by performing beam prediction based on AI or ML techniques, and indicate the set of TCI states to the terminal device 110. The terminal device 110 may switch beams according to the order and application time associated with the set of TCI states.

[0067] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for managing BFR procedures based on beam prediction, which is described in detail below with reference to Figures 2 to 6C. Example of implementation of BFR procedure based on beam prediction

[0068] 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication process 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of explanation, the process 200 will be described with reference to FIG 1. The process 200 may involve a terminal device 110 and a network device 120 as shown in FIG 1.

[0069] 2, the network device 120 sends (210) to the terminal device 110 an indication (for convenience, also referred to herein as a first indication) indicating a set of TCI states for the CORESET. In some embodiments, the CORESET may be used for determining an RS for BFD (for convenience, also referred to herein as a BFD-RS). It should be noted that the CORESET may be in any other suitable form, and the disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0070] In some embodiments, network device 120 may convey the first indication in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). In some embodiments, network device 120 may convey the first indication in radio resource control (RRC) signaling. In some embodiments, network device 120 may convey the first indication in downlink control information (DCI). It should be understood that the first indication may be transmitted in any other suitable manner and the disclosure is not limited in this respect. For convenience, the following description will be given assuming that the first indication is conveyed by a MAC CE.

[0071] 3A is a schematic diagram 300A illustrating an example configuration of a set of TCI states in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is denoted as a gNB and the terminal device 110 is denoted as a UE.

[0072] Assume that in the Bandwidth Part (BWP) of a serving cell, the UE is not explicitly provided with q0 by the gNB. In the BWP of the serving cell, the UE is explicitly provided with q1 by the gNB. The serving cell may be a PCell, a PSCell, or an SCell. The UE needs to determine the BFD-RS in the BWP of the serving cell according to the beam of the CORESET (i.e., the P CSI-RS resource associated with the TCI state applied to the CORESET) configured in the BWP. One of the CORESETs is CORESET-1.

[0073] As shown in Figure 3A, at timing T, the gNB may send a PDSCH to the UE carrying a MAC CE indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is shown to have a TCI set that includes four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0074] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may transmit a PUCCH carrying a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At a timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms). It should be understood that FIG. 3A is an example only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0075] Returning to FIG. 2, the terminal device 110 determines whether a BFR procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states (220). If no BFR procedure is to be performed, the terminal device 110 stops the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state (230). If the BFR procedure is to be performed, the terminal device 110 performs the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state (240).

[0076] In response, network device 120 also determines whether a BFR procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states (250). If no BFR procedure is to be performed, network device 120 stops the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state (260). If a BFR procedure is to be performed, network device 120 performs the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state (270).

[0077] In this way, the BFR procedure may not always be performed, but may be performed only when a certain condition is met. Thus, the power consumption and BFR-related resource overhead of the terminal device can be reduced. For illustrative purposes, several exemplary embodiments are described below. 1.No BFR procedure

[0078] In this aspect, the terminal device 110 may not perform the BFR procedure or one or more steps of the BFR procedure during a certain period of time. Specifically, based on AI or ML technology, the network device 120 can easily predict the beam to be applied for the terminal device 110 during a certain period of time in the future, which greatly reduces the probability of the BFR procedure, and thus completely avoids the BFR procedure. Therefore, during this period, the terminal device 110 may not need to perform the BFR procedure in order to reduce the power consumption and BFR-related resource overhead (e.g., BFD-RS, NBI-RS) of the terminal device 110. Some exemplary embodiments are described below in relation to embodiment 1 to embodiment 10. EMBODIMENT 1

[0079] In this embodiment, the network device 120 may transmit an indication (also referred to herein as a second indication for convenience) indicating whether beam prediction is enabled or disabled. If it is determined that no BFR procedure is to be performed, the network device 120 may transmit the second indication indicating the enabling of the beam prediction. If it is determined that the BFR procedure is to be performed, the network device 120 may transmit the second indication indicating the disabling of the beam prediction.

[0080] The terminal device 110 may receive the second indication from the network device 120, indicating whether beam prediction is enabled or disabled. For example, the second indication may be carried by RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Of course, any other suitable manner is also possible. If the second indication indicates that the beam prediction is enabled, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is not performed in the application time associated with each TCI state of the set of TCI states. If the second indication indicates that the beam prediction is disabled, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed in the application time associated with each TCI state of the set of TCI states.

[0081] In some embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol at which the second instruction to enable beam prediction takes effect, and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol at which the second instruction to disable beam prediction takes effect. For illustrative purposes, an example will be described with reference to FIG. 3B.

[0082] FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram 300B illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As illustrated in FIG. 3B, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH to the UE carrying a second instruction to enable beam prediction. In response, the UE may transmit a PUCCH to the gNB carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH. At a timing T0 after a delay D1 for the second instruction to take effect, the UE may stop the BFR procedure. Continuing with reference to FIG. 3B, at a timing T1, the gNB may transmit another PDSCH to the UE carrying a second instruction to disable beam prediction. In response, the UE may transmit another PUCCH to the gNB carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the other PDSCH. At a timing T2 after a delay D2 for the second instruction to take effect, the UE may resume the BFR procedure.

[0083] It should be understood that Figure 3B is merely an example and is not intended to be limiting, and the start and end timings may be defined in any other suitable manner, and the present disclosure is not limited in this respect. EMBODIMENT 2

[0084] In this embodiment, the network device 120 may transmit to the terminal device 110 an indication (for convenience, also referred to herein as a third indication) indicating the duration during which the beam prediction is applied. For example, the third indication may be carried by RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Of course, any other suitable manner is also possible. Based on the third indication, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is not performed during the duration.

[0085] In some embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol of the duration, and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the last symbol of the duration. For illustrative purposes, an example will be described with reference to FIG. 3C.

[0086] FIG. 3C is a schematic diagram 300C illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 3C, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH to the UE carrying a third indication indicating the duration. In response, the UE may transmit a PUCCH to the gNB carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH. At a timing T0 after a delay for the third indication to take effect, the UE may stop the BFR procedure. At a timing T1 after the duration, the UE may resume the BFR procedure.

[0087] It should be understood that Figure 3C is merely an example and is not intended to be limiting, and the start and end timings may be defined in any other suitable manner, and the present disclosure is not limited in this respect. EMBODIMENT 3

[0088] In this embodiment, the network device 120 may transmit to the terminal device 110 an indication (also referred to herein as a fourth indication for convenience) indicating a duration during which a data collection phase for beam prediction is performed (also referred to herein as a first duration for convenience) and a duration during which at least one of an inference phase or an application phase for beam prediction is performed (also referred to herein as a second duration for convenience). For example, the fourth indication may be carried by RRC signaling, MAC CE or DCI. Of course, any other suitable method is also possible. Based on the fourth indication, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is not performed for at least one of the first duration or the second duration.

[0089] In some embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol of the first duration and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the last symbol of the first duration. In some embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol of the second duration and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the last symbol of the second duration. In some embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol of the first duration and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the last symbol of the second duration. It should be understood that the start timing and the end timing may be defined in any other suitable manner and the disclosure is not limited in this respect. EMBODIMENT 4

[0090] In this embodiment, the network device 120 may transmit an indication (also referred to herein as a fifth indication for convenience) indicating whether the BFR procedure is enabled or disabled. If it is determined that no BFR procedure is to be performed, the network device 120 may transmit the fifth indication indicating the disablement of the BFR procedure. If it is determined that the BFR procedure is to be performed, the network device 120 may transmit the fifth indication indicating the enablement of the BFR procedure.

[0091] The terminal device 110 may receive an indication (also referred to herein as a fifth indication for convenience) from the network device 120 indicating whether the BFR procedure is enabled or disabled. For example, the fifth indication may be carried by RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Of course, any other suitable manner is also possible. If the fifth indication indicates that the BFR procedure is enabled, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. If the fifth indication indicates that the BFR procedure is disabled, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is not performed.

[0092] In some embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol at which a fifth instruction to disable the BFR procedure takes effect, and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol at which a fifth instruction to enable the BFR procedure takes effect. It should be understood that the start timing and end timing may be defined in any other suitable manner, and the disclosure is not limited in this respect. EMBODIMENT 5

[0093] In this embodiment, the network device 120 may send to the terminal device 110 an indication (for convenience, also referred to herein as a sixth indication) indicating the duration for which the BFR procedure is enabled. For example, the sixth indication may be carried by RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Of course, any other suitable manner is also possible. Based on the sixth indication, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed during the duration.

[0094] In some embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the last symbol of the duration, and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol of the duration. It should be understood that the start timing and end timing may be defined in any other suitable manner, and the present disclosure is not limited in this respect. EMBODIMENT 6

[0095] In this embodiment, the network device 120 may send to the terminal device 110 an indication (for convenience, also referred to herein as a seventh indication) indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is disabled. For example, the seventh indication may be carried by RRC signaling, MAC CE or DCI. Of course, any other suitable manner is also possible. The terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is not performed during the duration.

