User equipment, network node, and methods performed therein for beam failure detection and recovery for sbfd

Abstract

Embodiments herein disclose, for example, a method performed by a UE (112) for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation. The UE (112) performs: monitoring (102) for at least one BFI in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol, wherein the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol are monitored separately; based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol, declaring (104) a BF, and / or triggering (104) a BFR procedure; and transmitting (106), to a network node (110), information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure.

Description

[0001] USER EQUIPMENT, NETWORK NODE, AND METHODS PERFORMED THEREIN

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments herein relate to a user equipment (UE), a network node, and methods performed therein regarding wireless communication. Furthermore, a computer program product and a computer readable storage medium are also provided herein. In particular, embodiments herein relate to handling communication, such as beam failures, in a wireless communication network.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Transmission and reception from a node, e.g. a terminal in a cellular system, can be multiplexed in the frequency domain or in the time domain, or combinations thereof. FIGURE 1 illustrates Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD). Specifically, as illustrated to the left in FIGURE 1, FDD implies that downlink and uplink transmission take place in different, sufficiently separated, frequency bands. As illustrated to the right in FIGURE 1, TDD implies that downlink and uplink transmission take place in different, non-overlapping time slots. Thus, TDD can operate in unpaired spectrum, whereas FDD requires paired spectrum.

[0006] Typically, the structure of the transmitted signal in a communication system is organized in the form of a frame structure.

[0007] In more detail, the following two information elements (IE) are defined in current specifications. The TDD pattern is typically configured with at least the first IE and optionally the 2ndIE:

[0008] • TDD-DL-UL-ConfigCommon (cell-specific)

[0009] • TDD-DL-UL-ConfigDedicated (UE-specific)

[0010] The first IE is cell specific, common to all UEs, and is provided by broadcast signaling. It provides the number of slots in the TDD pattern via a reference subcarrier spacing and a periodicity such that the S-slot pattern repeats every S slots. This IE allows for very flexible configuration of the pattern characterized as follows:

[0011] • A number of full downlink slots at the beginning of the pattern configured by the parameter nDownlinkSlots

[0012] • A number of full uplink slots at the end of the pattern configured by the parameter nUplinkSlots

[0013] • A number of downlink ('D') symbols following the full downlink (DL) slots configured by the parameter nDownlinkSymbols

[0014] • A number of uplink ('U') symbols preceding the full downlink slots configured by the parameter nUplinkSlots

[0015] • If there is a gap between the last downlink symbol and the first uplink (UL) symbol, then all symbols in the gap are characterized as flexible ('F'). A symbol classified as 'F' can be used for downlink or uplink. A UE determines the direction in one of the following two ways: o Detecting a downlink control information (DCI) that schedules / triggers a DL signal / channel, e.g., physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) or schedules / triggers an UL signal / channel, e.g. physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), sounding reference signal (SRS), etc. o By dedicated (UE-specific) signaling of the IE TDD-DL-UL- ConfigDedicated. This parameter overrides some or all of the 'F' symbols in the pattern, thus providing a semi-static indication of whether a symbol is classified as 'D' or 'U'

[0016] • Optionally, a 2ndpattern that is concatenated to the first pattern can be configured as above. If a 2ndpattern is configured, the constraint is that the sum of the periodicities of the two patterns must evenly divide 20 ms.

[0017] FIGURE 2 illustrates an exemplary TDD DL / UL pattern consisting of 5=5 slots. A larger black and white version of FIGURE 2 is located at the end of this document in the appendix. Specifically, the pattern consists of 3 full 'D' slots, 1 full 'U' slot, with a mixed slot in between consisting of 4 'D' symbols and 3 'U' symbols. The remaining 7 symbols in the mixed slot are classified as 'F.' TDD-DL-UL-ConfigCommon configures the cell-specific pattern, and TDD-DL-UL-ConfigDedicated (if provided) UE-specifically configures the direction for some or all of the 'F' symbols in the cell-specific pattern.

[0018] If a UE is not configured with TDD-DL-UL-ConfigDedicated, then the pattern at the top of the diagram is what it assumes. As stated above, the network can make use of the 'F' symbols flexibly, by scheduling / triggering either an uplink or a downlink signal / channel in a UE specific manner. This allows for very dynamic behavior: the direction is not known to the UE a priori; rather, the direction becomes known once the UE detects a DCI scheduling / triggering a particular DL or UL signal / channel.

[0019] In contrast, the DL / UL direction for some or all of the 'F' symbols in a particular slot can be provided to the UE in a semi-static manner by radio resource control (RRC) configuring the UE with T DD-DL-UL-ConfigDedicated. The lower part of FIGURE 2 shows 3 exemplary configurations for overriding 'F' symbols in Slot 3. If the IE indicates 'allDownlink' or 'allUplink' for a particular slot, or slots, then all 'F' symbols in the slot are converted to either 'D' or 'U,' respectively. If the IE indicates 'explicit,' then a number of symbols at the beginning of the slot and / or a number of symbols at the end of the slot are indicated as 'D' and 'U,' respectively. In the example below, the first 7 and the last 5 are indicated as 'D' and 'U', which converts some of the 'F' symbols, but not all in this example, to 'D' and 'U.'

[0020] The key behavior in the above is that the UE-specific IE TDD-DL-UL- ConfigDedicated can only override, i.e., specify 'D' or 'U', for symbols that are configured as 'F' by the cell-specific IE TDD-DL-UL-ConfigCommon. In other words, a UE does not expect to have a 'D' symbol converted to 'U' or vice versa.

[0021] Subband Full Duplex

[0022] As described above, in a conventional TDD system, entire carrier BW or all carriers in the same frequency band need to be utilizing the same DL transmission or UL reception directions. FIGURE 3 illustrates conventional TDD or carrier systems.

[0023] For the Rel-18 evolution of the NR system, 3 GPP has decided to study the technical feasibilities and potential benefits of subband full duplex (SBFD) systems. FIGURE 4 illustrates a subband full duplex system.

[0024] In such a system, a portion of a wide bandwidth carrier may be used for a different direction than that of the rest of the carrier. This is illustrated in the left-hand side of FIGURE 4. That is, unlike a conventional TDD system as shown on the left-hand side of FIGURE 3 where the entire bandwidth is used for DL transmission in the first three slots, the center portion of the SBFD carrier is used for UL reception while the rest of the carrier continues to be used for DL transmission as shown in the left-hand side of FIGURE 4.

[0025] Similarly, instead of utilizing all carriers for the same DL or UL directions in a conventional TDD system as shown in the right-hand side of FIGURE 3, some carriers in the SBFD system can be used for a different direction than that of the other carriers as shown in the right-hand side of FIGURE 4.

[0026] In the 3 GPP Rel-18 study, the scope has been limited such that in SBFD operation, only gNBs transmit DL and receive UL simultaneously. An individual UE is scheduled in only one direction, such as DL or UL, at a time.

[0027] Rel-18 PRACH Configuration

[0028] An exemplary physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration according to existing, release(Rel)-17, specifications is described here. The example is for frequency range 1 (FR1) for unpaired spectrum, and uses PRACH configuration index 118 from as shown in Table 1, which corresponds to Table 6.3.3.2-3 of existing, Rel-17, TS 38.211 specification v.18.1.0 as follows:

[0029] Table 1 : Random access configurations for FR1 and unpaired spectrum

[0030] FIGURE 5 illustrates the example PRACH configuration from the existing Release 17 specification, which assumes the PRACH subcarrier spacing (SCS) is 30 kHz. The value x = 1 in Table 1 above means that the PRACH configuration period is 2 radio frames (20 ms), and the value y = 1 means that the random access channel (RACH) occasions (RO) occur in the 2ndframe of this period. Within this frame, the ROs occur in subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9. With 30 kHz SCS, there are two slots per subframe. Since the number of PRACH slots within a subframe is equal to 1 for this example, the 2ndslot of the subframe contains the ROs according to current specifications. This means that the ROs are contained in slots 5, 6, 9, 14, 17, and 19. In this example PRACH format A3, comprising a 6 symbol duration, is used, hence there are two back-to-back ROs per slot starting at symbol 0 of the slot. For this example, we assume that the cell-specific (common) TDD UL / DL pattern is D-D-D-D-U, which is also shown in FIGURE 5. In the existing TS 38.213 specification v.18.1.0, the UE assumes that a RACH occasion is valid if it is within UL symbols according to the following text extract:

[0031] For unpaired spectrum, if a UE is not provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, a PRACH occasion in a PRACH slot is valid if it does not precede a synchronization signal (SS)Zphysical block channel (PBCH) block in the PRACH slot and starts at leastA'gap symbols after a last SS / PBCH block (SSB) reception symbol, whereNg»p is provided in Table 8.1-2 and, if channelAccessMode = "semiStatic" is provided, does not overlap with a set of consecutive symbols before the start of a next channel occupancy time where the UE does not transmit [15, TS 37.213]. the candidate SS / PBCH block index of the SS / PBCH block corresponds to the SS / PBCH block index provided by ssb- PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon , as described in clause 4.1

[0032] - If a UE is provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, a PRACH occasion in a PRACH slot is valid if it is within UL symbols, or it does not precede a SS / PBCH block in the PRACH

[0033] 8.1-2, and if channelAccessMode = "semiStatic" is provided, does not overlap with a set of consecutive symbols before the start of a next channel occupancy time where there shall not be any transmissions, as described in [15, TS 37.213] the candidate SS / PBCH block index of the SS / PBCH block corresponds to the SS / PBCH block index provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon, as described in clause 4.1.

[0034] (See, 38.2 J 3 v.18.1.0 Section 8.1).

[0035] With the D-D-D-D-U pattern, it turns out that only slots 9 and 19 contain valid ROs. The ROs in slots in 5, 7, 15, and 17 are invalidated, as indicated by the X's in Fig. 5.

[0036] In the current TS 38.331 v.18.1.0 specification, ROs are configured in the frequency domain via two parameters: msgl -FDM which indicates the number of ROs in the frequency domain (1, 2, 4, or 8) within an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and msgl -FrequencyStart which indicates the lowest indexed resource block (RB) in the active bandwidth part (BWP) of the first RO in the frequency domain.

[0037] RACH-ConfigGeneric information element

[0038] Beam Failure Detection (BFD) and Recovery Procedure

[0039] As described in clause 5.17 of TS 38.321 v 18.1.0, the medium access control (MAC) entity may be configured by RRC per Serving Cell or per BFD-reference signal (RS) set with a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure which is used for indicating to the serving gNB of a new SSB or CSI-RS when beam failure is detected on the serving SSB(s) / CSI-RS(s). Beam failure is detected by counting beam failure instance indication from the lower layers to the MAC entity. If beamFailur eRecoveryConfig is reconfigured by upper layers during an ongoing Random Access procedure for beam failure recovery for special cell (SpCell), the MAC entity shall stop the ongoing Random Access procedure and initiate a Random Access procedure using the new configuration. The Serving Cell is configured with two BFD-RS sets if and only if failur eDetectionSet 1 and failureDetectionSet2 are configured for the active DL BWP of the Serving Cell. When the secondary cell group (SCG) is deactivated, the UE performs beam failure detection on the primary secondary cell (PSCell) if bfd-and-RLM is set to true.

[0040] RRC configures the following parameters in the beamFailureRecoveryConfig, beamFailureRecoverySpCellConfig, beamFailureRecoverySCellConfig and the radioLinkMonitoringConfig for the Beam Failure Detection and Recovery procedure: beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for the beam failure detection (per Serving Cell or per BFD-RS set of Serving Cell configured with two BFD-RS sets);

[0041] - beamFailureDetectionTimer for the beam failure detection (per Serving Cell or per BFD-RS set of Serving Cell configured with two BFD-RS sets);

[0042] - beamFailureRecoveryTimer for the beam failure recovery procedure for SpCell;

[0043] - rsrp-ThresholdSSB'. an RSRP threshold for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0044] - rsrp-ThresholdBFR'. an RSRP threshold for the SCell beam failure recovery or for the beam failure recovery of BFD-RS set of Serving Cell;

[0045] - power RampingStep'. powerRampingStep for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0046] - powerRampingStepHighPriority. powerRampingStepHighPriority for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0047] - preambleReceivedTargetPower. preambleReceivedTargetPower for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0048] - preambleTransMax'. preambleTransMax for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0049] - scalingFactorBI'. scalingFactorBI for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0050] - ssb-perRACH-Occasiorr. ssb-perRACH-Occasion for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0051] - ra-Response Window : the time window to monitor response(s) for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0052] - prach-Configurationlndex'. prach-Configurationlndex for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0053] - ra-ssb-OccasionMasklndex'. ra-ssb-OccasionMasklndex for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0054] - ra-OccasionList'. ra-OccasionList for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0055] - candidateBeamRSList'. list of candidate beams for SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0056] - candidateBeamRS-List-rl6'. list of candidate beams for SCell beam failure recovery or list of candidate beams for beam failure recovery of a Serving Cell for BFD-RS set one; candidateBeamRS-List2-rl7'. list of candidate beams for beam failure recovery of a Serving Cell for BFD-RS set two.