[0096] In some embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol of the duration, and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the last symbol of the duration. It should be understood that the start timing and end timing may be defined in any other suitable manner, and the present disclosure is not limited in this respect. EMBODIMENT 7

[0097] In this embodiment, the terminal device 110 may determine that a BFR procedure is not performed at an application time associated with each TCI state of the set of TCI states, and may stop the BFR procedure at the application time associated with each TCI state of the set of TCI states. In response, the network device 120 may also determine that a BFR procedure is not performed at an application time associated with each TCI state of the set of TCI states, and may stop the BFR procedure at the application time associated with each TCI state of the set of TCI states.

[0098] In some embodiments, the first indication indicating the set of TCI states may include the application time of the last TCI state of the set of TCI states. In these embodiments, the terminal device 110 may stop the BFR procedure in a time interval from the timing when the first indication takes effect to the timing when the application time of the last TCI state ends. For example, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol when the first indication takes effect (i.e., the application timing of the beam indication may be reused), and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the last symbol corresponding to the application time of the last TCI state or the total application time corresponding to the set of TCI states. For illustration, an example will be described in connection with FIG. 3D.

[0099] 3D is a schematic diagram 300D illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 3D, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0100] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may transmit a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At a timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms). In this example, the UE may stop the BFR procedure from T0 to T4. It should be understood that FIG. 3D is an example only and is not intended to be limiting. The start timing and end timing may be defined in any other suitable manner, and the present disclosure is not limited in this aspect.

[0101] In some embodiments, the first indication indicating the set of TCI states may not include the application time of the last TCI state of the set of TCI states. In these embodiments, the terminal device 110 may stop the BFR procedure in a time interval from the timing when the first indication takes effect to the timing corresponding to the last symbol before another set of TCI states is applied for the CORESET. For example, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol when the first indication takes effect (i.e., the application timing of the beam indication may be reused), and the end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the last symbol before the terminal device 110 applies to the CORESET one or more TCI states indicated by control signaling that does not indicate an application time. For illustrative purposes, an example will be described in connection with FIG. 3E.

[0102] FIG. 3E is a schematic diagram 300E illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 3E, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26. No application time is indicated for the last TCI state TCI-26.

[0103] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3.

[0104] At timing T4, the gNB may send another PDSCH to the UE carrying a MAC CE indicating another TCI state or states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is indicated with a TCI set including one TCI state: TCI-30. Upon receiving the other PDSCH, the UE may send another PUCCH to the gNB carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the other PDSCH. Assume that the delay for the MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T5 after 3 ms, TCI-30 may be applied to CORESET-1. In this case, the UE may stop the BFR procedure from T0 to T5. It should be understood that FIG. 3E is an example only and is not intended to be limiting. The start timing and end timing may be defined in any other suitable manner, and the present disclosure is not limited in this aspect.

[0105] In some embodiments, the first indication indicating the set of TCI states may include an application time of the last TCI state of the set of TCI states and a time offset. In these embodiments, the start timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the first symbol after a time offset from the time when the first indication takes effect. The end timing for stopping the BFR procedure may be the application time of the last TCI state or the last symbol corresponding to the total application time corresponding to the set of TCI states. For illustrative purposes, an example will be described in connection with FIG. 3F.

[0106] FIG. 3F is a schematic diagram 300F illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 3F, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms. The time offset is 2 ms.

[0107] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may transmit a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At a timing T0 after 3 ms plus a time offset of 2 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms). In this example, the UE may stop the BFR procedure from T0 to T4. It should be understood that FIG. 3F is an example only and is not intended to be limiting. The start timing and end timing may be defined in any other suitable manner, and the present disclosure is not limited in this aspect.

[0108] In some embodiments, the first indication indicating the set of TCI states may include a time offset and not include an application time of the last TCI state of the set of TCI states. In these embodiments, the start timing for deactivating the BFR procedure may be the first symbol after a time offset from the timing at which the first indication takes effect. The end timing for deactivating the BFR procedure may be the last symbol before the terminal device 110 applies to the CORESET one or more TCI states indicated by control signaling that does not indicate an application time. EMBODIMENT 8

[0109] In this embodiment, the terminal device 110 may determine that a BFR procedure is not performed at an application time associated with a portion of the set of TCI states, and may stop the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the portion of the set of TCI states.

[0110] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine whether an application time associated with a TCI state of the set of TCI states is less than or equal to a threshold time. If the application time associated with the TCI state is less than or equal to the threshold time, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is not performed in the application time associated with the TCI state. If the application time associated with the TCI state is greater than the threshold time, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed in the application time associated with the TCI state. In other words, the terminal device 110 may not perform a BFR procedure during the application time of a TCI state that has a short "dwell time". In some embodiments, the threshold time may be set by the network device 120 and determined based on the capabilities reported by the terminal device 110. For example, assume that the threshold time is set to 5 ms. In the example of FIG. 3F, the terminal device 110 may only perform a BFR procedure in the application time of TCI-5.

[0111] In some embodiments, terminal device 110 may receive information indicating a first subset of TCI states and a second subset of TCI states from network device 120. Terminal device 110 may determine, from the set of TCI states based on the information, the first subset of TCI states and the second subset of TCI states, and determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with the first subset of TCI states and that no BFR procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with the second subset of TCI states.

[0112] For example, A (A≧1) consecutive TCI states of the set of TCI states are considered as a group. The interval between groups is B (B≧0) TCI states. Additionally, a starting offset used to determine the first group may be indicated. Assume that the starting offset is set to 2 and B is set to 1. In the example of FIG. 3F, the terminal device 110 only needs to perform the BFR procedure at the application time of TCI-5 and TCI-26. In some embodiments, A, B or the starting offset may be set by the network device 120 and determined based on the capabilities reported by the terminal device 110.

[0113] In response, the network device 120 may also perform similar operations. EMBODIMENT 9

[0114] In this embodiment, the terminal device 110 may determine whether or not the BFR procedure is to be performed based on a predefined condition for a counter (BFI_COUNTER) set for a beam failure indication (BFI).

[0115] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine whether a value of a counter configured for a BFR at a time offset before the expiration of a TCI state in the set of TCI states is less than or equal to a predetermined value. If the value of the counter is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is not performed at the application time associated with the TCI state. If the value of the counter is greater than the predetermined value, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed at the application time associated with the TCI state.

[0116] In some embodiments, the time offset may be determined according to a time interval between the declaration of a beam failure and the effectuation of a new beam. In some embodiments, the time offset may be set by the network device 120 and determined based on capabilities reported by the terminal device 110.

[0117] That is, if BFI_COUNTER is 0 or is not equal to beamFailureInstanceMaxCount, the terminal device 110 does not need to perform the BFR procedure during the time offset. For illustrative purposes, an example will be described with reference to FIG. 3G. Assume that the value of beamFailureInstanceMaxCount is 2.

[0118] FIG. 3G is a schematic diagram 300G illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 3G, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0119] Upon receiving the PDSCH, the UE may transmit a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At a timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms). In this example, at the time offset before T2, BFI_COUNTER=0, so the UE may stop the BFR procedure during the time offset before T2. It should be understood that FIG. 3G is an example only and not a limitation.

[0120] In response, the network device 120 may also perform similar operations. EMBODIMENT 10

[0121] In this embodiment, in the BFD procedure, a BFI event is notified from a lower layer of the terminal device 110 to a higher layer, so that the behavior of stopping the BFR procedure also needs to be indicated to the higher layer.

[0122] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may send an indication (also referred to as an eighth indication for convenience in this specification) indicating the stop of the BFR procedure from a lower layer to a higher layer, and the higher layer may set a counter (BFI_COUNTER) configured for the BFI to zero. In some embodiments, the lower layer may include a physical layer of the terminal device 110, and the higher layer may include a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, or a service data application protocol (SDAP) layer of the terminal device 110.

[0123] So far, a management of a BFR procedure has been realized in which the BFR procedure is not executed during an application time associated with at least one TCI state, thus avoiding collisions between a new beam identified in the BFR procedure and a switched beam in the TCI set, and reducing unnecessary power consumption of the terminal device and the overhead of resources required to report the new beam. 2. Conditional BFR Procedure

[0124] In this aspect, the terminal device 110 may initialize the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the set of TCI states. Specifically, based on AI or ML technology, the network device 120 can easily predict the beams applied for the terminal device 110 during a certain period of time in the future, which greatly reduces the probability of the BFR procedure, and thus avoids the BFR procedure altogether. However, the most accurate prediction method cannot avoid the occurrence of unexpected events, such as obstacles, rotation of the terminal device 110, etc., and these events may not be taken into account during the training of the AI ​​or ML. Therefore, in order to ensure highly accurate beam tracking, the terminal device 110 needs to perform the BFR procedure during the above period as well. Some exemplary embodiments are described below in relation to embodiments 11 to 16. EMBODIMENT 11

[0125] In this embodiment, if any of the BFD-RSs is changed or switched, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by setting the BFI_COUNTER to zero. In other words, if the beam or TCI state applied to the CORESET is switched, the BFI_COUNTER is set to zero.

[0126] 4A is a schematic diagram 400A illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 4A, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0127] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0128] For example, "BFI_COUNTER = 1" is declared before T2. However, the beam of CORESET-1 needs to be switched to the beam corresponding to TCI-11 after T2. At this time, BFI_COUNTER needs to be set to zero. It should be understood that FIG. 4A is only an example and is not intended to be limiting.

[0129] In this way, the BFD or BFR procedure may be performed based on currently applied (or used or effective) and fixed (or constant) beams, thereby achieving good compatibility with existing specifications. EMBODIMENT 12

[0130] In this embodiment, the terminal device 110 may not continue to perform NBI, which means that the new beam is provided from a lower layer of the terminal device 110 to an upper layer of the terminal device 110. In other words, the terminal device 110 may provide the new beam (q_new) to an upper layer when a predefined condition is met.

[0131] In some embodiments, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed before the NBI, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by indicating the new beam from a lower layer of the terminal device 110 to a higher layer of the terminal device 110. In other words, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed or switched before the NBI, the terminal device 110 may provide the new beam to the higher layer.

[0132] 4B is a schematic diagram 400B illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 4B, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0133] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0134] For example, a beam failure event is declared (i.e., BFD) before T2. According to the existing BFR procedure, the UE determines a new beam from q1 and provides it to the upper layer after T2. However, the beam of CORESET-1 needs to be switched to the beam corresponding to TCI-11 after T2, and the BFD-RS has already changed accordingly. It means that the UE already knows and has switched to the "new beam" (corresponding to TCI-11), so the UE does not need to provide the new beam to the upper layer. It should be understood that FIG. 4B is an example only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0135] In some alternative embodiments, if any of the BFD-RSs is changed before NBI and the switched BFD-RS is different from the new beam, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by indicating the new beam from the lower layer of the terminal device 110 to the upper layer of the terminal device 110. In other words, if any of the BFD-RSs is changed before NBI and the switched BFD-RS is different from the new beam, the terminal device 110 may provide the new beam to the upper layer.

[0136] For example, if the switched BFD-RS (the beam corresponding to TCI-11 in the example of FIG. 4B) and the determined new beam are the same, it is not necessary for the UE to provide the determined new beam to the upper layer at all. Here, "the switched BFD-RS and the new beam are the same" means that the switched BFD-RS and the RS corresponding to the new beam are the same or quasi-co-located.

[0137] In some alternative embodiments, if the time interval between the detection of a beam failure and the switching from the TCI state to another TCI state is equal to or greater than a threshold interval (herein denoted as NBI_K), the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. In some embodiments, the threshold interval may be set by the network device 120 and determined according to a capability reported by the terminal device 110. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by indicating the new beam from a lower layer of the terminal device 110 to a higher layer of the terminal device 110. In other words, if the time interval is equal to or greater than a threshold interval, the terminal device 110 may provide the new beam to the higher layer.

[0138] In other words, the time interval may refer to the interval between the last symbol of the most recent BFD-RS and the first symbol of the application time associated with the first TCI state of a set of TCI states after the most recent BFD-RS. For illustrative purposes, an example will be described with reference to FIG. 4C.

[0139] 4C is a schematic diagram 400C illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 4C, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0140] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0141] As shown in FIG. 4C, since the interval between the most recent BFD-RS and T2 for the BFD is smaller than NBI_K, the NBI is not provided from the lower layer to the higher layer.

[0142] For example, NBI_K may be determined according to a time interval from the declaration of a beam failure to the effectuation of the new beam. For example, at least for a PCell or PSCell, NBI_K may be determined according to an NBI delay, a BFRR delay and window, and a delay for providing a new beam. Specifically, the NBI delay refers to the time required to determine a new beam and is reported (as a capability) by the UE, and the BFRR delay refers to the 4+2 delay after the PRACH transmission. u slots, the window of the BFRR is set by the gNB, and the delay for applying the new beam is K (e.g., 28) symbols. It should be understood that FIG. 4C is only an example and is not intended to be limiting.

[0143] This makes it possible to eliminate collisions between the switched beam and the new beam, and to reduce unnecessary power consumption of the terminal device. EMBODIMENT 13

[0144] In this embodiment, the terminal device 110 may not continue to perform BFRQ. In other words, the terminal device 110 may report the new beam to the network device 120 if a predefined condition is met.

[0145] In some embodiments, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed prior to the uplink resources allocated for the transmission of the BFR request, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by sending a BFR request including information of the new beam to the network device 120. That is, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed prior to the uplink resources, the terminal device 110 may report the new beam to the network device 120.

[0146] 4D is a schematic diagram 400D illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 4D, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0147] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0148] For example, a beam failure event is declared (i.e., BFD) before T2, and a new beam is identified (i.e., NBI) before T2. According to the existing BFR procedure, the UE reports the new beam to the gNB in ​​the assigned uplink resource (e.g., PRACH for PCell / PSCell, PUCCH / PUSCH for SCell). The first or last symbol of the assigned uplink resource may be located after T2. However, the beam of CORESET-1 needs to be switched to the beam corresponding to TCI-11 after T2, and the BFD-RS has already changed accordingly. The UE does not need to report the new beam to the gNB, since it means that the UE already knows and has switched to the "new beam" (corresponding to TCI-11). It should be understood that FIG. 4D is an example only and is not for the purpose of limitation.

[0149] In some alternative embodiments, if any of the BFD-RSs is changed before the uplink resources allocated for the transmission of a BFR request and the switched BFD-RS is different from the new beam, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by sending a BFR request including information of the new beam to the network device 120. In other words, if any of the BFD-RSs is changed before the uplink resources allocated for the transmission of a BFR request and the switched BFD-RS is different from the new beam, the terminal device 110 may report the new beam to the network device 120.

[0150] For example, if the switched BFD-RS (in the example of Figure 4B, the beam corresponding to TCI-11) and the identified new beam are the same, it is completely unnecessary for the UE to report the identified new beam to the network device 120.

[0151] In some alternative embodiments, if the time interval between detection of a beam failure and switching from the TCI state to another TCI state is equal to or greater than a threshold interval (denoted herein as BFRQ_K), the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. In some embodiments, the threshold interval BFRQ_K may be the same as NBI_K. In some embodiments, the threshold interval BFRQ_K may be different from NBI_K.

[0152] This makes it possible to eliminate collisions between the switched beam and the new beam, and reduces unnecessary power consumption of the terminal device and the overhead of reporting resources. EMBODIMENT 14

[0153] In this embodiment, the terminal device 110 may not continue to monitor the BFRR, in other words, the terminal device 110 may start monitoring for a response to the BFR request if a predefined condition is met.

[0154] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may start monitoring for a response to the BFR request in a slot (also referred to as a second slot for convenience) that is a period later than the slot for transmitting the BFR request (also referred to as a first slot for convenience) in this specification. For example, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed before the period, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by monitoring for a response to the BFR request in the second slot. That is, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed before the period, the terminal device 110 may need to monitor the BFR request.

[0155] In response, the network device 120 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed if no BFD-RS is changed prior to the period after receipt of the BFR request in the first slot, and may transmit a response to the BFR request to the terminal device 110 in the second slot.

[0156] 4E is a schematic diagram 400E illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 4E, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0157] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0158] For example, the UE reports the identified new beam in a PRACH transmission in slot n. According to existing specifications, the UE reports the identified new beam in slot n+4+2 u However, the beam of CORESET-1 is in slot n+4+2. u 4E is switched to TCI-11 before , which means that the UE already knows and has switched to the "new beam" (corresponding to TCI-11), so the UE does not need to monitor the BFRR. It should be understood that FIG. 4E is an example only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0159] In some alternative embodiments, the terminal device 110 may start monitoring for a response to the BFR request within a time window. The time window is set for monitoring the response to the BFR request. For example, if none of the BFR-RSs are changed within the time window, or none of the BFR-RSs are changed before the last symbol of the time window, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by monitoring for a response to the BFR request within the time window. That is, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed within the time window, the terminal device 110 may need to monitor the BFR-RS.

[0160] In response, the network device 120 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed if there is no BFD-RS to be changed within the time window, and may send a response to the BFR request to the terminal device 110 within the time window.

[0161] FIG. 4F is a schematic diagram 400F illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 4F, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0162] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0163] For example, as shown in FIG. 4F, the UE reports the identified new beam (i.e., PRACH(BFRQ)) before T2. According to the existing specification, the UE monitors the BFRR in the window. However, the beam of CORESET-1 is switched to TCI-11 in the window, which means that the UE already knows and has switched to the "new beam" (corresponding to TCI-11), so the UE does not need to monitor the BFRR. It should be understood that FIG. 4F is only an example and is not intended to be limiting.

[0164] This makes it possible to eliminate collisions between the switched beam and the new beam, and to reduce unnecessary power consumption of the terminal device. EMBODIMENT 15

[0165] In this embodiment, the terminal device 110 may not apply the new beam, in other words, if a predefined condition is met, the terminal device 110 may apply the new beam.

[0166] In some embodiments, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed within a period corresponding to a predetermined number (denoted herein as K) of symbols, or if none of the BFD-RSs are changed before the last symbol of K symbols following the last symbol of PDCCH reception as a BFRR, terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed. Terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by applying the new beam for signal transmission after the predetermined number of symbols from reception of a BFRR.

[0167] In other words, if none of the BFD-RSs are changed within the period, the terminal device 110 may apply the new beam for signal transmission. For example, the signal transmission may include at least one of a PDCCH transmission, a PDSCH transmission, a PUCCH transmission, or a transmission of a reference signal such as a CSI-RS or a sounding reference signal (SRS) in the CORESET. Of course, any other suitable transmission is also possible.