[0057] The following UE variables are used for the beam failure detection procedure:

[0058] - BFI COUNTER (per Serving Cell or per BFD-RS set of Serving Cell configured with two BFD-RS sets): counter for beam failure instance indication which is initially set to 0.

[0059] The MAC entity shall for each Serving Cell configured for beam failure detection:

[0060] 1> if the Serving Cell is configured with two BFD-RS sets:

[0061] 2> if beam failure instance indication for a BFD-RS set has been received from lower layers:

[0062] 3> start or restart the beamFailureDetectionTimer of the BFD-RS set;

[0063] 3> increment BFI CO UNTER of the BFD-RS set by 1;

[0064] 3> if BFI COUNTER of the BFD-RS set >= beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount

[0065] 4> trigger a BFR for this BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell;

[0066] 2> if BFR is triggered for both BFD-RS sets of the SpCell and the Beam Failure Recovery procedure is not successfully completed for any of the BFD-RS sets:

[0067] 3> initiate a Random Access procedure (see clause 5.1) on the SpCell;

[0068] 2> if the Serving Cell is SpCell and the Random Access procedure initiated for beam failure recovery of both BFD-RS sets of SpCell is successfully completed (see clause 5.1):

[0069] 3> set BFI COUNTER of each BFD-RS set of SpCell to 0.

[0070] 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed.

[0071] 2> if the beamFailureDetectionTimer of this BFD-RS set expires; or

[0072] 2> if beamFailureDetectionTimer, beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount, or any of the reference signals used for beam failure detection is reconfigured by upper layers or by the BFD-RS Indication MAC CE associated with a BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell; or

[0073] 2> if the reference signal(s) associated with a BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell used for beam failure detection is changed:

[0074] 3> set BFI COUNTER of the BFD-RS set to 0.

[0075] 2> if a PDCCH addressed to C-RNTI indicating uplink grant for a new transmission is received for the HARQ process used for the transmission of the Enhanced BFR MAC CE or Truncated Enhanced BFR MAC CE which contains beam failure recovery information of this BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell:

[0076] 3> set BFI COUNTER of the BFD-RS set to 0;

[0077] 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed for this BFD-RS set and cancel all the triggered BFRs of this BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell.

[0078] 2> if the Serving Cell is SCell and the SCell is deactivated as specified in clause 5.9:

[0079] 3> set BFI COUNTER of each BFD-RS set of SCell to 0; 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed and cancel all the triggered BFRs of all BFD-RS sets of the Serving Cell.

[0080] 1> else:

[0081] 2> if beam failure instance indication has been received from lower layers:

[0082] 3> start or restart the beamFailureDetectionTimer',

[0083] 3> increment BF7 COUNTER by 1;

[0084] 3> if BFI COUNTER >= beamFailurelnstanceMaxCoun .

[0085] 4> if the Serving Cell is SCell:

[0086] 5> trigger a BFR for this Serving Cell;

[0087] 4> else if the Serving Cell is PSCell and, the SCG is deactivated:

[0088] 5> if beam failure of the PSCell has not been indicated to upper layers since the SCG was deactivated or since the deactivated SCG was last reconfigured with BFD-RS:

[0089] 6> indicate beam failure of the PSCell to upper layers.

[0090] NOTE: After beam failure is indicated to upper layers, the UE may stop the beamFailureDetectionTimer and lower layer beam failure indication while BFI COUNTER >= beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for the deactivated SCG.

[0091] 4> else:

[0092] 5> initiate a Random Access procedure (see clause 5.1) on the SpCell;

[0093] 5> if beam failure is detected for an NCR-MT :

[0094] 6> indicate to NCR-Fwd to cease forwarding.

[0095] 2> if the beamFailureDetectionTimer expires; or

[0096] 2> if beamFailureDetectionTimer , beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount, or any of the reference signals used for beam failure detection is reconfigured by upper layers associated with this Serving Cell; or

[0097] 2> if the reference signal(s) associated with this Serving Cell used for beam failure detection is changed:

[0098] 3> set BFI COUNTER to 0.

[0099] 2> if the Serving Cell is SpCell and the Random Access procedure initiated for SpCell beam failure recovery is successfully completed (see clause 5.1):

[0100] 3> set BFI COUNTER to 0;

[0101] 3> stop the beamFailureRecoveryTimer, if configured;

[0102] 3> if the Random Access procedure was triggered by beam failure recovery for NCR-MT:

[0103] 4> indicate to NCR-Fwd to resume forwarding using the last forwarding configuration received by NCR-MT as part of side control information before beam failure detection;

[0104] 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed. 2> else if the Serving Cell is SCell, and a PDCCH addressed to C-RNTI indicating uplink grant for a new transmission is received for the HARQ process used for the transmission of the MAC CE for BFR which contains beam failure recovery information of this Serving Cell; or

[0105] 2> if the SCell is deactivated as specified in clause 5.9:

[0106] 3> set BFI COUNTER to 0;

[0107] 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed and cancel all the triggered BFRs for this Serving Cell.

[0108] The MAC entity shall:

[0109] 1> if the Beam Failure Recovery procedure determines that at least one BFR has been triggered and not cancelled for an SCell for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed and if none of the Serving Cell(s) of this MAC entity are configured with two BFD-RS sets:

[0110] 2> if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the BFR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of LCP:

[0111] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the BFR MAC CE.

[0112] 2> else if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the Truncated BFR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of LCP:

[0113] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the Truncated BFR MAC CE.

[0114] 2> else:

[0115] 3> trigger the SR for SCell beam failure recovery for each SCell for which BFR has been triggered, not cancelled, and for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed.

[0116] 1> if the Beam Failure Recovery procedure determines that at least one BFR for any BFD-RS set has been triggered and not cancelled for an SCell for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed; or

[0117] 1> if the Beam Failure Recovery procedure determines that at least one BFR for only one BFD-RS set has been triggered and not cancelled for an SpCell for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed; or

[0118] 1> if the Beam Failure Recovery procedure determines that at least one BFR has been triggered and not cancelled for an SCell for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed and if at least one Serving Cell of this MAC entity is configured with two BFD-RS sets:

[0119] 2> if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the Enhanced BFR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of LCP:

[0120] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the Enhanced BFR MAC CE. 2> else if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the Truncated Enhanced BFR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of LCP:

[0121] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the Truncated Enhanced BFR MAC CE.

[0122] 2> else:

[0123] 3> trigger the SR for beam failure recovery of each BFD-RS set for which BFR has been triggered, not cancelled, and for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed;

[0124] 3> trigger the SR for SCell beam failure recovery for each SCell for which BFR has been triggered, not cancelled, and for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed.

[0125] All BFRs triggered for an SCell shall be cancelled when a MAC protocol data unit (PDU) is transmitted and this PDU includes a MAC control element (CE) for BFR which contains beam failure information of that SCell. All BFRs triggered for a BFD-RS set of a Serving Cell shall be cancelled when a MAC PDU is transmitted and this PDU includes an Enhanced BFR MAC CE or Truncated Enhanced BFR MAC CE which contains beam failure recovery information of that BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell.

[0126] There currently exist certain challenge(s), however. For example, for SBFD, Work Item (WI) in Rel-19, RANI has made the below agreements regarding CSI reporting:

[0127] Agreement

[0128] For CSI report associated with periodic / semi-per sistent CSI-RS, discuss and decide whether to support the following options.

[0129] Option A: For separate CSI reports on SBFD and non-SBFD, one CSI-ReportConfig is associated with CSI-RS(s) restricted to SBFD symbols only and the second CSI-ReportConfig is associated with CSI-RS(s) restricted to non-SBFD symbols only. o gNB configuration may not ensure that the CSI-RS associated with each CSI-ReportConfig is confined to either SBFD symbols or non-SBFD symbols only.

[0130] ■ For the CSI-ReportConfig associated with CSI-RS(s) restricted to SBFD symbols only, only CSI-RS transmission occasions within SBFD symbols are used for CSI derivation. For the CSI-ReportConfig associated with CSI-RS(s) restricted to non-SBFD symbols only, only CSI-RS transmission occasions within non-SBFD symbols are used for CSI derivation.

[0131] — Option B: Enhance Rel-18 NES CSI reporting framework to support one CSI-ReportConfig with one sub-configuration associated with SBFD symbols and the other sub-configuration associated with non- SBFD

[0132] SUMMARY

[0133] As part of developing embodiments herein one or more issues have been identified. From the above agreement, it is observed that a SBFD-aware UE may support separate CSI- RS monitoring and CSI report for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols, separately. This is based on the fact that the UE may experience different propagation characteristics between SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols. Thus, the UE may apply different transmission configuration indication (TCI) states / spatial filters, power control and UL timing alignment between SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols. It is also reasonable to assume that the UE may perform beam / CSI measurements within both SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols. In this case, due to distinct measurement results and propagation characteristics between SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols, the UE may need to monitor beam failure instances during SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols, separately. This is expected to be one issue which needs to be addressed. In addition, upon detection of beam failure (BF), the UE initiates a RACH procedure towards the gNB. During the RACH procedure, the UE includes a BFR MAC control element (CE) indicating BF detection in the serving cell. However, the BFR MAC CE cannot indicate whether BF is detected in SBFD symbols or non SBFD symbols.

[0134] According to previous methods, i.e., legacy methods, the UE performs BF detection solely based on DL RS measurements. However, for SBFD operation, the UE performs UL transmissions in SBFD symbols using UL subband, in addition to UL transmissions in non- SBFD symbols, i.e., UL symbols. Due to different UL transmission propagation characteristics between SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols, it may occur that the UE suffers UL transmission block in non SBFD symbols, but not in SBFD symbols. However, the legacy BFD and BFR procedures cannot reflect such failures. Therefore, it is necessary to study the above issues and develop one or more solutions. An object of embodiments herein is to provide a mechanism to handle beam failure in an efficient manner.

[0135] According to an aspect of embodiments herein the object is achieved by providing a method performed by a UE for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation. The UE monitors for at least one BFI in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol, wherein the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol are monitored separately. The UE declares, based on the at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol, a BF and / or triggers a BFR procedure. The UE then transmits to a network node, information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure.

[0136] According to another aspect of embodiments herein the object is achieved by providing a method performed a network node for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation. The network node transmits, to a UE, first information configuring the UE to separately monitor for at least one BFI in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non- SBFD symbol. The network node transmits, to the UE, second information configuring the UE to declare a BF, and / or triggering a BFR procedure based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol. The network node receives, from the UE, third information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure; and takes at least one action based on the third information associated with the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure.

[0137] According to another aspect of embodiments herein the object is achieved by providing a UE and a network node configured to perform the methods herein, respectively.

[0138] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to the above mentioned or other challenges. For example, methods and systems are provided for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation. According to certain embodiments, for example, Beam failure detection and beam failure recovery are performed by a SBFD- aware UE separately for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols, or for SBFD operation and non SBFD operation separately.

[0139] According to certain embodiments, beam failure detection and beam failure recovery may be performed by a SBFD-aware UE considering UL failure instances in addition to DL failure instances. Detailed examples on possible implementation of the MAC specs for proposed mechanisms are also covered.

[0140] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). For example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of enabling a SBFD-aware UE to perform BFD and BFR separately for SBFD operation and non SBFD operation. Thus, the gNodeB (gNB) can have the best knowledge at the UE side when BF has occurred. Therefore, the gNB can instruct the UE to recover from the BF more efficiently.

[0141] As another example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of achieving a better tradeoff between the performance enhancement with SBFD operation and the negative impact to the performance of the legacy system, i.e., non SBFD operation.

[0142] The teachings of certain embodiments may improve the data rate, latency, and / or power consumption.

[0143] Other advantages may be readily apparent to one having skill in the art. Certain embodiments may have none, some, or all of the recited advantages.

[0144] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0145] Embodiments will now be described in more detail in relation to the enclosed drawings, in which:

[0146] Fig. 1 shows an overview depicting TDD and FDD according to prior art;

[0147] Fig. 2 shows an overview depicting TDD pattern according to prior art;

[0148] Fig. 3 shows an overview depicting conventional TDD or carrier systems;

[0149] Fig. 4 shows an overview depicting SBFB systems according to prior art;

[0150] Fig. 5 illustrates the example PRACH configuration according to prior art;

[0151] Fig. 6 shows an overview depicting a communication system according to embodiments herein;

[0152] Fig. 7 shows a block diagram depicting embodiments of a method performed by a UE according to embodiments herein;

[0153] Fig. 8 shows a block diagram depicting embodiments of a method performed by a network node according to embodiments herein;

[0154] Fig. 9 shows a block diagram depicting control element according to some embodiments herein; Fig. 10 shows a block diagram depicting control element according to some embodiments herein;

[0155] Fig. 11 schematically illustrates embodiments of a communication system,

[0156] Fig. 12 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a UE,

[0157] Fig. 13 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a network node, and

[0158] Fig. 14 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a virtualization environment.

[0159] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0160] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0161] Embodiments herein relate to communication systems in general. Fig. 6 is a schematic overview depicting a communication system 1. The communication system 1 comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs. The communication system 1 may use one or a number of different technologies. Embodiments herein relate to recent technology trends that are of particular interest in a New Radio (NR) context, however, embodiments are also applicable in existing and upcoming wireless communications systems such as e.g. 6G, LTE or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA).

[0162] In the communication system 1, a UE 112 exemplified herein as a wireless device such as a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) station (STA), a STA and / or a wireless terminal, is comprised communicating via e.g. one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. radio access network (RAN), to one or more core networks (CN). It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “UE” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communications terminal, user equipment, narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) device, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station capable of communicating using radio communication with a radio network node within an area served by the radio network node.

[0163] The communication system 1 comprises a first network node 110 or just network node, providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a first service area or first cell, of a first radio access technology (RAT), such as 6G, NR, LTE, or similar. The network node 110 may be a transmission and reception point such as an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a gNodeB (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a NodeB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node capable of communicating with a UE within the area served by the first network node depending e.g. on the first radio access technology and terminology used. The first network node may be referred to as a serving network node wherein the service area may be referred to as a serving cell, and the serving network node communicates with the UE in form of DL transmissions to the UE and UL transmissions from the UE. It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage.

[0164] According to embodiments herein the UE 112 monitors for at least one BFI in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol, wherein the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol are monitored separately. The UE 112 declares, based on the at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol, a BF and / or triggers a BFR procedure. The UE 112 then transmits to the network node 110, information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure.

[0165] As used herein ‘node’ may be the network node 110 or the UE 112. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi -standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB (eNB), gNodeB (gNB), Master eNB (MeNB), Secondary eNB (SeNB), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit, e.g., in a gNB, Distributed Unit, e.g., in a gNB, Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, cloud- RAN (C-RAN), access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node, e.g., Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), etc., Operations & Maintenance (O&M), Operations Support System (OSS), Self Organizing Network (SON), positioning node, e.g. Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLC), etc. The terms network node and radio network node are used interchangeably herein. Another example of a node is UE, which is a non-limiting term and refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and / or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, vehicular to vehicular (V2V), machine type UE, MTC UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), Unified Serial Bus (USB) dongles, etc.

[0166] The term radio access technology (RAT), may refer to any RAT such as, for example, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRA), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRA), narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT), WiFi, Bluetooth, next generation RAT, NR, 4G, 5G, etc. Any of the equipment denoted by the terms node, network node or radio network node may be capable of supporting a single or multiple RATs.

[0167] The term signal or radio signal used herein can be any physical signal or physical channel. Examples of downlink (DL) physical signals are reference signal (RS) such as Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) signals in SS / PBCH block (SSB), discovery reference signal (DRS), Cell Specific Reference Signal (CRS), Positioning Reference Signal (PRS), etc. RS may be periodic. For example, RS occasions carrying one or more RSs may occur with a certain periodicity, e.g., 20 ms, 40 ms, etc.. The RS may also be aperiodically transmitted.

[0168] Each SSB carries New Radio-Primary Synchronization Signal (NR-PSS), New RadioSecondary Synchronization Signal (NR-SSS) and New Radio-Physical Broadcast Channel (NR-PBCH) in four successive symbols. One or multiple Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSB) are transmitted in one SSB burst which is repeated with certain periodicity such as, for example, 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, and 160 ms. The UE is configured with information about SSB on cells of certain carrier frequency by one or more SS / PBCH block measurement timing configuration (SMTC) configurations. The SMTC configuration comprising parameters such as SMTC periodicity, SMTC occasion length in time or duration, SMTC time offset with regard to reference time, e.g., serving cell’s system frame number (SFN) , etc. Therefore, SMTC occasion may also occur with certain periodicity, e.g., 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, and 160 ms. Examples of UL physical signals are reference signals such as SRS, DMRS, etc. The term physical channel refers to any channel carrying higher layer information e.g. data, control etc. Examples of physical channels are Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Short PUSCH (sPUCCH), Short PDSCH (sPDSCH), Short PUCCH (sPUCCH), Short PUSCH (sPUSCH), MTC PDCCH (MPDCCH), Narrowband PBCH (NPBCH), Narrowband PDCCH (NPDCCH), Narrowband PDSCH (NPDSCH), Narrowband PUSCH (NPUSCH), Enhanced PDCCH (E- PDCCH), etc.

[0169] The term time resource used herein may correspond to any type of physical resource or radio resource expressed in terms of length of time. Examples of time resources are symbol, time slot, subframe, radio frame, transmission time interval (TTI), interleaving time, slot, sub-slot, mini-slot, system frame number (SFN) cycle, hyper-SFN (H-SFN) cycle, etc.

[0170] As described herein, methods and systems are provided for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation. According to certain embodiments, for example, Beam failure detection and beam failure recovery are performed by a SBFD-aware UE separately for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols, or for SBFD operation and non SBFD operation separately.

[0171] According to certain embodiments, beam failure detection and beam failure recovery are performed by a SBFD-aware UE considering UL failure instances in addition to DL failure instances.

[0172] Detailed examples on possible implementation of the MAC specs for proposed mechanisms are also covered.

[0173] The example embodiments described herein are applicable to SBFD-aware UEs. The term SBFD-aware UE means a UE which is capable of operating in a cell configured with SBFD feature, i.e., the cell / the gNB transmits DL and receive UL simultaneously in SBFD slots and symbols. The UE can be aware of SBFD configurations so that the UE knows which slots / symbols are SBFD capable, which are also referred to as SBFD slots / symbols. This doesn’t mean that the UE needs to support full duplex operation. The UE may or may not support full duplex operation. The UE may, however, support the functionality allowing the gNB to operate in SBFD. The term “non SBFD slots / symbols” means “UL slots / symbols” as in legacy.

[0174] FIGURE 7 illustrates an example method by the UE 112 for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation, according to certain embodiments. As illustrated, the method includes at least one of a monitoring action 102, a declaring and / or triggering action 104, and a transmitting action 106. It is recognized that FIGURE 7 is provided as an example of a method for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation and may include more or fewer or additional actions such as receiving action 101, and / or determining action 103 marked with dashed boxes..

[0175] The UE 112 monitors for at least one BFI in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol, wherein the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol are monitored separately.

[0176] Based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol, the UE 112 declares a BF, and / or triggers a BFR, procedure.

[0177] The UE 112 transmits to the network node 110, information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure.

[0178] For example, at action 102, based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol, the UE 112 may, in action 104, declare a BF and / or trigger a BFR procedure. For example, the UE 112 may monitor for at least one BFI, e.g., the MAC layer monitors and / or receives BFI from the physical layer, in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol separately. Alternatively, the UE 112 is configured, e.g., configured by the network node 110, to monitor BFI in SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols separately. The UE 112 may receive, action 101, from the network node 110, configuration information configuring the UE 112 to separately monitor the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0179] The UE 112 may monitor for the at least one BFI in at least one downlink beam transmission and / or downlink symbol.

[0180] The UE 112 may monitor for the at least one BFI in at least one uplink beam transmission and / or uplink symbol.

[0181] At action 104, for example, when the number of BFIs has reached a configured number, e.g., BFI COUNTER >= beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount, the UE 112 may trigger a BFR procedure, i.e., in other words, declares a Beam failure detection and initiate a recovery procedure accordingly. During the BFR procedure, the UE 112 also indicates to the network node 110 that the BF is detected during SBFD symbols or non SBFD symbols. The UE 10 may determine, action 103, that the number of BFIs is greater than or equal to a threshold, and wherein the beam failure and / or the BFR procedure may be declared based on the number of BFIs being greater than or equal to the threshold. The UE 112 may, based on monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one uplink beam transmission and / or uplink symbol, determining at least one of: a number of retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a second threshold; a time period associated with retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a third threshold; at least one measurement quantity for the at least one uplink beam transmission is less than or equal to a fourth threshold for a time period; and an indication has been received from the network node that the network node suffers reception failure or decoding failure for the at least one uplink beam transmission.

[0182] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered based on one of: only uplink beam transmission failures, only downlink beam reception failures, and both downlink and uplink beam transmission failures.

[0183] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered only after BF is detected in both the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0184] The UE 112 may monitor for the at least one BFI by: monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol based on a first BFR configuration; and monitoring for the at one BFI in the at least one non-SBFD symbol based on a second BFR configuration.

[0185] The first configuration may comprise a first RS set, and the second BFR configuration may comprise a second RS set, the second RS set being different from the first RS set.

[0186] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF detected in the first RS set or the second RS set.

[0187] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0188] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set. The UE 112 may monitor for the at least one BFI by monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol based on a common BFR configuration.

[0189] The information transmitted, action 106, to the network node 110 may comprise at least one of: an indication that the BF occurred due to at leas tone SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one non-SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one DL failure instance; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one UL failure instance; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed UL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed UL beam; at least one candidate RS set preferred by the UE; and at least one candidate beam preferred by the UE.

[0190] The information may be transmitted to the network node 110 via at least one of: at least one MAC CE; at least one PUSCH resource associated with SBFD operation; at least one PUSCH resource associated with non-SBFD operation; at least one RO for a RACH procedure; at least one RO configured for SBFD operation; and at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0191] The BF may be detected on at least one SBFD and the information may be transmitted to the network node 110 via at least one RO configured for SBFD operation.

[0192] The BF may be detected on at least one non-SBFD and the information may be transmitted to the network node 110 via at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0193] The BF may be detected on at least one SBFD and the information may be transmitted to the network node 110 using a PRACH preamble configured for SBFD operation. The BF may be detected on at least one non-SBFD and the information may be transmitted to the network node 110 using a PRACH preamble configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0194] A characteristic associated with the information transmitted to the network node 110 may indicate a preference of the UE for SBFD scheduling.

[0195] A characteristic associated with the information transmitted to the network node 110 may indicate a preference of the UE for non-SBFD scheduling.

[0196] In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 monitors BFI only in legacy DL symbols. This is motivated by the fact that similar, if not exactly the same, DL beams are used in both SBFD and non SBFD symbols to serve the UE 112. Therefore, it is sufficient to monitor reference signal only in legacy DL symbols for beam failure detection purpose. This solution requires minimum specification changes.

[0197] In another particular embodiment, the UE 112 also monitors at least one of the below UL failure instances during uplink transmissions on one or multiple active serving UL beams: a. Retransmissions of any uplink transmission have reached a configured maximum number o A retransmission may be triggered at upper layer such as radio link control (RLC) or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), or transmission control protocol (TCP); o A retransmission may be triggered at lower layer such as hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), or physical (PHY) layer, such as transport block (TB) repetitions; o Any uplink transmission such as PUSCH, or PUCCH, or SRS, or RACH etc is considered b. Retransmissions of any uplink transmission have reached a configured maximum time period however, there is no positive acknowledgement or even any acknowledgement / response received. o Acknowledgement or response may be in different forms for different uplink transmissions. As non-limiting examples,

[0198] - In case PUSCH, it is a HARQ acknowledgement (ACK) or non-acknowledgement (NACK). - In case PUCCH, it is a DL resource assignment or an UL grant.