[0168] In response, the network device 120 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed if no BFD-RS is changed within the period of time. The network device 120 may apply the new beam for signal transmission after the predetermined number of symbols from the transmission of the BFRR.

[0169] FIG. 4G is a schematic diagram 400E illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 4G, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0170] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0171] For example, as shown in FIG. 4G, the UE monitored the first PDCCH (BFRR) corresponding to the new beam in CORESET-BFR before T2. According to the existing specification, the UE applies the new beam 28 symbols after the last symbol of the PDCCH, i.e., after B. However, the beam of CORESET-1 is switched to TCI-11 before B, which means that the UE already knows and has switched to the "new beam" (corresponding to TCI-11), so the UE does not need to apply the new beam. It should be understood that FIG. 4E is only an example and is not intended to be limiting.

[0172] In this way, it is possible to eliminate collisions between the switched beam and the new beam. EMBODIMENT 16

[0173] In this embodiment, the terminal device 110 may not apply a new beam after beam switching. In other words, if a predefined condition is met, the terminal device 110 may apply the new beam until the terminal device 110 switches to another beam applied to a downlink or uplink signal, and the switched beam and the new beam are different.

[0174] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed until the TCI state is changed and the beam corresponding to the changed TCI state is different from the beam indicated in the BFRQ (i.e., the new beam). The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by applying the new beam for signal transmission a predetermined number of symbols after the reception of the BFRR to the BFRQ. For example, the signal transmission may include at least one of a PDCCH transmission, a PDSCH transmission, a PUCCH transmission, or a transmission of a reference signal such as a CSI-RS or an SRS in the CORESET. Of course, any other suitable transmission is also possible.

[0175] In response, the network device 120 may determine that the TCI state has changed and that the BFR procedure is performed until the beam corresponding to the changed TCI state differs from the beam indicated in the BFR request from the terminal device 110 (i.e., the new beam). The network device 120 may apply the new beam for signal transmission after the predetermined number of symbols from the transmission of the BFRR.

[0176] FIG. 4H is a schematic diagram 400H illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 4H, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0177] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0178] For example, as shown in FIG. 4H, if the beam corresponding to TCI-11 is different from the new beam, the UE B Apply the new beam to CORESET-1 from T to T2. It should be understood that FIG. 4E is an example only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0179] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may apply the new beam until the terminal device 110 switches to a predetermined TCI state of a set of TCI states after the application of the new beam. For example, the terminal device 110 may apply the new beam until the terminal device 110 switches to the Nth (N≧1) TCI state of the set of TCI states after the application timing of the new beam. In the example of FIG. 4H, when N=1, the new beam is applied to T B For N=2, the new beam is applied from T B Applies to T3.

[0180] Accordingly, the network device 120 may also apply the new beam until after application of the new beam, the network device 120 switches to a predetermined TCI state of the set of TCI states.

[0181] In this way, it is possible to clarify the time range of application of the new beam, and it is possible to eliminate collisions between the switched beam and the new beam. 3. Ongoing BFR Procedures

[0182] In this aspect, the terminal device 110 may continue to execute the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the set of TCI states. Specifically, the above embodiments 11 to 16 are described based on the fact that the terminal device 110 does not need to execute the BFR procedure. Meanwhile, it may also be considered how to use the set of TCI states based on ensuring a complete BFR procedure. This means that the terminal device 110 may continue the current BFR procedure regardless of whether any of the BFD-RSs are switched. Some exemplary embodiments are described below in relation to embodiment 17. EMBODIMENT 17

[0183] In this embodiment, one or more TCI states of the set of TCI states may be discarded or omitted, the one or more TCI states being different from the current TCI states applied to the CORESET-1.

[0184] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that a BFR procedure is performed, and the terminal device 110 may discard or omit a subset of the TCI states of the set of TCI states, which are applied after the beam failure, in other words, all remaining one or more TCI states that should have been applied to CORESET-1 after the time corresponding to the BFD (i.e., the beam failure event is declared) are discarded or omitted.

[0185] In response, the network device 120 may also discard a subset of the TCI conditions of the set of TCI conditions that are applied after the beam failure.

[0186] 5A is a schematic diagram 500A illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 5A, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0187] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0188] For example, as shown in FIG. A If a beam disturbance event is declared at T A The TCI states (i.e., TCI-11 and TCI-26) that should have been applied to CORESET-1 after may be discarded or omitted. It should be understood that FIG. 5A is an example only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0189] In some alternative embodiments, some remaining TCI states that should have been applied to CORESET-1 after the time corresponding to the BFD (i.e., the beam failure event is declared) are discarded or omitted. In some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed, and the terminal device 110 may discard or omit a subset of TCI states from the set of TCI states, where the subset of TCI states is determined based on a first TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied after the beam failure and a TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied in the application of the beam indicated in the BFR request.

[0190] In response, the network device 110 may also discard a subset of the set of TCI states, the subset of TCI states being determined based on a first TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied after a beam failure and a TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied at or after application of the beam indicated in the BFR request.

[0191] 5B is a schematic diagram 500B illustrating an example management of a BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 5B, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0192] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0193] For example, as shown in FIG. A If a beam failure event is declared in, TCI states from TCI-11 to TCI-11 (i.e., only TCI-11) may be discarded or omitted. It should be understood that FIG. 5B is an example only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0194] In some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed, and the terminal device 110 may discard or omit a subset of the TCI states from the set of TCI states, the subset of the TCI states being determined based on a first TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied after a beam failure and a TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied after application of the beam indicated in the BFR request. In this case, in the example of FIG. 5B, T A If a beam disturbance event is declared in, TCI states TCI-11 through TCI-26 may be discarded or omitted.

[0195] Thus, a perfect BFR procedure is guaranteed. 4.BFD Procedure

[0196] Generally speaking, the BFD or BFR procedure is based on the beam currently applied and fixed to the CORESET, because the network device can only indicate one TCI state for the CORESET to be applied to the CORESET in the next one period. The situation where multiple TCI states are indicated simultaneously only occurs in a multi-transmission point (multi-TRP) scenario. Therefore, when the network device indicates a TCI set including multiple TCI states for the CORESET to be applied in the next multiple and consecutive periods, the BFD or BFR procedure should be based on the TCI set. In other words, at least during the BFD or BFR procedure, "one TCI set" or "one beam set" may be considered as "one TCI" or "one beam". Otherwise, some problems may be caused.

[0197] 6A is a schematic diagram 600A illustrating an example problem of a BFD procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 6A, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0198] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0199] For example, as shown in FIG. A Due to an accidental obstruction in front of A A BFI event occurs at T (i.e., BFI_COUNTER=1). Furthermore, the BFD-RS changes with the beam change of CORESET at T2 (from TCI-5 to TCI-11), resulting in BFI_COUNTER=0. However, since the obstruction may be long-term and unexpected (not considered in the AI / ML beam prediction in the time domain), another BFI event occurs at T B However, at T3, BFI_COUNTER=0.

[0200] This means that a beam failure event may not be declared during beam quality degradation; the UE will still use the poor quality beam. To solve this problem, one simple way is to set beamFailureInstanceMaxCount to 1. However, obviously, this hasty approach may lead to unexpected and frequent BFRs (e.g., due to temporary obstructions).

[0201] In view of this, embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for managing BFD, which are described below in relation to embodiments 18 to 19. EMBODIMENT 18

[0202] In this embodiment, if the BFD-RS is changed within the application time associated with the set of TCI states, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is executed. The terminal device 110 may execute the BFR procedure by disabling the value of a counter (BFI_COUNTER) configured for the BFI to zero. In other words, if the BFD-RS is changed within the application time associated with the set of TCI states, the terminal device 110 may increment the value of BFI_COUNTER.

[0203] 6B is a schematic diagram 600B illustrating an example management of a BFD procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 6B, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0204] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0205] During the application time of these TCI states, even if the BFD-RS (or the beam of the CORESET) is switched or changed, the currently ongoing BFD or BFR procedure is not initialized or stopped. For example, as shown in Figure 6B, the timing T A At time T1, BFI_COUNTER is set to 1. If the TCI state is switched from TCI-5 to TCI-11 at time T2, BFI_COUNTER is not set to 0. In other words, the restriction (setting BFI_COUNTER to 0 when BFD-RS is switched) can be lifted. In this example, beamFailureInstanceMaxCount is set to 2. At time T2 within the application time associated with TCI-11, B At , the BFI_COUNTER increments to 2. Therefore, a beam failure is declared. It should be understood that Figure 6B is an example only and is not intended to be limiting. EMBODIMENT 19

[0206] In this embodiment, when any of the BFD-RSs is switched, the BFI_COUNTER is set to zero, and one or more new parameters for the BFD procedure are introduced, which may include, for example, another counter TCI_COUNTER and a threshold TCIMaxCount.

[0207] In some embodiments, when the value of the counter BFI_COUNTER at the application time associated with the TCI state among the set of TCI states is greater than or equal to the first threshold (i.e., beamFailureInstanceMaxCount), the terminal device 110 may increment the value of the counter TCI_COUNTER by 1. When the value of the counter TCI_COUNTER is greater than the second threshold (i.e., TCIMaxCount), the terminal device 110 may determine that a beam failure has been detected. In some embodiments, when the value of the counter BFI_COUNTER at the application time associated with the TCI state among the set of TCI states is less than the first threshold, the terminal device 110 may set the value of the counter BFI_COUNTER to zero.