[0199] - For any uplink transmission, the response may be an RRC signalling or a MAC CE to trigger further UE actions in reaction to the previous transmitted UL transmission.

[0200] C. other measurement quantities for the uplink transmissions are below a configured threshold for a configured time period, for example in terms of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RS SI), Signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) or channel occupancy or listen before talk (LBT) failure statistics, e.g., number of LBT failures, ratio of LBT failure / success, etc., transmission power etc. Some measurement results are not directly measured by the UE. Therefore, the other node such as the network node 110 may forward its measurements to the UE. d. Indicators from the network node 110 indicating that the network node 110 suffers reception failures or decoding failures for the recent UL transmissions on one or multiple serving UL beams.

[0201] As an example, in a particular embodiment, the UE 112 declares BF for current serving beams considering only UL transmission failure instances.

[0202] As an example, in a particular embodiment, the UE 112 declares BF for current serving beams considering both DL failure instances and UL failure instances.

[0203] As an example, in a particular embodiment, the UE 112 declares BF for current serving DL (reception) beams considering DL failure instances.

[0204] As an example, in a particular embodiment, the UE 112 declares BF for current serving UL (transmission) beams considering UL failure instances.

[0205] In another particular embodiment, the UE 112 initiates the BFR procedure only when BF is detected in both SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols. In this case, the UE 112 may detect BF in either SBFD symbols or non SBFD symbols first. While the BF is not recovered, the UE 112 soon also detects BF in other symbols, e.g., a non SBFD symbols, if the UE 112 has detected BF in SBFD symbols.

[0206] In another particular embodiment, the UE 112 may declare BF for current serving beams, e.g., DL or UL or both, separately for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols. In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 may be configured with different BFR configurations, e.g., monitoring RS (set), BFI COUNTER, beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount, RACH resources (preambles or ROs), for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols separately. For instance, the UE 112 may achieve lower latency and larger coverage when operating in SBFD symbols than operating in non SBFD symbols, the BFR configuration configured for SBFD operation may be therefore more relaxed than non SBFD operation. Alternatively, the UE 112 applies the same BFR configuration for both SBFD operation and non SBFD operation, the UE may be allowed to only detect one BF. In this case the second BF may be delayed being declared. The second BF is only declared after the first BF has recovered successfully at the UE.

[0207] In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 is configured with different RS sets for SBFD operation and non SBFD operation. In this case, the UE 112 may only indicate the gNB of the RS set for which the UE 112 has detected BF, or initiated BFR procedure. Upon reception of the indicated RS set, the network node 110 can figure out whether the BF has occurred for SBFD operation or non SBFD operation.

[0208] In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 is configured with multiple RS sets for SBFD operation. In this case, the UE 112 monitors BF and initiates BFR per RS set. Alternatively, the UE 112 monitors BF per RS set, but only trigger BFR when BF has been detected in all RS sets.

[0209] In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 is configured with UL BF monitoring RS, e.g., SRS, based on SRS transmission initiated by the UE 112, the network node 110 may determine UL beam failure instances and indicated to the UE. The configuration of UL RSs may be configured for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols separately.

[0210] In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 detects BF and BFR by considering both failure instances in SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols. The UE 112 doesn’t distinguish BF between SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols, instead, the beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount may be configured with a larger value than the case where the UE 112 is not SBFD operation aware.

[0211] In the illustrated embodiment, the method also includes a transmitting action at 106. The UE 112 may transmit an indication that BF is detected during the at least one SBFD symbol and / or the at least one non-SBFD symbol. For example, at action 106, the UE 112 may transmit, to the network node 110, information associated with and / or indicating one or multiple of the below information, upon detection of BF: 1) Whether the BF has occurred due to SBFD operation or non SBFD operation

[0212] 2) Whether the BF has occurred due to DL failure instances and / or UL failure instances

[0213] 3) indices of the beams for which BF has occurred a. indices of failed DL beams b. Indices of failed UL beams

[0214] 4) indices of the TCI states associated with the beams for which BF has occurred a. indices of DL TCI states b. Indices of UL TCI states

[0215] 5) Candidate RS (set) or beam, i.e., the UE 112 prefers to use this candidate RS or beam to recover from the BF, a. The candidate RS (set) or candidate beam is associated with SBFD symbols or non SBFD symbols according, depending on whether the BF is detected for SBFD operation or non SBFD operation. In case the BF is detected for SBFD operation, the candidate RS or beam is associated with SBFD symbols, otherwise, the candidate RS or beam is associated with non SBFD symbols.

[0216] In a particular embodiment, for example, the UE 112 indicates to the network node 110 whether the BF has occurred for SBFD operation or non SBFD operation via one of the below signaling options:

[0217] Option 1: Indicate via the RO used for the RACH Procedure

[0218] In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 indicates via the RO used for the RACH procedure. In this option, the UE 112 is configured with ROs for SBFD operation, such as symbols, and non SBFD operation, such as non SBFD symbols, separately. Upon detection of BF on SBFD symbols, the UE 112 chooses SBFD ROs to initiate a RACH procedure. While upon detection of BF on non SBFD symbols, the UE 112 chooses non SBFD ROs to initiate a RACH procedure.

[0219] As another example, in a particular embodiment, the UE 112 always uses non SBFD RO to send the indication / signaling regardless if the BF is caused due to failure instances, occurred during SBFD symbols and / or non SBFD symbols. This example is applicable when non SBFD ROs / resources provide more robust transmissions than SBFD ROs / resources to UEs. As another example, in a particular embodiment, the UE 112 always uses SBFD RO to send the indication / signaling regardless if the BF is caused due to failure instances, i.e., occurred during SBFD symbols and / or non SBFD symbols. This example is applicable when SBFD ROs / resources provide more robust transmissions than non SBFD ROs / resources to UEs.

[0220] For above examples, the UE behaviors are captured in specifications in a hard coded fashion or instructed by the network node, in a particular embodiment. As an additional option, the UE 112 may use different PUSCH resources / occasions to indicate BF for SBFD operation and non SBFD operation separately. Different PUSCH resources / occasions are preconfigured for SBFD operation and non SBFD operation separately. Based on what PUSCH resource / occasion used by the UE 112 to indicate the BF, the network node 110 understands whether the BF is caused due to SBFD operation or SBFD operation or both. In an example, the frequency locations for SBFD operation is configured by the network node 110 e.g., via system information, for instance, the UE 112 is only allowed to perform UL transmission using UL subband within SBFD symbols, in this case, when the UE 110 uses UL subband to indicate the BF event, even during non SBFD symbols, which indicates to the network node 110 that the BF is caused due to SBFD operation. When the UE 112 uses DL subband to indicate to the BF event during non SBFD symbols, which indicates to the network node 110 that the BF is caused due to non SBFD operation. As another example, the UE 112 is configured with specific PUSCH occasions within UL subband for indicating BF purpose, in this way, the UE 112 is able to indicate the BF to the network node 110 using different PUSCH occasions within UL subband during SBFD symbols, to indicate whether the BF is caused due to SBFD operation or non SBFD operation.

[0221] Option 2: Include an Indicator in a MAC CE

[0222] According to a particular embodiment, the UE 112 may include an indicator in a MAC CE, e.g., BFR MAC CE or enhanced BFR MAC CE, wherein the indicator takes the value ‘0’ and ‘ 1’.

[0223] For example, in a particular embodiment, the indicator with the value ‘0’ means that the BF has occurred for SBFD operation, while the indicator with the value ‘ 1 ’ means that the BF has occurred for non SBFD operation.

[0224] As another example, in a particular embodiment the indicator with the value ‘0’ means that the BF has occurred for non SBFD operation, while the indicator with the value ‘ 1 ’ means that the BF has occurred for SBFD operation. In a particular embodiment, the indicator bit may occupy one reserved bit, if there is any R bit, in the MAC CE.

[0225] In a particular example embodiment, one or multiple octets are added to the MAC CE, e.g., may be named as further enhanced BFR MAC CE.

[0226] In a particular example embodiment, separate indications are provided allowing the UE 112 to separately indicate BF in both SBFD and non-SBFD operation. In other words, the UE 112 may be able to indicate BF events for SBFD operation and non SBFD operation separately but may be at different time or at the same time.

[0227] Option 3: The UE 112 is configured with different set of PRACH preambles for SBFD operation and non SBFD operation separately.

[0228] In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 is configured with different set of PRACH preambles for SBFD operation and non-SBFD operation. When the UE 112 detects BF for SBFD operation, the UE 112 chooses a PRACH preamble associated with SBFD operation. While when the UE 112 detects BF for non SBFD operation, the UE 112 chooses a PRACH preamble associated with non SBFD operation.

[0229] For the above options, e.g., option 1, option 2, option 3, which option the UE 112 shall apply can be configured by the network node 110 via signaling alternatives including system information, RRC signaling, MAC CE or layer one (LI) signaling, e.g., signaling on PDCCH. Alternatively, which option the UE 112 shall apply is captured in specs in a hard coded fashion.

[0230] Alternatively, the chosen RO could indicate to the network a preference to use certain resources. That is, the UE 112 selecting an SBFD RO indicates that the UE 112 has a preference to scheduling in SBFD resources, whereas the UE 112 selecting a non-SBFD RO indicates that it has a preference to scheduling in non-SBFD resources. Or vice versa.

[0231] FIGURE 8 illustrates an example a method performed by the network node 110 for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation, according to certain embodiments, according to certain embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, the method includes: a transmitting action 201, a receiving action at 202 and a take action- action at 204.

[0232] The network node 110 transmits, to the UE 112 first information configuring the UE 112 to separately monitor for at least one BFI in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0233] The network node 110 transmits, to the UE 112 second information configuring the UE to declare the BF, and / or triggers the BFR procedure based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol. This may be transmitted in one message or multiple messages.

[0234] The network node 110 receives from the UE 112, third information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure; and takes at least one action based on the third information associated with the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure. The third information is denoted as information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure in action 106 above.

[0235] The network node 110 may take the at least one action by assigning a RS and / or beam to the UE for a data transmission and / or data reception.

[0236] The third information received from the UE that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein assigning the RS and / or beam to the UE 112 may comprise assigning a RS or beam associated with SBFD operation.

[0237] The third information received from the UE 112 that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein assigning the RS and / or beam to the UE 112 may comprise assigning a RS or beam associated with non-SBFD operation.

[0238] The network node 110 may take the at least one action by reconfiguring the UE 112 with RadioLinkMonitoringConfig.

[0239] The third information received from the UE 112 that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein reconfiguring the UE 112 with Radio Link Monitoring Config may comprise reconfiguring at least one of the following parameters associated with SBFD operation: i. beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for determining after how many beam failure events the UE is to trigger BFR; ii. beamFailureDetectionTimer for BFR; iii. at least one BF detection RS set; iv. at least one RACH resource for a BFR procedure; and v. at least one candidate RS sets or beam. The third information received from the UE 112 that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein reconfiguring the UE 112 with Radio Link Monitoring Config may comprise reconfiguring at least one of the following parameters associated with non-SBFD operation: i. beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for determining after how many beam failure events the UE is to trigger BFR; ii. beamFailureDetectionTimer for BFR; iii. at least one BF detection RS set; iv. at least one RACH resource for a BFR procedure; and v. at least one candidate RS sets or beam.

[0240] The network node 110 may take the at least one action by disabling or enabling SBFD operation for the UE.

[0241] The third information received from the UE 112 indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one SBFD operation, and the network node 110 may take the at least one action by disabling SBFD operation for the UE.

[0242] The third information received from the UE 112 indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and the network node 110 may take the at least one action by enabling SBFD operation for the UE.

[0243] The at least one action may comprise moving the UE 112 to a new Bandwidth part (BWP), a new subband, a new channel, a new carrier segment, a new cell, and / or a new carrier.

[0244] The network node 110 may configure the UE 112 to determine that a number of BFIs is greater than or equal to a threshold, and wherein the beam failure and / or the BFR procedure may be declared based on the number of BFIs being greater than or equal to the threshold.

[0245] The third information may comprise an indication that BF is detected during the at least one SBFD symbol and / or the at least one non-SBFD symbol. The network node 110 may configure the UE 112 to declare the BF and / or trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one of: a number of retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a second threshold; a time period associated with retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a third threshold; at least one measurement quantity for the at least one uplink beam transmission is less than or equal to a fourth threshold for a time period; and an indication has been received from the network node that the network node suffers reception failure or decoding failure for the at least one uplink beam transmission.

[0246] The network node 110 may configure the UE 112 to declare the BF and / or trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one of: only uplink beam transmission failures, only downlink beam reception failures, and both downlink and uplink beam transmission failures.

[0247] The network node 110 may configure the UE 112 to declare the BF only after BF is detected in both the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0248] The first information may comprise: a first BFR configuration for configuring the UE to monitor for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol; and a second BFR configuration for configuring the UE to monitor for the at one BFI in the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0249] The first configuration may comprise a first RS set, and the second BFR configuration may comprise a second RS set, the second RS set being different from the first RS set.

[0250] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set or the second RS set.

[0251] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0252] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set. The first information may comprise a common BFR configuration for monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0253] The third information may comprise at least one of: an indication that the BF occurred due to at leas tone SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one non-SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one DL failure instance; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one UL failure instance; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed UL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed UL beam; at least one candidate RS set preferred by the UE; and at least one candidate beam preferred by the UE.

[0254] The third information may be received via at least one of: at least one MAC CE; at least one PUSCH resource associated with SBFD operation; at least one PUSCH resource associated with non-SBFD operation; at least one RO for a RACH procedure; at least one RO configured for SBFD operation; and at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0255] The BF may be detected by the UE 112 on at least one SBFD and the third information may be received via at least one RO configured for SBFD operation.

[0256] The BF may be detected by the UE 112 on at least one non-SBFD and the third information may be received via at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0257] The BF may be detected by the UE 112 on at least one SBFD and the third information may be received via a PRACH preamble configured for SBFD operation.

[0258] The BF may be detected by the UE 112 on at least one non-SBFD and the third information may be received via a PRACH preamble configured for non-SBFD operation. A characteristic associated with the third information received from the UE 112 may indicate a preference of the UE for SBFD scheduling.

[0259] A characteristic associated with the third information received from the UE may indicate a preference of the UE for non-SBFD scheduling.

[0260] For example, at action 202, the network node 110 may receive an indication, as described above with respect to action 106 of FIGURE 7, of one or multiple of the below information, upon detection by the UE 112 of BF:

[0261] 1) Whether the BF has occurred due to SBFD operation or non SBFD operation

[0262] 2) Whether the BF has occurred due to DL failure instances and / or UL failure instances

[0263] 3) indices of the beams for which BF has occurred a. indices of failed DL beams b. Indices of failed UL beams

[0264] 4) indices of the TCI states associated with the beams for which BF has occurred a. indices of DL TCI states b. Indices of UL TCI states

[0265] 5) Candidate RS (set) or beam, i.e., the UE 112 prefers to use this candidate RS or beam to recover from the BF; a. The candidate RS (set) or candidate beam is associated with SBFD symbols or non SBFD symbols according, depending on whether the BF is detected for SBFD operation or non SBFD operation. In case the BF is detected for SBFD operation, the candidate RS or beam is associated with SBFD symbols, otherwise, the candidate RS or beam is associated with non SBFD symbols.

[0266] In a particular embodiment, for example, the network node 110 may receive, from the UE 112, an indication of whether the BF has occurred for SBFD operation or non SBFD operation via one of the below signaling options.

[0267] At action 204, for example, the network node 110 may perform at least one action based on the information received from the UE 112. For example, in particular embodiments, upon reception of the signaling from the UE 112 indicating BF or BFR, the network node 110 may take one of the below actions to help the UE 112 to recover from the BF: ) Assign a new beam to the UE 112 for subsequent data transmission / reception with the network node 110 a. The new beam may or may not be the one according to received candidate RS or beam. b. If the UE 112 indicates BF detection for SBFD operation, the network node 110 assigns a RS or beam associated with SBFD operation to the UE 112. c. If the UE 112 indicates BF detection for non SBFD operation, the network node 110 assigns a RS or beam associated with non SBFD operation to the UE 112.) Reconfigure the UE 112 with RadioLinkMonitoringConfig, a. If the UE 112 indicates BF detection for SBFD operation, the network node 110 reconfigures one or multiple below parameters for SBFD operation i. E.g., beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount, which determines after how many beam failure events the UE 112 triggers beam failure recovery ii. E.g., beamFailureDetectionTimer, the timer for beam failure detection iii. One or multiple BF detection RS (sets) iv. One or multiple RACH resources, e.g., preamble and / or ROs, for BFR procedure v. One or multiple candidate RS (sets) or beams (e.g., among which the UE 112 can determine which RS(s) or beam(s) that the UE 112 prefers to use for subsequent data transmission and / or reception b. If the UE 112 indicates BF detection for SBFD operation, the network node 110 reconfigures RS (set) associated with non SBFD operation to the UE 112. i. E.g., beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount, which determines after how many beam failure events the UE 112 triggers beam failure recovery ii. E.g., beamFailureDetectionTimer, the timer for beam failure detection iii. One or multiple BF detection RS (sets) iv. One or multiple RACH resources, e.g., preamble and / or ROs, for BFR procedure v. One or multiple candidate RS (sets) or beams (e.g., among which the UE 112 can determine which RS(s) or beam(s) that the UE 112 prefers to use for subsequent data transmission and / or reception) Disable or enable SBFD operation for the UE 112 a. In an example, the network node 110 may decide to disable SBFD operation for the UE 112 if the UE 112 has indicated BF detection for SBFD operation, e.g., up to X (>=1) times consecutively, or in other words, the number of failed beams for SBFD operation have reached a configured threshold. b. In an example, the network node 110 may decide to enable SBFD operation for the UE 112 if the UE 110 has indicated BF detection for non SBFD operation, e.g., up to Y (>=1) times consecutively, or in other words, the number of failed beams for non SBFD operation have reached a configured threshold. ) Move the UE 112 to other BWPs, subbands / channels / carrier segments, cells or carriers. a. In an example, the network node 110 signals the UE 112 of other BWPs / subbands / channels within a serving carrier, on which the UE 112 performs subsequent data transmissions / receptions b. In an example, the network node 110 handovers the UE 112 to other different cells / carriers from a serving cell / carrier if the UE 112 has indicated BF detection in the serving cell / carrier, e.g., up to Z (>=1) times consecutively, or in other words, the number of failed beams for non SBFD operation have reached a configured threshold

[0268] Examples of Potential Specification Changes

[0269] Changes to MAC spec

[0270] In an example, the procedure text for BF detection and BFR procedure in clause 5.17 of TS 38.321 V18.1.0 are updated (underlined) to capture necessary changes as covered in the above embodiments. In the example, the MAC entity monitors BF instances in SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols separately. In addition, the MAC entity also triggers BFR for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols separately.

[0271] 5.17 Beam Failure Detection and Recovery procedure

[0272] The MAC entity may be configured by RRC per Serving Cell or per BFD-RS set with a beam failure recovery procedure which is used for indicating to the serving gNB of a new SSB or CSI-RS when beam failure is detected on the serving SSB(s) / CSI-RS(s). Beam failure is detected by counting beam failure instance indication from the lower layers to the MAC entity. If beamFailur eRecoveryConfig is reconfigured by upper layers during an ongoing Random Access procedure for beam failure recovery for SpCell, the MAC entity shall stop the ongoing Random Access procedure and initiate a Random Access procedure using the new configuration. The Serving Cell is configured with two BFD-RS sets if and only if failureDetectionSetl and failureDetectionSet2 are configured for the active DL BWP of the Serving Cell. For a serving cell configured with SBFD operation, the MAC entity may be configured with separate beam failure recovery procedures for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols. When the SCG is deactivated, the UE performs beam failure detection on the PSCell if bfd-and-RLM is set to true.

[0273] RRC configures the following parameters in the beamFailureRecoveryConfig, beamFailureRecoverySpCellConfig, beamFailureRecoverySCellConfig and the radioLin MonitoringConfig for the Beam Failure Detection and Recovery procedure:

[0274] - beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for the beam failure detection (per Serving Cell or per BFD-RS set of Serving Cell configured with two BFD-RS sets);

[0275] - beamFailureDetectionTimer for the beam failure detection (per Serving Cell or per BFD-RS set of Serving Cell configured with two BFD-RS sets);

[0276] - beamFailureRecoveryTimer for the beam failure recovery procedure for SpCell;

[0277] - rsrp-ThresholdSSB'. an RSRP threshold for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0278] - rsrp-ThresholdBFR'. an RSRP threshold for the SCell beam failure recovery or for the beam failure recovery of BFD-RS set of Serving Cell;

[0279] - power RampingStep'. powerRampingStep for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0280] - powerRampingStepHighPriority. powerRampingStepHighPriority for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0281] - preambleReceivedTargetPower. preambleReceivedTargetPower for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0282] - preambleTransMax'. preambleTransMax for the SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0283] - scalingFactorBI'. scalingFactorBI for the SpCell beam failure recovery; - ssb-perRACH-Occasioir. ssb-perRACH-Occasion for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention- free Random Access Resources;

[0284] - ra-ResponseWindow the time window to monitor response(s) for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0285] - prach-Configurationlndex'. prach-Configurationlndex for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0286] - ra-ssb-OccasionMasklndex’. ra-ssb-OccasionMasklndex for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0287] - ra-OccasionList. ra-OccasionList for the SpCell beam failure recovery using contention-free Random Access Resources;

[0288] - candidateBeamRSList. list of candidate beams for SpCell beam failure recovery;

[0289] - candidateBeamRS-List-rl6’. list of candidate beams for SCell beam failure recovery or list of candidate beams for beam failure recovery of a Serving Cell for BFD-RS set one;

[0290] - candidateBeamRS-List2-rl 7 : list of candidate beams for beam failure recovery of a Serving Cell for BFD-RS set two.

[0291] The bove parameters are configured by RRC for SBFD symbols and non SBFD symbols separately.

[0292] The following UE variables are used for the beam failure detection procedure:

[0293] - BFI COUNTER (per Serving Cell or per BFD-RS set of Serving Cell configured with two BFD-RS sets): counter for beam failure instance indication which is initially set to 0.

[0294] The UE uses two separate BFI COUNTERS, wherein one counter is used for SBD symbols, while the other one counter is used for non SBFD symbols.

[0295] The MAC entity shall for each pair of the Source Layer-2 ID and the Destination Layer-2 ID corresponding to a PC5-RRC connection which has been established by upper layers:

[0296] The MAC entity shall for each Serving Cell configured for beam failure detection:

[0297] If the serving cell is also configured with SFBD operation, the MAC entity shall for operation in SBFD symbols or non SBFD symbols:

[0298] 1> if the Serving Cell is configured with two BFD-RS sets:

[0299] 2> if beam failure instance indication for a BFD-RS set has been received from lower layers:

[0300] 3> start or restart the beamFailureDetectionTimer of the BFD-RS set;

[0301] 3> increment BFI CO UNTER of the BFD-RS set by 1;

[0302] 3> if BFI COUNTER of the BFD-RS set >= beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount.

[0303] 4> if beam failure instance indications for the BFD-RS are received in SBFD symbols

[0304] — 4- 5> trigger a BFR for this BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell for SBFD symbols;

[0305] 4> else if beam failure instance indications for the BFD-RS are received in non SBFD symbols

[0306] 5> trigger a BFR for this BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell for non SBFD symbols;

[0307] 2> if BFR is triggered for both BFD-RS sets of the SpCell and the Beam Failure Recovery procedure is not successfully completed for any of the BFD-RS sets:

[0308] 3> initiate a Random Access procedure (see clause 5.1) on the SpCell;

[0309] 2> if the Serving Cell is SpCell and the Random Access procedure initiated for beam failure recovery of both BFD-RS sets of SpCell is successfully completed (see clause 5.1):

[0310] 3> set BFI COUNTER of each BFD-RS set of SpCell to 0. 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed.

[0311] 2> if the beamFailureDetectionTimer of this BFD-RS set expires; or

[0312] 2> if beamFailureDetectionTimer, beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount, or any of the reference signals used for beam failure detection is reconfigured by upper layers or by the BFD-RS Indication MAC CE associated with a BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell; or

[0313] 2> if the reference signal(s) associated with a BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell used for beam failure detection is changed:

[0314] 3> set BFI COUNTER of the BFD-RS set to 0.

[0315] 2> if a PDCCH addressed to C-RNTI indicating uplink grant for a new transmission is received for the HARQ process used for the transmission of the Enhanced BFR MAC CE or Truncated Enhanced BFR MAC CE which contains beam failure recovery information of this BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell:

[0316] 3> set BFI COUNTER of the BFD-RS set to 0;

[0317] 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed for this BFD-RS set and cancel all the triggered BFRs of this BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell.