[0208] In other words, the counter TCI_COUNTER indicates the condition that the BFI event has been declared M (M≥0) times during the application time of the TCI state, where M refers to the number of TCI states in the TCI set. In other words, when it is declared once (M = 1), BFI_COUNTER = 1, and when it is declared twice (M = 2), BFI_COUNTER = 2. Also, at the start point of applying the TCI set, the counter TCI_COUNTER is initialized to 0. Then, when BFI_COUNTER≥M during the application time of the TCI state in the TCI set, increment TCI_COUNTER by 1, and when BFI_COUNTER<M during the application time of the TCI state in the TCI set, set TCI_COUNTER to 0. Furthermore, the value of M depends on beamFailureInstanceMaxCount. For example, M is less than or equal to beamFailureInstanceMaxCount.

[0209] 6C is a schematic diagram 600C illustrating an example management of BFD procedures according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB, and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 6C, at a timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE, indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0210] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0211] For example, assume M=1. As shown in FIG. 6C, during the application time of TCI-2 (T0-T1), BFI_COUNTER=0, so TCI_COUNTER=0. During the application time of TCI-5 (T1-T2), BFI_COUNTER=1, so TCI_COUNTER=1. During the application time of TCI-11 (T2-T3), BFI_COUNTER=1, so TCI_COUNTER=2. During the application time of TCI-26 (T3-T4), BFI_COUNTER=0, so TCI_COUNTER=0.

[0212] The threshold TCIMaxCount means that if TCI_COUNTER≧TCIMaxCount, a beam failure event is declared, i.e., a BFR is triggered. At the same time, the terminal device 110 may also assume that a beam set failure event is declared, i.e., the TCI set is unavailable. In some embodiments, TCIMaxCount(≧1) may be set by the network device 120 and determined according to the capabilities reported by the terminal device 110.

[0213] 6D is a schematic diagram 600D illustrating an example management of BFD procedures according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, the network device 120 is illustrated as a gNB and the terminal device 110 is illustrated as a UE. As shown in FIG. 6C, at timing T, the gNB may transmit a PDSCH carrying a MAC CE to the UE indicating a set of TCI states for CORESET-1. In this example, CORESET-1 is illustrated with a TCI set including four TCI states and corresponding application times: TCI-2 and 2 ms, TCI-5 and 10 ms, TCI-11 and 4 ms, and TCI-26 and 3 ms.

[0214] Upon receiving a PDSCH, the UE may send a PUCCH carrying a HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH to the gNB. Assume that the delay for a MAC CE to take effect is 3 ms. At timing T0 after 3 ms, TCI-2 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T0 to T1 (2 ms), TCI-5 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T1 to T2 (10 ms), TCI-11 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T2 to T3 (4 ms), and TCI-26 may be applied to CORESET-1 from T3 to T4 (3 ms).

[0215] For example, assume that TCIMaxCount=2. As shown in FIG. 6C, during the application time of TCI-2 (T0-T1), BFI_COUNTER=0, so TCI_COUNTER=0. During the application time of TCI-5 (T1-T2), BFI_COUNTER=1, so TCI_COUNTER=1. During the application time of TCI-11 (T2-T3), BFI_COUNTER=1, so TCI_COUNTER=2. In this case, the value of TCI_COUNTER is equal to TCIMaxCount. Therefore, the beam disturbance event is T B It should be understood that Figures 6C and 6D are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be limiting.

[0216] In this way, beam disturbances can be effectively detected, thus facilitating effective BFR procedures. Example of the method

[0217] Therefore, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide communication methods implemented in a terminal device and a network device, which are described below with reference to Figures 7-8.

[0218] 7 illustrates an example communication method 700 implemented in a terminal device, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of explanation, the method 700 is described with reference to FIG 1. It should be understood that the method 700 may include additional blocks not shown and / or omit some blocks that are shown, and that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0219] At block 710, the terminal device 110 receives from the network device 120 a first indication indicating a set of TCI states for the CORESET.

[0220] In block 720, the terminal device 110 determines whether a BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states.

[0221] If no BFR procedure is to be performed, method 700 proceeds to block 730. At block 730, terminal device 110 stops the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state.

[0222] If the BFR procedure is to be performed, method 700 proceeds to block 740. At block 740, terminal device 110 performs the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state.

[0223] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive a second indication from the network device 120 indicating whether beam prediction is enabled or disabled. If beam prediction is enabled, the terminal device 110 may determine that no BFR procedure is to be performed. If beam prediction is disabled, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed.

[0224] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive a third indication from the network device 120 indicating a duration for which the beam prediction applies and determine that no BFR procedures are to be performed during that duration.

[0225] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive a fourth instruction from the network device 120 indicating a first duration during which a data collection phase for beam prediction is performed and a second duration during which at least one of an inference phase or an application phase for beam prediction is performed, and may determine that no BFR procedure is performed during at least one of the first duration or the second duration.

[0226] In some embodiments, terminal device 110 may receive a fifth indication from network device 120 indicating whether the BFR procedure is enabled or disabled. If the BFR procedure is enabled, terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed. If the BFR procedure is disabled, terminal device 110 may determine that no BFR procedure is to be performed.

[0227] In some embodiments, terminal device 110 may receive a sixth indication from network device 120 indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is enabled and determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed during that duration.

[0228] In some embodiments, terminal device 110 may receive a seventh indication from network device 120 indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is disabled and determine that no BFR procedure is to be performed during that duration.

[0229] In some embodiments where there is no BFR procedure being performed, terminal device 110 may stop the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the set of TCI states.

[0230] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed based on a comparison of an application time associated with a TCI state of a set of TCI states to a threshold time. If the application time associated with the TCI state is less than or equal to the threshold time, the terminal device 110 may determine that no BFR procedure is to be performed in the application time associated with the TCI state. If the application time associated with the TCI state is greater than the threshold time, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in the application time associated with the TCI state.

[0231] In some embodiments, terminal device 110 may receive information indicating a first subset of TCI states and a second subset of TCI states from network device 120. In these embodiments, terminal device 110 may determine, based on the information, from the set of TCI states, the first subset of TCI states and the second subset of TCI states, and determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed at application times associated with the first subset of TCI states and that no BFR procedure is to be performed at application times associated with the second subset of TCI states.

[0232] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed based on a comparison of a value of a counter configured for a BFI at a time offset before the expiration of a TCI state in the set of TCI states to a predefined value. If the value of the counter is less than or equal to the predefined value, the terminal device 110 may determine that no BFR procedure is to be performed in the application time associated with the TCI state. If the value of the counter is greater than the predefined value, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in the application time associated with the TCI state.

[0233] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may send an eighth instruction indicating the stop of the BFR procedure from a lower layer of the terminal device 110 to an upper layer of the terminal device 110, and the counter set for the beam failure instruction by the upper layer of the terminal device may be set to zero.

[0234] In some embodiments, if the reference signal for beam failure detection is changed, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed. The terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by setting a counter configured for the beam failure indication to zero.

[0235] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to one of the following: no reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed before a timing when a beam determined from a predetermined set of beams in response to detection of a beam failure at an application time associated with a TCI state is provided from a lower layer of the terminal device to an upper layer of the terminal device; a reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed before the timing and the changed reference signal and the beam are different; or a time interval between the detection of the beam failure and switching from the TCI state to another TCI state is equal to or greater than a threshold interval. In these embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by indicating the beam from a lower layer of the terminal device to an upper layer of the terminal device.

[0236] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed in response to one of the following: no reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed prior to the uplink resource allocated for transmission of the BFR request, a reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed prior to the uplink resource and the changed reference signal is different from a reference signal corresponding to a beam determined from a predetermined set of beams in response to detection of a beam failure at an application time associated with a TCI state, or a time interval between the detection of the beam failure and switching from the TCI state to another TCI state is equal to or greater than a threshold interval. In these embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by transmitting a BFR request including information of the beam to a network device.

[0237] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to the absence of a reference signal for beam failure detection changed prior to a period of time after transmission of a BFR request in a first slot. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by monitoring a response to the BFR request from the network device 120 in a second slot, the second slot being the period of time after the first slot.

[0238] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to the absence of a reference signal for modified beam obstruction detection within a time window configured for monitoring a response to a BFR request. In these embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by monitoring a response to the BFR request within the time window.

[0239] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection being changed within a time corresponding to a predetermined number of symbols. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by applying the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission after the predetermined number of symbols from receiving a response to the BFR request.

[0240] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine that a BFR procedure is performed until a TCI state is changed and the beam corresponding to the changed TCI state differs from the beam indicated in the BFR request. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by applying the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission a predetermined number of symbols after receiving a response to the BFR request. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may apply the beam indicated in the BFR request until the terminal device switches to a predetermined TCI state of the set of TCI states after application of the beam indicated in the BFR request.

[0241] In some embodiments in which the BFR procedure is performed, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by discarding a subset of the TCI states of the set of TCI states, which subset of the TCI states is applied after a beam disturbance.