[0318] 2> if the Serving Cell is SCell and the SCell is deactivated as specified in clause 5.9:

[0319] 3> set BFI COUNTER of each BFD-RS set of SCell to 0;

[0320] 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed and cancel all the triggered BFRs of all BFD-RS sets of the Serving Cell.

[0321] 1> else:

[0322] 2> if beam failure instance indication has been received from lower layers:

[0323] 3> start or restart the beamFailureDetectionTimer',

[0324] 3> increment BF7 COUNTER by 1;

[0325] 3> if BFI COUNTER >= beamFailurelnstanceMaxCoun

[0326] 4> if the Serving Cell is SCell:

[0327] 5> if beam failure instance indications are received in SBFD symbols

[0328] 56> trigger a BFR for SBFD symbols for this Serving Cell;

[0329] 5> else if beam failure instance indications are received in non SBFD symbols

[0330] 6> trigger a BFR for non SBFD symbols for this Serving Cell;

[0331] 4> else if the Serving Cell is PSCell and, the SCG is deactivated:

[0332] 5> if beam failure of the PSCell has not been indicated to upper layers since the SCG was deactivated or since the deactivated SCG was last reconfigured with BFD-RS:

[0333] 6> if beam failure instance indications are received in SBFD symbols

[0334] 67> indicate beam failure of the PSCell for SBFD symbols to upper layers.

[0335] 6> if beam failure instance indications are received in non SBFD symbols

[0336] 7> indicate beam failure of the PSCell for non SBFD symbols to upper layers. NOTE: After beam failure is indicated to upper layers, the UE may stop the beamFailureDetectionTimer and lower layer beam failure indication while BFI COUNTER >= beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for the deactivated SCG.

[0337] 4> else:

[0338] 5> initiate a Random Access procedure (see clause 5.1) on the SpCell;

[0339] 5> if beam failure is detected for an NCR-MT :

[0340] 6> indicate to NCR-Fwd to cease forwarding.

[0341] 2> if the beamFailureDetectionTimer expires; or

[0342] 2> if beamFailureDetectionTimer, beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount, or any of the reference signals used for beam failure detection is reconfigured by upper layers associated with this Serving Cell; or

[0343] 2> if the reference signal(s) associated with this Serving Cell used for beam failure detection is changed:

[0344] 3> set BFI COUNTER to 0.

[0345] 2> if the Serving Cell is SpCell and the Random Access procedure initiated for SpCell beam failure recovery is successfully completed (see clause 5.1):

[0346] 3> set BFI COUNTER to 0;

[0347] 3> stop the beamFailureRecoveryTimer, if configured;

[0348] 3> if the Random Access procedure was triggered by beam failure recovery for NCR-MT :

[0349] 4> indicate to NCR-Fwd to resume forwarding using the last forwarding configuration received by NCR-MT as part of side control information before beam failure detection;

[0350] 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed.

[0351] 2> else if the Serving Cell is SCell, and a PDCCH addressed to C-RNTI indicating uplink grant for a new transmission is received for the HARQ process used for the transmission of the MAC CE for BFR which contains beam failure recovery information of this Serving Cell; or

[0352] 2> if the SCell is deactivated as specified in clause 5.9:

[0353] 3> set BFI COUNTER to 0;

[0354] 3> consider the Beam Failure Recovery procedure successfully completed and cancel all the triggered BFRs for this Serving Cell.

[0355] The MAC entity shall:

[0356] 1> if the Beam Failure Recovery procedure determines that at least one BFR has been triggered and not cancelled for an SCell for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed and if none of the Serving Cell(s) of this MAC entity are configured with two BFD-RS sets:

[0357] 2> if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the BFR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of LCP:

[0358] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the BFR MAC CE.

[0359] 2> else if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the Truncated BFR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of LCP:

[0360] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the Truncated BFR MAC CE.

[0361] 2> else: 3> trigger the SR for SCell beam failure recovery for each SCell for which BFR has been triggered, not cancelled, and for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed.

[0362] 1> if the Beam Failure Recovery procedure determines that at least one BFR for any BFD-RS set has been triggered and not cancelled for an SCell for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed; or

[0363] 1> if the Beam Failure Recovery procedure determines that at least one BFR for only one BFD-RS set has been triggered and not cancelled for an SpCell for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed; or

[0364] 1> if the Beam Failure Recovery procedure determines that at least one BFR has been triggered and not cancelled for an SCell for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed and if at least one Serving Cell of this MAC entity is configured with two BFD-RS sets:

[0365] 2> if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the Enhanced BFR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of LCP:

[0366] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the Enhanced BFR MAC CE.

[0367] 2> else if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the Truncated Enhanced BFR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of LCP:

[0368] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the Truncated Enhanced BFR MAC CE.

[0369] 2> else:

[0370] 3> trigger the SR for beam failure recovery of each BFD-RS set for which BFR has been triggered, not cancelled, and for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed;

[0371] 3> trigger the SR for SCell beam failure recovery for each SCell for which BFR has been triggered, not cancelled, and for which evaluation of the candidate beams according to the requirements as specified in TS 38.133

[0011] has been completed.

[0372] All BFRs triggered for an SCell shall be cancelled when a MAC PDU is transmitted and this PDU includes a MAC CE for BFR which contains beam failure information of that SCell. All BFRs triggered for a BFD-RS set of a Serving Cell shall be cancelled when a MAC PDU is transmitted and this PDU includes an Enhanced BFR MAC CE or Truncated Enhanced BFR MAC CE which contains beam failure recovery information of that BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell.

[0373] In an example, the BFR MAC CE in clause 6.1.3.23 of TS 38.321 V18.1.0 are updated to include an indicator indicating whether the BF is for SBFD symbols or non SBFD symbols.

[0374] When the UE 112 has detected BF event in SBFD slots / symbols, or non SBFD slots / symbols, the UE 112 reports a new BFR MAC CE (during the BFR procedure) to the network node 110 indicating whether the BF is detected in SBFD slots / symbols or non SBFD slots / symbols. BFR MAC CEs

[0375] Compared to the existing BFR MAC CEs, the new BFR MAC CEs include an indicator, i.e., Ti, for each serving cell. FIGURE 9 illustrates BFR and truncated BFR MAC CE with one octet, Ci field and one octet Ti field, according to certain embodiments. FIGURE 10 illustrates BFR and Truncated BFR MAC CE with four octets Ci field and four octets Ti field, according to certain embodiments. The new MAC CE may be named as SBFD aware BFR MAC CE. Any other name on the new MAC CE is equally applicable here.

[0376] The Ci field set to 1 indicates that beam failure is detected within non SBFD slots / symbols. The Ci field set to 0 indicates that the beam failure is not detected within non SBFD slots / symbols.

[0377] The Tj field set to 1 indicates that beam failure is detected within SBFD slots / symbols. The Ti field set to 0 indicates that the beam failure is not detected within SBFD slots / symbols.

[0378] Note 1 : the other fields have the same definitions as in the existing BFR MAC CEs as described in clause 6.1.3.23 of TS 38.321 V18.1.0.

[0379] Note 2: The MAC CEs as shown in FIGURE 9 and FIGURE 10 are applicable to cases where each serving cell is configured with one BFD-RS set.

[0380] In case each serving cell is configured with two BFD-RS sets, as described in clause 6.1.3.43 of TS 38.321 V18.1.0, the BFR MAC CEs would contain additional fields Si fields wherein the Si field set to 1 indicates that beam failure is detected for both the BFD-RS sets, the evaluation of the candidate beams has been completed for both the BFD-RS sets, and the octets containing the available candidate (AC) field are present for both the BFD-RS sets, of the Serving Cell. The Si field set to 0 indicates that beam failure is either detected for one of the BFD-RS sets and the evaluation of the candidate beams has been completed or beam failure is detected for both the BFD-RS sets but the evaluation of the candidate beams has not been completed for both the BFD-RS sets, and the octet containing the AC field is present for only one BFD-RS set of the Serving Cell. In this case, compared to the existing BFR MAC CEs, as described in clause 6.1.3.43 of TS 38.321 V18.1.0, the new MAC CEs include an additional indicator, i.e., Ti, for each serving cell. The new MAC CE may be named as SBFD aware BFR MAC CE. Any other name the new MAC CE is equally applicable here. The Tj field set to 1 indicates that beam failure is detected for both the BFD-RS sets within SBFD slots / symbols, the evaluation of the candidate beams has been completed for both the BFD-RS sets of the Serving Cell. The Tj field set to 0 indicates that beam failure is either detected for one of the BFD-RS sets within SBFD slots / symbols and the evaluation of the candidate beams has been completed or beam failure is detected for both the BFD-RS sets but the evaluation of the candidate beams has not been completed for both the BFD-RS sets of the Serving Cell.

[0381] Fig. 11 shows an example of a communication system 15100 or 1 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0382] In the example, the communication system 15100 includes a telecommunication network 15102 that includes an access network 15104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 15106, which includes one or more core network nodes 15108. The access network 15104 includes one or more access network nodes 110, such as network nodes 15110a and 15110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 15110 or 110), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 15102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 15102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 15102, including one or more network nodes 15110 and / or core network nodes 15108.

[0383] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O- RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 15110, such as the network node 110, facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 15112a, 15112b, 15112c, and 15112d, one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 15112 being examples of the UE 112, to the core network 15106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0384] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 15100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 15100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0385] The UEs 15112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 15110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 15110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 15112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 15102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 15102.

[0386] In the depicted example, the core network 15106 connects the network nodes 15110 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 15116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 15106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 15108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 15108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0387] The host 15116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 15104 and / or the telecommunication network 15102. The host 15116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0388] As a whole, the communication system 15100 of Figure 11 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0389] In some examples, the telecommunication network 15102 is a cellular network that implements 3 GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 15102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 15102. For example, the telecommunications network 15102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0390] In some examples, the UEs 15112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 15104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 15104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multistandard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi -radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0391] In the example, the hub 15114 communicates with the access network 15104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs, e.g., UE 15112c and / or 15112d, and network nodes, e.g., network node 15110b. In some examples, the hub 15114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 15114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 15106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 15114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 15110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 15114. As another example, the hub 15114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 15114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 15114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 15114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 15114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0392] The hub 15114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 15110b. The hub 15114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 15114 and UEs, e.g., UE 15112c and / or 15112d, and between the hub 15114 and the core network 15106. In other examples, the hub 15114 is connected to the core network 15106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 15114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 15104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 15110 while still connected via the hub 15114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 15114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 15110b. In other embodiments, the hub 15114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 15110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0393] Fig. 12 shows a UE 15300 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 15300 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 15112 of Figure 11 being an example of the UE 112 for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation, according to certain embodiments.

[0394] The UE 112 is configured to monitor for at least one BFI in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol, wherein the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol are monitored separately.

[0395] Based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol, the UE 112 is configured to declare a BF, and / or triggers a BFR, procedure.

[0396] The UE 112 is configured to transmit to the network node 110, information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure.

[0397] The UE 112 may be configured to receive, from the network node 110, configuration information configuring the UE 112 to separately monitor the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0398] The UE 112 may be configured to monitor for the at least one BFI in at least one downlink beam transmission and / or downlink symbol.

[0399] The UE 112 may be configured to monitor for the at least one BFI in at least one uplink beam transmission and / or uplink symbol. The UE 10 may be configured to determine that the number of BFIs is greater than or equal to a threshold, and wherein the beam failure and / or the BFR procedure may be declared based on the number of BFIs being greater than or equal to the threshold.

[0400] The UE 112 may, based on monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one uplink beam transmission and / or uplink symbol, be configured to determine at least one of: a number of retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a second threshold; a time period associated with retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a third threshold; at least one measurement quantity for the at least one uplink beam transmission is less than or equal to a fourth threshold for a time period; and an indication has been received from the network node that the network node suffers reception failure or decoding failure for the at least one uplink beam transmission.

[0401] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered based on one of: only uplink beam transmission failures, only downlink beam reception failures, and both downlink and uplink beam transmission failures.

[0402] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered only after BF is detected in both the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0403] The UE 112 may be configured to monitor for the at least one BFI by: monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol based on a first BFR configuration; and monitoring for the at one BFI in the at least one non-SBFD symbol based on a second BFR configuration.

[0404] The first configuration may comprise a first RS set, and the second BFR configuration may comprise a second RS set, the second RS set being different from the first RS set.

[0405] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set or the second RS set.

[0406] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set. The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0407] The UE 112 may be configured to monitor for the at least one BFI by monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol based on a common BFR configuration.

[0408] The information transmitted to the network node 110 may comprise at least one of: an indication that the BF occurred due to at leas tone SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one non-SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one DL failure instance; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one UL failure instance; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed UL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed UL beam; at least one candidate RS set preferred by the UE; and at least one candidate beam preferred by the UE.

[0409] The information may be transmitted to the network node 110 via at least one of: at least one MAC CE; at least one PUSCH resource associated with SBFD operation; at least one PUSCH resource associated with non-SBFD operation; at least one RO for a RACH procedure; at least one RO configured for SBFD operation; and at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0410] The BF may be detected on at least one SBFD and the information may be transmitted to the network node 110 via at least one RO configured for SBFD operation.

[0411] The BF may be detected on at least one non-SBFD and the information may be transmitted to the network node 110 via at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0412] The BF may be detected on at least one SBFD and the information may be transmitted to the network node 110 using a PRACH preamble configured for SBFD operation. The BF may be detected on at least one non-SBFD and the information may be transmitted to the network node 110 using a PRACH preamble configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0413] A characteristic associated with the information transmitted to the network node 110 may indicate a preference of the UE for SBFD scheduling.

[0414] A characteristic associated with the information transmitted to the network node 110 may indicate a preference of the UE for non-SBFD scheduling.

[0415] As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage / playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptopmounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB- loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0416] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0417] The UE 15300 includes processing circuitry 15302 that is operatively coupled via a bus 15304 to an input / output interface 15306, a power source 15308, a memory 15310, a communication interface 15312, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 12. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0418] The processing circuitry 15302 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 15310. The processing circuitry 15302 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 15302 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0419] In the example, the input / output interface 15306 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 15300. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0420] In some embodiments, the power source 15308 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 15308 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 15308 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 15300 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 15308. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 15308 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 15300 to which power is supplied.

[0421] The memory 15310 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 15310 includes one or more application programs 15314, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 15316. The memory 15310 may store, for use by the UE 15300, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0422] The memory 15310 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 15310 may allow the UE 15300 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 15310, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0423] The processing circuitry 15302 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 15312. The communication interface 15312 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 15322. The communication interface 15312 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 15318 and / or a receiver 15320 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 15318 and receiver 15320 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 15322) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0424] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 15312 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / intemet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0425] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 15312, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0426] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0427] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 15300 shown in Fig. 12.

[0428] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0429] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0430] Fig. 13 shows a network node 15400 in accordance with some embodiments, such as the network node 110 for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation. The network node 110 is configured to transmit, to the UE 112 the first information configuring the UE 112 to separately monitor for at least one BFI in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0431] The network node 110 is configured to transmit, to the UE 112 the second information configuring the UE to declare the BF, and / or to trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol. This may be transmitted in one message or multiple messages.

[0432] The network node 110 is configured to receive from the UE 112, the third information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure; and to take the at least one action based on the third information associated with the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure.

[0433] The network node 110 may be configured to take the at least one action by assigning a RS and / or beam to the UE 112 for a data transmission and / or data reception.

[0434] The third information received from the UE 112 that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein assigning the RS and / or beam to the UE 112 may comprise assigning a RS or beam associated with SBFD operation.

[0435] The third information received from the UE 112 that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein assigning the RS and / or beam to the UE 112 may comprise assigning a RS or beam associated with non-SBFD operation.

[0436] The network node 110 may be configured to take the at least one action by reconfiguring the UE 112 with RadioLinkMonitoringConfig.

[0437] The third information received from the UE 112 that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein reconfiguring the UE 112 with Radio Link Monitoring Config may comprise reconfiguring at least one of the following parameters associated with SBFD operation: i. beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for determining after how many beam failure events the UE is to trigger BFR; ii. beamFailureDetectionTimer for BFR; iii. at least one BF detection RS set; iv. at least one RACH resource for a BFR procedure; and v. at least one candidate RS sets or beam.

[0438] The third information received from the UE 112 that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein reconfiguring the UE 112 with Radio Link Monitoring Config may comprise reconfiguring at least one of the following parameters associated with non-SBFD operation: vi. beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for determining after how many beam failure events the UE is to trigger BFR; vii. beamFailureDetectionTimer for BFR; viii. at least one BF detection RS set; ix. at least one RACH resource for a BFR procedure; and x. at least one candidate RS sets or beam.

[0439] The network node 110 may be configured to take the at least one action by disabling or enabling SBFD operation for the UE.

[0440] The third information received from the UE 112 indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one SBFD operation, and the network node 110 may be configured to take the at least one action by disabling SBFD operation for the UE.

[0441] The third information received from the UE 112 indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure may be associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and the network node 110 may be configured to take the at least one action by enabling SBFD operation for the UE.

[0442] The at least one action may comprise moving the UE 112 to a new Bandwidth part (BWP), a new subband, a new channel, a new carrier segment, a new cell, and / or a new carrier.

[0443] The network node 110 may be configured to configure the UE 112 to determine that a number of BFIs is greater than or equal to a threshold, and wherein the beam failure and / or the BFR procedure may be declared based on the number of BFIs being greater than or equal to the threshold.

[0444] The third information may be configured to comprise an indication that BF is detected during the at least one SBFD symbol and / or the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0445] The network node 110 may be configured to configure the UE 112 to declare the BF and / or trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one of: a number of retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a second threshold; a time period associated with retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a third threshold; at least one measurement quantity for the at least one uplink beam transmission is less than or equal to a fourth threshold for a time period; and an indication has been received from the network node that the network node suffers reception failure or decoding failure for the at least one uplink beam transmission.

[0446] The network node 110 may be configured to configure the UE 112 to declare the BF and / or trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one of: only uplink beam transmission failures, only downlink beam reception failures, and both downlink and uplink beam transmission failures.

[0447] The network node 110 may be configured to configure the UE 112 to declare the BF only after BF is detected in both the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0448] The first information may comprise: a first BFR configuration for configuring the UE to monitor for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol; and a second BFR configuration for configuring the UE to monitor for the at one BFI in the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0449] The first configuration may comprise a first RS set, and the second BFR configuration may comprise a second RS set, the second RS set being different from the first RS set. The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set or the second RS set.

[0450] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0451] The BF may be declared and / or the BFR procedure may be triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0452] The first information may comprise a common BFR configuration for monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0453] The third information may comprise at least one of: an indication that the BF occurred due to at leas tone SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one non-SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one DL failure instance; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one UL failure instance; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed UL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed UL beam; at least one candidate RS set preferred by the UE; and at least one candidate beam preferred by the UE.

[0454] The third information may be received via at least one of: at least one MAC CE; at least one PUSCH resource associated with SBFD operation; at least one PUSCH resource associated with non-SBFD operation; at least one RO for a RACH procedure; at least one RO configured for SBFD operation; and at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0455] The BF may be detected by the UE 112 on at least one SBFD and the third information may be received via at least one RO configured for SBFD operation. The BF may be detected by the UE 112 on at least one non-SBFD and the third information may be received via at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0456] The BF may be detected by the UE 112 on at least one SBFD and the third information may be received via a PRACH preamble configured for SBFD operation.

[0457] The BF may be detected by the UE 112 on at least one non-SBFD and the third information may be received via a PRACH preamble configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0458] A characteristic associated with the third information received from the UE 112 may indicate a preference of the UE for SBFD scheduling.

[0459] A characteristic associated with the third information received from the UE may indicate a preference of the UE for non-SBFD scheduling.

[0460] As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0461] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0462] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi -standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0463] The network node 15400 includes a processing circuitry 15402, a memory 15404, a communication interface 15406, and a power source 15408. The network node 15400 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 15400 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB s. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 15400 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 15404 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 15410 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 15400 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 15400, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 15400.

[0464] The processing circuitry 15402 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 15400 components, such as the memory 15404, to provide network node 15400 functionality.

[0465] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 15402 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 15402 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 15412 and baseband processing circuitry 15414. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 15412 and the baseband processing circuitry 15414 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 15412 and baseband processing circuitry 15414 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0466] The memory 15404 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computerexecutable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 15402. The memory 15404 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 15402 and utilized by the network node 15400. The memory 15404 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 15402 and / or any data received via the communication interface 15406. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 15402 and memory 15404 is integrated.

[0467] The communication interface 15406 is used in wired or wireless communication of signalling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 15406 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 15416 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 15406 also includes radio front-end circuitry 15418 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 15410. Radio front-end circuitry 15418 comprises filters 15420 and amplifiers 15422. The radio front-end circuitry 15418 may be connected to an antenna 15410 and processing circuitry 15402. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 15410 and processing circuitry 15402. The radio front-end circuitry 15418 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 15418 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 15420 and / or amplifiers 15422. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 15410. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 15410 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 15418. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 15402. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0468] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 15400 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 15418, instead, the processing circuitry 15402 includes radio frontend circuitry and is connected to the antenna 15410. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 15412 is part of the communication interface 15406. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 15406 includes one or more ports or terminals 15416, the radio front-end circuitry 15418, and the RF transceiver circuitry 15412, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 15406 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 15414, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0469] The antenna 15410 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 15410 may be coupled to the radio frontend circuitry 15418 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 15410 is separate from the network node 15400 and connectable to the network node 15400 through an interface or port.

[0470] The antenna 15410, communication interface 15406, and / or the processing circuitry 15402 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 15410, the communication interface 15406, and / or the processing circuitry 15402 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0471] The power source 15408 provides power to the various components of network node 15400 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 15408 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 15400 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 15400 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 15408. As a further example, the power source 15408 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0472] Embodiments of the network node 15400 may include additional components beyond those shown in Fig. 13 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 15400 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 15400 and to allow output of information from the network node 15400. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 15400. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 15108 of Fig. 11, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 15418 and the RF transceiver circuitry 15412 may be omitted.

[0473] Fig. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 15500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 15500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 15500 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

[0474] Applications 15502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q500 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0475] Hardware 15504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 15506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 15508a and 15508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 15508), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 15506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 15508.

[0476] The VMs 15508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 15506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 15502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 15508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0477] In the context of NFV, a VM 15508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 15508, and that part of hardware 15504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 15508 on top of the hardware 15504 and corresponds to the application 15502.

[0478] Hardware 15504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 15504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 15504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 15510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 15502. In some embodiments, hardware 15504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signalling can be provided with the use of a control system 15512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0479] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0480] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0481] It will be appreciated that the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings represent non-limiting examples of the methods and apparatus taught herein. As such, the apparatus and techniques taught herein are not limited by the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Instead, the embodiments herein are limited only by the following claims and their legal equivalents.

[0482] EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0483] Group A Example Embodiments

[0484] 1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation, the method comprising at least one of: monitoring for at least one beam failure indication (BFI) in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol, wherein the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol are monitored separately; based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non- SBFD symbol, declaring a beam failure (BF) and / or triggering a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure; and transmitting, to a network node, information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure.

[0485] 2. The method of Example Embodiment 1, wherein monitoring for the at least one BFI comprises receiving, by a MAC layer of the UE, the at least one BFI from a physical layer of the UE.

[0486] 3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 2, comprising receiving, from the network node, configuration information configuring the UE to separately monitor the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0487] 4. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 3, comprising determining that a number of BFIs is greater than or equal to a threshold, and wherein the beam failure and / or the BFR procedure is declared based on the number of BFIs being greater than or equal to the threshold.

[0488] 5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 4, wherein transmitting the information to the network node comprises transmitting an indication that BF is detected during the at least one SBFD symbol and / or the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0489] 6. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 5, wherein monitoring for the at least one BFI comprises monitoring for the at least one BFI in at least one downlink beam transmission and / or downlink symbol.

[0490] 7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 6, wherein monitoring for the at least one BFI comprises monitoring for the at least one BFI in at least one uplink beam transmission and / or uplink symbol.

[0491] 8. The method of Example Embodiment 7, comprising: based on monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one uplink beam transmission and / or uplink symbol, determining at least one of: a number of retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a second threshold; a time period associated with retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a third threshold; at least one measurement quantity for the at least one uplink beam transmission is less than or equal to a fourth threshold for a time period; and an indication has been received from the network node that the network node suffers reception failure or decoding failure for the at least one uplink beam transmission.