[0242] In some embodiments in which the BFR procedure is performed, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by discarding a subset of TCI states from the set of TCI states, the subset of TCI states being determined based on a first TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied after a beam failure and a TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied at or after application of the beam indicated in the BFR request.

[0243] In some embodiments, if the reference signal for beam failure detection is changed within an application time associated with the set of TCI states, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the BFR procedure by disabling setting to zero a value of a counter configured for beam failure indication.

[0244] In some embodiments, if the value of the counter at the application time associated with the TCI state of the set of TCI states is greater than or equal to a first threshold, the terminal device 110 may increment the value of another counter by 1. If the value of the other counter is greater than a second threshold, the terminal device 110 may determine that a beam obstruction is detected. In some embodiments, if the value of the counter at the application time associated with the TCI state of the set of TCI states is less than the first threshold, the terminal device 110 may set the value of the other counter to zero.

[0245] The method 700 can realize the management of the BFR procedure based on the beam prediction. Other details are similar to those described in relation to Figures 2 to 6D, and therefore will not be described here for brevity.

[0246] 8 illustrates an example communication method 800 implemented in a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, method 800 may be performed in network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. For purposes of explanation, method 800 will be described below with reference to FIG. 1. It should be understood that method 800 may include additional blocks not shown and / or omit some blocks that are shown, and that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0247] As shown in FIG. 8, in block 810, the network device 120 sends to the terminal device 110 a first indication indicating a set of TCI states for the CORESET.

[0248] At block 820, the network device determines whether a BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states.

[0249] If no BFR procedure is to be performed, the method 800 proceeds to block 830. At block 830, the network device 120 stops the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state.

[0250] If the BFR procedure is to be performed, the method 800 proceeds to block 840. At block 840, the network device 120 performs the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state.

[0251] In some embodiments, if no BFR procedure is performed, the network device 120 may transmit a second indication to the terminal device 110 indicating that beam prediction is enabled. If the BFR procedure is performed, the network device 120 may transmit a second indication to the terminal device 110 indicating that beam prediction is disabled.

[0252] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit a third indication to the terminal device 110 indicating the duration for which the beam prediction is to be applied.

[0253] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may send a fourth instruction to the terminal device 110 indicating a first duration during which a data collection phase for the beam prediction is performed and a second duration during which at least one of an inference phase or an application phase for the beam prediction is performed, and determine that no BFR procedure is performed during at least one of the first duration or the second duration.

[0254] In some embodiments, if no BFR procedure is performed, network device 120 may send a fifth indication to terminal device 110 indicating that the BFR procedure is disabled. If the BFR procedure is performed, network device 120 may send a fifth indication to terminal device 110 indicating that the BFR procedure is enabled.

[0255] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit to the terminal device 110 a sixth indication indicating the duration for which the BFR procedure is enabled and determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed during that duration.

[0256] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit a seventh indication to the terminal device 110 indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is disabled and determine that no BFR procedure is to be performed during that duration.

[0257] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may stop the BFR procedure at an application time associated with the set of TCI conditions.

[0258] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed based on a comparison of an application time associated with a TCI state of a set of TCI states to a threshold time. If the application time associated with the TCI state is less than or equal to the threshold time, the network device 120 may determine that no BFR procedure is to be performed at the application time associated with the TCI state. If the application time associated with the TCI state is greater than the threshold time, the network device 120 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed at the application time associated with the TCI state.

[0259] In some embodiments, network device 120 may determine a first subset of TCI states and a second subset of TCI states from the set of TCI states, determine that the BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with the first subset of TCI states and that no BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with the second subset of TCI states, and transmit information to the terminal device indicating the first subset of TCI states and the second subset of TCI states.

[0260] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection having been changed prior to a period of time following receipt of a BFR request in a first slot. In these embodiments, the network device 120 may perform the BFR procedure by transmitting a response to the BFR request to the terminal device in a second slot, the second slot being the period of time after the first slot.

[0261] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to the absence of a reference signal for modified beam obstruction detection within a time window configured for transmitting a response to a BFR request. In these embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit a response to the BFR request within the time window.

[0262] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may determine that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection being modified within a time corresponding to a predetermined number of symbols. In these embodiments, the network device 120 may apply the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission after the predetermined number of symbols from transmitting a response to the BFR request.

[0263] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may determine that the BFR procedure is performed until the TCI state is changed and the beam corresponding to the changed TCI state differs from the beam indicated in the BFR request from the terminal device 110. In these embodiments, the network device 120 may apply the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission a predetermined number of symbols after the transmission of a response to the BFR request. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may apply the beam indicated in the BFR request after application of the beam indicated in the BFR request until the network device switches to a predetermined TCI state of the set of TCI states.

[0264] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may discard a subset of the TCI states of the set of TCI states, which are applied after a beam failure.

[0265] In some embodiments, the network device 110 may discard a subset of the set of TCI states, where the subset of TCI states is determined based on a first TCI state of the set of TCI states that is applied after a beam failure and a TCI state of the set of TCI states that is applied at or after application of the beam indicated in the BFR request.

[0266] The method 800 can realize the management of the BFR procedure based on the beam prediction. Other details are similar to those described in relation to Figures 2 to 6D, and therefore will not be described here for brevity. Examples of equipment and devices

[0267] 9 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 900 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The apparatus 900 may be considered as another exemplary implementation of the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the apparatus 900 may be implemented in the terminal device 110 or the network device 120, or as at least a part thereof.

[0268] As shown, the apparatus 900 comprises a processor 910, a memory 920 coupled to the processor 910, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 940 coupled to the processor 910, and a communication interface coupled to the TX / RX 940. The memory 910 stores at least a portion of a program 930. The TX / RX 940 is used for bidirectional communication. The TX / RX 940 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, although the access nodes referred to herein may in practice have multiple antennas. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication with other network elements, such as an X2 / Xn interface for bidirectional communication between eNBs / gNBs, an S1 / NG interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) / Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) / SGW / UPF and an eNB / gNB, an Un interface for communication between an eNB / gNB and a relay node (RN), or a Uu interface for communication between an eNB / gNB and a terminal device.

[0269] The program 930 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by an associated processor 910, enable the device 900 to operate according to embodiments of the present disclosure, as described herein with reference to Figures 1-8. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized by computer software executable by the processor 910 of the device 900, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 910 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the combination of the processor 910 and the memory 920 may form a processing means 950 suitable for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0270] The memory 920 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as, by way of non-limiting example, non-transitory computer-readable storage media, semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. Although only one memory 920 is shown in the device 900, there may be several physically different memory modules in the device 900. The processor 910 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP) and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 900 may have multiple processors, for example application specific integrated circuit chips time-slaved to a clock that synchronizes the main processor.

[0271] In some embodiments, the terminal device comprises circuitry configured to receive from a network device a first indication indicating a set of TCI states for a CORESET, determine whether a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states, stop the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state in accordance with a determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed, and perform the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state in accordance with a determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed.

[0272] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by receiving a second indication from the network device indicating whether beam prediction is enabled or disabled, determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with a determination that beam prediction is enabled, and determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with a determination that beam prediction is disabled.

[0273] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by receiving a third indication from the network device indicating a duration for which the beam prediction is to be applied and determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed during the duration.

[0274] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is performed by receiving a fourth instruction from the network device indicating a first duration during which a data collection phase for the beam prediction is performed and a second duration during which at least one of an inference phase or an application phase for the beam prediction is performed, and determining that no BFR procedure is performed during at least one of the first duration or the second duration.

[0275] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by receiving a fifth indication from the network device indicating whether the BFR procedure is enabled or disabled, and determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with a determination that the BFR procedure is enabled, and determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with a determination that the BFR procedure is disabled.

[0276] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by receiving a sixth indication from the network device indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is to be enabled and determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed during the duration.

[0277] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by receiving a seventh indication from the network device indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is to be disabled and determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed during the duration.

[0278] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to terminate the BFR procedure by terminating the BFR procedure at an application time associated with the set of TCI conditions.

[0279] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is performed by: determining, in accordance with a determination that an application time associated with a TCI state of the set of TCI states is shorter than the threshold time, that no BFR procedure is performed at the application time associated with the TCI state; and determining, in accordance with a determination that the application time associated with the TCI state is longer than the threshold time, that the BFR procedure is performed at the application time associated with the TCI state.

[0280] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is performed by receiving information from the network device indicating a first subset of TCI states and a second subset of TCI states, determining the first subset of TCI states and the second subset of TCI states from the set of TCI states based on the information, and determining that the BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with the first subset of TCI states and that no BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with the second subset of TCI states.

[0281] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether or not a BFR procedure is to be executed by: determining that no BFR procedure is to be executed at an application time associated with the TCI state in accordance with a determination that a value of a counter configured for a BFI is less than or equal to a predetermined value at a time offset before expiration of a TCI state in the set of TCI states; and determining that the BFR procedure is to be executed at an application time associated with the TCI state in accordance with a determination that a value of the counter is greater than the predetermined value.

[0282] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to send an eighth instruction indicating a stop of the BFR procedure from the lower layer of the terminal device to the upper layer of the terminal device and to set a counter configured for a beam failure instruction to zero by the upper layer of the terminal device.

[0283] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with determining that a reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by setting a counter configured for beam failure indication to zero.

[0284] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is executed by determining that the BFR procedure is executed in response to one of: no reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed before a timing at which a beam determined from a predetermined set of beams in response to detection of a beam failure at an application time associated with a TCI state is provided from a lower layer of the terminal device to an upper layer of the terminal device; a reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed before the timing and the changed reference signal and the beam are different; or a time interval between the detection of the beam failure and switching from the TCI state to another TCI state is equal to or greater than a threshold interval. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to execute the BFR procedure by indicating the beam from the lower layer of the terminal device to the upper layer of the terminal device.

[0285] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is executed by determining that the BFR procedure is executed in response to one of: no reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed prior to uplink resources allocated for transmission of a BFR request, a reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed prior to the uplink resources and the changed reference signal differs from a reference signal corresponding to a beam determined from a predetermined set of beams in response to detection of a beam failure at an application time associated with a TCI state, or a time interval between the detection of the beam failure and switching from the TCI state to another TCI state is equal to or greater than a threshold interval. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to execute the BFR procedure by transmitting the BFR request including information of the beam to the network device.

[0286] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection being changed prior to a time period after transmission of a BFR request in a first slot. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by monitoring a response to the BFR request from the network device in a second slot, the second slot being the time period after the first slot.

[0287] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to the absence of a reference signal for modified beam fault detection within a time window configured for monitoring for a response to a BFR request. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by monitoring for the response to the BFR request within the time window.

[0288] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection being modified within a time corresponding to a predetermined number of symbols. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by applying for signal transmission a beam indicated in a BFR request after the predetermined number of symbols from receiving a response to the BFR request.

[0289] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is performed by determining that the BFR procedure is performed until a TCI state is changed and a beam corresponding to the changed TCI state differs from the beam indicated in the BFR request. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by applying the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission after a predetermined number of symbols from receiving a response to the BFR request. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to apply the beam indicated in the BFR request by applying the beam indicated in the BFR request until the terminal device switches to a predetermined TCI state of the set of TCI states after application of the beam indicated in the BFR request.

[0290] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by discarding a subset of TCI states of the set of TCI states, the subset of TCI states being applied following a beam disturbance.

[0291] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by discarding a subset of TCI states from the set of TCI states, the subset of TCI states being determined based on a first TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied after a beam failure and a TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied at or after application of a beam indicated in a BFR request.

[0292] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be executed by determining that the BFR procedure is to be executed according to a determination that a reference signal for beam fault detection has changed within an application time associated with the set of TCI states. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to execute the BFR procedure by disabling setting to zero a value of a counter configured for beam fault indication.

[0293] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by incrementing a value of another counter by one in accordance with a determination that a value of the counter at an application time associated with a TCI state in the set of TCI states is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and determining that a beam failure has been detected in accordance with a determination that the value of the other counter is greater than a second threshold.

[0294] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to set a value of the other counter to zero in accordance with a determination that a value of the counter at an application time associated with the TCI state in the set of TCI states is less than the first threshold.

[0295] In some embodiments, the network device comprises circuitry configured to: send to a terminal device a first indication indicating a set of TCI states for a CORESET; determine whether a BFR procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI state of the set of TCI states; stop the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state according to a determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed; and perform the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI state according to a determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed.

[0296] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to: send a second instruction to the terminal device indicating that beam prediction is enabled in accordance with a determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed, or to send a second instruction to the terminal device indicating that beam prediction is disabled in accordance with a determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed.

[0297] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to transmit a third indication to the terminal device indicating a duration for which the beam prediction is applied.

[0298] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to send a fourth instruction to the terminal device indicating a first duration during which a data collection stage for the beam prediction is performed and a second duration during which at least one of an inference stage or an application stage for the beam prediction is performed, and to determine that no BFR procedure is performed during at least one of the first duration or the second duration.

[0299] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to: send a fifth indication to the terminal device indicating that the BFR procedure has been disabled in accordance with a determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed; and to send a fifth indication to the terminal device indicating that the BFR procedure has been enabled in accordance with a determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed.

[0300] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to send a sixth instruction to the terminal device indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is enabled and to determine that the BFR procedure is performed during said duration.

[0301] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to send a seventh instruction to the terminal device indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is disabled and to determine that no BFR procedure is to be performed during said duration.

[0302] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to terminate the BFR procedure by terminating the BFR procedure at an application time associated with the set of TCI conditions.

[0303] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to: determine, in accordance with a determination that an application time associated with a TCI state of the set of TCI states is shorter than the threshold time, that no BFR procedure is to be performed in the application time associated with the TCI state; and determine, in accordance with a determination that the application time associated with the TCI state is longer than the threshold time, that the BFR procedure is to be performed in the application time associated with the TCI state.

[0304] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to determine from the set of TCI states a first subset of TCI states and a second subset of TCI states, determine that the BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with the first subset of TCI states and that no BFR procedure is performed at an application time associated with the second subset of TCI states, and transmit information indicating the first subset of TCI states and the second subset of TCI states to the terminal device.

[0305] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam obstruction detection having been changed prior to a time period after receipt of a BFR request in a first slot. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by transmitting a response to the BFR request to the terminal device in a second slot, the second slot being the time period after the first slot.

[0306] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to the absence of a reference signal for modified beam obstruction detection within a time window configured for transmission of a response to a BFR request. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by transmitting the response to the BFR request within the time window.

[0307] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is to be performed by determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection being changed within a time corresponding to a predetermined number of symbols. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by applying a beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission after the predetermined number of symbols from transmitting a response to the BFR request.

[0308] In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine whether the BFR procedure is performed by determining that the BFR procedure is performed until a TCI state is changed and a beam corresponding to the changed TCI state differs from the beam indicated in a BFR request from the terminal device. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by applying the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission a predetermined number of symbols after transmission of a response to the BFR request. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to apply the beam indicated in the BFR request by applying the beam indicated in the BFR request until the network device switches to a predetermined TCI state of the set of TCI states after application of the beam indicated in the BFR request.

[0309] In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by discarding a subset of TCI states of the set of TCI states, the subset of TCI states being applied following a beam disturbance.

[0310] In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to perform the BFR procedure by discarding a subset of TCI states from the set of TCI states, the subset of TCI states being determined based on a first TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied after a beam failure and a TCI state from the set of TCI states that is applied at or after application of a beam indicated in a BFR request.

[0311] The term "circuitry" as used herein may refer to a hardware circuit and / or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. For example, a circuit may be a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware. As yet another example, a circuit may be any portion of a hardware processor having software, including a digital signal processor, software, and one or more memories, that cooperate to cause a device, such as a terminal device or a network device, to perform various functions. In yet another example, a circuit may be a hardware circuit and / or a processor, such as a microprocessor or a portion thereof, that requires software / firmware for operation, but the software may not be present if not required for operation. As used herein, the term "circuitry" also includes an implementation of only a hardware circuit or one or more processors, or a portion of a hardware circuit or one or more processors and its (or their) associated software and / or firmware.

[0312] Overall, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described using block diagrams, flow charts, or some other pictorial representations, it should be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented, by way of non-limiting examples, in hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing device, or any combination thereof.

[0313] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as instructions included in a program module, that execute in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform a process or method as described above with reference to Figures 1-8. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as appropriate. The machine-executable instructions of the program modules may be executed in local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, the program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0314] Program codes for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, and when executed by the processor or controller, the program code causes the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may run entirely on the machine, partially on the machine, as a separate software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0315] The above program code may be implemented on a machine-readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program used by or associated with an instruction execution system, device, or apparatus. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device, or apparatus, or any suitable combination of the aforementioned media. More specific examples of the machine-readable storage medium may include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the aforementioned.

[0316] It should be noted that although operations have been described in a particular order, it should not be understood that such operations need to be performed in the particular order shown, or in any sequential order, or that all of the operations described must be performed in order to achieve desired results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although some specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to certain embodiments. Some features described in the context of individual embodiments may be realized in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may be implemented separately in multiple embodiments or in any suitable subcombination.

[0317] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it should be understood that the present disclosure, as defined in the appended claims, is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. 1. A method of communication comprising: Receiving, at the terminal device, from a network device, a first indication indicative of a set of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states for a control resource set (CORESET); determining whether a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure is performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI condition of the set of TCI conditions; terminating the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI condition in accordance with a determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed; performing the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI condition in accordance with a determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed; The method includes:

2. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: receiving a second indication from the network device indicating whether beam prediction is enabled or disabled; determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with determining that the beam prediction is enabled; and determining that the beam prediction is disabled and that the BFR procedure is to be performed; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

3. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: receiving a third indication from the network device indicating a duration for which the beam prediction is to be applied; determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed during said duration; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

4. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: receiving a fourth indication from the network device indicating a first duration for which a data gathering step for the beam prediction is performed and a second duration for which at least one of an inference step or an application step for the beam prediction is performed; determining that no BFR procedure is being performed during at least one of the first duration or the second duration; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

5. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: receiving a fifth indication from the network device indicating whether the BFR procedure is enabled or disabled; determining that the BFR procedure is to be executed in accordance with determining that the BFR procedure is enabled; and determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with the determination that the BFR procedure has been disabled; and The method of claim 1 , comprising:

6. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: receiving a sixth indication from the network device indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is enabled; and determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed during the duration; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

7. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: receiving a seventh indication from the network device indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure will be disabled; and determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed during said duration; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

8. Stopping the BFR procedure comprises: stopping the BFR procedure at an application time associated with the set of TCI conditions; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

9. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining, in response to a determination that an application time associated with a TCI condition in the set of TCI conditions is less than or equal to a threshold time, that no BFR procedure is to be performed at the application time associated with the TCI condition; determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed at the application time associated with the TCI condition in accordance with a determination that the application time associated with the TCI condition is greater than the threshold time; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

10. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: receiving information from the network device indicative of a first subset of TCI conditions and a second subset of TCI conditions; determining, from the set of TCI conditions, a first subset of TCI conditions and a second subset of TCI conditions based on the information; determining that the BFR procedure is performed at application times associated with a first subset of the TCI conditions and that no BFR procedure is performed at application times associated with a second subset of the TCI conditions; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

11. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining, in accordance with a determination that a value of a counter configured for a beam failure indication is less than or equal to a predetermined value at a time offset prior to an expiration of a TCI state of the set of TCI states, that no BFR procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with the TCI state; determining, in accordance with a determination that a value of the counter is greater than the predetermined value, that the BFR procedure is to be performed at an application time associated with the TCI condition; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

12. sending an eighth indication from the lower layer of the terminal device to the upper layer of the terminal device, indicating a stop of the BFR procedure; Setting a counter configured for beam failure indication to zero by an upper layer of the terminal device; The method of claim 1 further comprising:

13. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with a determination that a reference signal for beam fault detection has been changed; Executing the BFR procedure includes: setting a counter configured for beam failure indication to zero. The method of claim 1.

14. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: There is no reference signal for beam failure detection that has been changed before the timing at which a beam determined from a predetermined set of beams in response to detection of a beam failure at an application time associated with a TCI state is provided from a lower layer of the terminal device to an upper layer of the terminal device; A reference signal for beam fault detection is changed before the timing, and the changed reference signal is different from the beam; or a time interval between the detection of the beam failure and switching from the TCI state to another TCI state is equal to or greater than a threshold interval; determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to at least one of Executing the BFR procedure includes: Instructing the beam from the lower layer of the terminal device to the higher layer of the terminal device. The method of claim 1.

15. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: No reference signal for beam failure detection has been changed before the uplink resources allocated for the transmission of the BFR request; A reference signal for beam failure detection is changed before the uplink resource, and the changed reference signal is different from a reference signal corresponding to a beam determined from a predetermined set of beams in response to detection of a beam failure at an application time associated with a TCI state; or a time interval between the detection of the beam failure and switching from the TCI state to another TCI state is equal to or greater than a threshold interval; determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to at least one of Executing the BFR procedure includes: transmitting the BFR request including information of the beam to the network device. The method of claim 1.

16. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection having been changed prior to a period of time following transmission of a BFR request in a first slot; Executing the BFR procedure includes: monitoring a response to the BFR request from the network device in a second slot, the second slot being the time period after the first slot. The method of claim 1.

17. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection being modified within a time window configured for monitoring a response to a BFR request; Executing the BFR procedure includes: monitoring the response to the BFR request within the time window. The method of claim 1.

18. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam obstruction detection being changed within a period corresponding to a predetermined number of symbols; Executing the BFR procedure includes: applying the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission a predetermined number of symbols after receiving a response to the BFR request. The method of claim 1.

19. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that a TCI state has been changed and that the BFR procedure is to be performed until a beam corresponding to the changed TCI state differs from a beam indicated in the BFR request; Executing the BFR procedure includes: applying the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission a predetermined number of symbols after receiving a response to the BFR request. The method of claim 1.

20. Applying the beam indicated in the BFR request applying the beam indicated in the BFR request until the terminal device switches to a predetermined TCI state of the set of TCI states after applying the beam indicated in the BFR request.

20. The method of claim 19.

21. Executing the BFR procedure includes: discarding a subset of TCI conditions from the set of TCI conditions; The subset of TCI conditions is applied after a beam disturbance. The method of claim 1.

22. Executing the BFR procedure includes: discarding a subset of TCI conditions from the set of TCI conditions; The subset of TCI conditions is determined based on a first TCI condition of the set of TCI conditions that is applied after a beam failure and a TCI condition of the set of TCI conditions that is applied at or after the application of a beam indicated in a BFR request. The method of claim 1.

23. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in accordance with a determination that a reference signal for beam fault detection has been changed within an application time associated with the set of TCI conditions; Executing the BFR procedure includes: and disabling setting to zero the value of the counter configured for beam failure indication. The method of claim 1.

24. Executing the BFR procedure includes: incrementing a value of another counter by one in response to a determination that a value of the counter at an application time associated with a TCI state in the set of TCI states is greater than or equal to a first threshold; determining that a beam obstruction has been detected in accordance with determining that a value of the other counter is greater than a second threshold; The method of claim 13 further comprising:

25. setting a value of the further counter to zero in response to a determination that a value of the counter at an application time associated with the TCI state of the set of TCI states is less than the first threshold; 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

26. 1. A method of communication comprising: transmitting, in the network device, to a terminal device, a first indication indicating a set of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states for a control resource set (CORESET); determining whether a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure is performed at an application time associated with at least one TCI condition of the set of TCI conditions; terminating the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI condition in accordance with a determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed; performing the BFR procedure at the application time associated with the at least one TCI condition in accordance with a determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed; The method includes:

27. sending, according to the determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed, to the terminal device a second indication indicating that beam prediction is enabled; or sending, to the terminal device, a second indication indicating that beam prediction has been disabled according to the determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed; 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

28. transmitting to the terminal device a third indication indicating a duration for which the beam prediction is applied; 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

29. sending to the terminal device a fourth instruction indicating a first duration during which a data collection step for the beam prediction is performed and a second duration during which at least one of an inference step or an application step for the beam prediction is performed; determining that no BFR procedure is being performed during at least one of the first duration or the second duration; 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

30. sending, in accordance with the determination that no BFR procedure is to be performed, a fifth indication to the terminal device indicating that the BFR procedure has been disabled; and sending, according to the determination that the BFR procedure is to be performed, to the terminal device a fifth indication indicating that the BFR procedure is enabled; and 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

31. sending to the terminal device a sixth indication indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is enabled; and determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed during the duration; 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

32. sending to the terminal device a seventh indication indicating a duration for which the BFR procedure is disabled; and determining that no BFR procedure is to be performed during said duration; 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

33. Stopping the BFR procedure comprises: stopping the BFR procedure at an application time associated with the set of TCI conditions; 27. The method of claim 26, comprising:

34. determining, in response to a determination that an application time associated with a TCI condition in the set of TCI conditions is less than or equal to the threshold time, that no BFR procedure is to be performed at the application time associated with the TCI condition; determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed at the application time associated with the TCI condition in accordance with a determination that the application time associated with the TCI condition is greater than the threshold time; 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

35. determining a first subset of TCI conditions and a second subset of TCI conditions from the set of TCI conditions; determining that the BFR procedure is performed at application times associated with a first subset of the TCI conditions and that no BFR procedure is performed at application times associated with a second subset of the TCI conditions; transmitting to the terminal device information indicative of a first subset of TCI conditions and a second subset of TCI conditions; 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

36. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam failure detection having been changed prior to a period of time following receipt of a BFR request in a first slot; Executing the BFR procedure includes: transmitting a response to the BFR request to the terminal device in a second slot; The second slot is the period after the first slot.

27. The method of claim 26.

37. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to the absence of a reference signal for beam obstruction detection changed within a time window set for transmitting a response to a BFR request; Executing the BFR procedure includes: transmitting the response to the BFR request within the time window.

27. The method of claim 26.

38. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that the BFR procedure is to be performed in response to no reference signal for beam obstruction detection being changed within a period corresponding to a predetermined number of symbols; Executing the BFR procedure includes: applying the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission after the predetermined number of symbols from transmitting a response to the BFR request.

27. The method of claim 26.

39. Determining whether the BFR procedure is performed comprises: determining that a TCI state is changed and that the BFR procedure is performed until a beam corresponding to the changed TCI state differs from a beam indicated in a BFR request from the terminal device; Executing the BFR procedure includes: applying the beam indicated in the BFR request for signal transmission a predetermined number of symbols after transmitting a response to the BFR request.

27. The method of claim 26.

40. Applying the beam indicated in the BFR request applying the beam indicated in the BFR request until the network device switches to a predetermined TCI state of the set of TCI states after applying the beam indicated in the BFR request.

40. The method of claim 39.

41. Executing the BFR procedure includes: discarding a subset of TCI conditions from the set of TCI conditions; The subset of TCI conditions is applied after a beam disturbance.

27. The method of claim 26.

42. Executing the BFR procedure includes: discarding a subset of TCI conditions from the set of TCI conditions; The subset of TCI conditions is determined based on a first TCI condition of the set of TCI conditions that is applied after a beam failure and a TCI condition of the set of TCI conditions that is applied at or after the application of a beam indicated in a BFR request.

27. The method of claim 26.

43. A processor configured to cause a terminal device to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 25. Terminal device.

44. A processor configured to cause a network device to perform the method according to any one of claims 26 to 42. Network device.

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