[0492] 9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 8, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered based on one of: only uplink beam transmission failures, only downlink beam reception failures, and both downlink and uplink beam transmission failures.

[0493] 10. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered only after BF is detected in both the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol. 11. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 10, wherein monitoring for the at least one BFI comprises: monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol based on a first BFR configuration; and monitoring for the at one BFI in the at least one non-SBFD symbol based on a second BFR configuration.

[0494] 12. The method of Example Embodiment 11, wherein: the first configuration comprises a first RS set, and the second BFR configuration comprises a second RS set, the second RS set being different from the first RS set.

[0495] 13. The method of Example Embodiment 12, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set or the second RS set.

[0496] 14. The method of Example Embodiment 12, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0497] 15. The method of Example Embodiment 12, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0498] 16. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 10, wherein monitoring for the at least one BFI comprises monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol based on a common BFR configuration.

[0499] 17. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 16, wherein the information transmitted to the network node comprises at least one of: an indication that the BF occurred due to at leas tone SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one non-SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one DL failure instance; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one UL failure instance; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed UL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed UL beam; at least one candidate RS set preferred by the UE; and at least one candidate beam preferred by the UE.

[0500] 18. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the information is transmitted to the network node via at least one of: at least one MAC CE; at least one PUSCH resource associated with SBFD operation; at least one PUSCH resource associated with non-SBFD operation; at least one RO for a RACH procedure; at least one RO configured for SBFD operation; and at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0501] 19. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the BF is detected on at least one SBFD and the information is transmitted to the network node via at least one RO configured for SBFD operation.

[0502] 20. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the BF is detected on at least one non-SBFD and the information is transmitted to the network node via at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0503] 21. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the BF is detected on at least one SBFD and the information is transmitted to the network node using a PRACH preamble configured for SBFD operation.

[0504] 22. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the BF is detected on at least one non-SBFD and the information is transmitted to the network node using a PRACH preamble configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0505] 23. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 22, wherein a characteristic associated with the information transmitted to the network node indicates a preference of the UE for SBFD scheduling.

[0506] 24. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 1 to 22, wherein a characteristic associated with the information transmitted to the network node indicates a preference of the UE for non-SBFD scheduling. Group B Example Embodiments

[0507] 25. A method performed by a network node for beam failure detection and recovery for SBFD operation, the method comprising at least one of: transmitting, to a UE, first information configuring the UE to separately monitor for at least one beam failure indication (BFI) in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non- SBFD symbol; transmitting, to the UE, second information configuring the UE to declare a beam failure (BF) and / or triggering a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol; and receiving, from the UE, third information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure; and take at least one action based on the third information associated with the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure.

[0508] 26. The method of Example Embodiment 25, wherein taking the at least one action comprises assigning a RS and / or beam to the UE for a data transmission and / or data reception.

[0509] 27. The method of Example Embodiment 26, wherein the information received from the UE that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is in associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein assigning the RS and / or beam to the UE comprises assigning a RS or beam associated with SBFD operation.

[0510] 28. The method of Example Embodiment 26, wherein the information received from the UE that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is in associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein assigning the RS and / or beam to the UE comprises assigning a RS or beam associated with non-SBFD operation.

[0511] 29. The method of Example Embodiment 25, wherein taking the at least one action comprises reconfiguring the UE with RadioLinkMonitoringConfig.

[0512] 30. The method of Example Embodiment 29, wherein the information received from the UE that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is in associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein reconfiguring the UE with Radio Link Monitoring Config comprises reconfiguring at least one of the following parameters associated with SBFD operation: vi. beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for determining after how many beam failure events the UE is to trigger BFR; vii. beamFailureDetectionTimer for BFR; viii. at least one BF detection RS set; ix. at least one RACH resource for a BFR procedure; and x. at least one candidate RS sets or beam.

[0513] 31. The method of Example Embodiment 29, wherein the information received from the UE that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is in associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein reconfiguring the UE with Radio Link Monitoring Config comprises reconfiguring at least one of the following parameters associated with non-SBFD operation: xi. beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for determining after how many beam failure events the UE is to trigger BFR; xii. beamFailureDetectionTimer for BFR; xiii. at least one BF detection RS set; xiv. at least one RACH resource for a BFR procedure; and xv. at least one candidate RS sets or beam.

[0514] 32. The method of Example Embodiment 25, wherein taking the at least one action comprises disabling or enabling SBFD operation for the UE.

[0515] 33. The method of Example Embodiment 32, wherein the information received from the UE that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein taking the at least one action comprises disabling SBFD operation for the UE.

[0516] 34. The method of Example Embodiment 32, wherein the information received from the UE that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein taking the at least one action comprises enabling SBFD operation for the UE. 35. The method of Example Embodiment 25, wherein taking the at least one action comprises moving the UE to a new Bandwidth part (BWP), a new subband, a new channel, a new carrier segment, a new cell, and / or a new carrier.

[0517] 36. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 35, comprising configuring the UE to determine that a number of BFIs is greater than or equal to a threshold, and wherein the beam failure and / or the BFR procedure is declared based on the number of BFIs being greater than or equal to the threshold.

[0518] 37. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 36, wherein the third information comprises an indication that BF is detected during the at least one SBFD symbol and / or the at least one non- SBFD symbol.

[0519] 38. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 37, comprising configuring the UE to declare the BF and / or trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one of: a number of retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a second threshold; a time period associated with retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a third threshold; at least one measurement quantity for the at least one uplink beam transmission is less than or equal to a fourth threshold for a time period; and an indication has been received from the network node that the network node suffers reception failure or decoding failure for the at least one uplink beam transmission.

[0520] 39. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 38, comprising configuring the UE to declare the BF and / or trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one of: only uplink beam transmission failures, only downlink beam reception failures, and both downlink and uplink beam transmission failures.

[0521] 40. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 39, comprising configuring the UE to declare the BF only after BF is detected in both the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non- SBFD symbol.

[0522] 41. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 40, wherein the first information comprises: a first BFR configuration for configuring the UE to monitor for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol; and a second BFR configuration for configuring the UE to monitor for the at one BFI in the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0523] 42. The method of Example Embodiment 41, wherein: the first configuration comprises a first RS set, and the second BFR configuration comprises a second RS set, the second RS set being different from the first RS set.

[0524] 43. The method of Example Embodiment 42, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set or the second RS set.

[0525] 44. The method of Example Embodiment 42, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0526] 45. The method of Example Embodiment 42, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

[0527] 46. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 45, wherein the first information comprises a common BFR configuration for monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

[0528] 47. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 46, wherein the third information comprises at least one of: an indication that the BF occurred due to at leas tone SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one non-SBFD operation; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one DL failure instance; an indication that the BF occurred due to at least one UL failure instance; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one failed UL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed DL beam; an indication of at least one indices of at least one TCI state associated with at least one failed UL beam; at least one candidate RS set preferred by the UE; and at least one candidate beam preferred by the UE. 48. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 49, wherein the third information is received via at least one of: at least one MAC CE; at least one PUSCH resource associated with SBFD operation; at least one PUSCH resource associated with non-SBFD operation; at least one RO for a RACH procedure; at least one RO configured for SBFD operation; and at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0529] 49. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 49, wherein the BF is detected by the UE on at least one SBFD and the third information is received via at least one RO configured for SBFD operation.

[0530] 50. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 49, wherein the BF is detected by the UE on at least one non-SBFD and the third information is received via at least one RO configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0531] 51. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 49, wherein the BF is detected by the UE on at least one SBFD and the third information is received via a PRACH preamble configured for SBFD operation.

[0532] 52. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 49, wherein the BF is detected by the UE on at least one non-SBFD and the third information is received via a PRACH preamble configured for non-SBFD operation.

[0533] 53. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 52, wherein a characteristic associated with the third information received from the UE indicates a preference of the UE for SBFD scheduling.

[0534] 54. The method of any one of Example Embodiments 25 to 52, wherein a characteristic associated with the third information received from the UE indicates a preference of the UE for non-SBFD scheduling.

[0535] Group C Example Embodiments

[0536] 55. A user equipment comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A Example Embodiments. 56. A user equipment configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A Example Embodiments.

[0537] 57. A wireless device comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A Example Embodiments. 58. A network node comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B Example Embodiments.

[0538] 59. A network node configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B Example Embodiments.

[0539] 60. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and / or Group B Example Embodiments.

[0540] 61. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and / or Group B Example Embodiments.

[0541] 62. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and / or Group B

[0542] Example Embodiments.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method performed by a user equipment, UE, (112) for beam failure detection and recovery for subband full duplex, SBFD, operation, the method comprising: monitoring (102) for at least one beam failure indication, BFI, in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non-SBFD symbol, wherein the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol are monitored separately; based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol, declaring (104) a beam failure, BF, and / or triggering (104) a beam failure recovery, BFR, procedure; and transmitting (106), to a network node (110), information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring (102) for the at least one BFI comprises receiving, by a MAC layer of the UE (112), the at least one BFI from a physical layer of the UE (112).

3. The method of any of the claims 1-2, comprising receiving (101), from the network node (110), configuration information configuring the UE (112) to separately monitor the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

4. The method of any of the claims 1 to 3, comprising determining (103) that a number of BFIs is greater than or equal to a threshold, and wherein the beam failure and / or the BFR procedure is declared based on the number of BFIs being greater than or equal to the threshold.

5. The method of any of the claims 1 to 4, wherein transmitting (106) the information to the network node (110) comprises transmitting an indication that BF is detected during the at least one SBFD symbol and / or the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

6. The method of any of the claims 1 to 5, wherein monitoring (102) for the at least one BFI comprises monitoring for the at least one BFI in at least one downlink beam transmission and / or downlink symbol.

7. The method of any of the claims 1 to 6, wherein monitoring (102) for the at least one BFI comprises monitoring for the at least one BFI in at least one uplink beam transmission and / or uplink symbol.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising:based on monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one uplink beam transmission and / or uplink symbol, determining (103) at least one of: a number of retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a second threshold; a time period associated with retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a third threshold; at least one measurement quantity for the at least one uplink beam transmission is less than or equal to a fourth threshold for a time period; and an indication has been received from the network node that the network node suffers reception failure or decoding failure for the at least one uplink beam transmission.

9. The method of any of the claims 1 to 8, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered based on one of: only uplink beam transmission failures, only downlink beam reception failures, and both downlink and uplink beam transmission failures.

10. The method of any of the claims 1 to 9, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered only after BF is detected in both the at least one SBFD symbol and the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

11. The method of any of the claims 1 to 10, wherein monitoring for the at least one BFI comprises: monitoring for the at least one BFI in the at least one SBFD symbol based on a first BFR configuration; and monitoring for the at one BFI in the at least one non-SBFD symbol based on a second BFR configuration.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein: the first configuration comprises a first reference signal, RS, set, and the second BFR configuration comprises a second RS set, the second RS set being different from the first RS set.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set or the second RS set.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the BF is declared and / or the BFR procedure is triggered when BF is detected in the first RS set and the second RS set.

16. A method performed by a network node (110) for beam failure detection and recovery for subband full duplex, SBFD, operation, the method comprising: transmitting (201), to a user equipment, UE, (112) first information configuring the UE (112) to separately monitor for at least one beam failure indication, BFI, in at least one SBFD symbol and at least one non- SBFD symbol; transmitting (201), to the UE (112), second information configuring the UE (112) to declare a beam failure, BF, and / or triggering a beam failure recovery, BFR, procedure based on at least one BFI detected in at least one SBFD symbol and / or at least one non-SBFD symbol; and receiving (202), from the UE (112), third information associated with at least one of: the at least one BFI, the beam failure, and / or the BFR procedure; and taking (204) at least one action based on the third information associated with the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein taking (204) the at least one action comprises assigning a reference signal, RS, and / or beam to the UE for a data transmission and / or data reception.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the third information received from the UE (112) that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein assigning the RS and / or beam to the UE (112) comprises assigning a RS or beam associated with SBFD operation.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the third information received from the UE (112) that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein assigning the RS and / or beam to the UE (112) comprises assigning a RS or beam associated with non-SBFD operation.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein taking (204) the at least one action comprises reconfiguring the UE with RadioLinkMonitoringConfig .

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the third information received from the UE (112) that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein reconfiguring the UE (112) with Radio Link Monitoring Config comprises reconfiguring at least one of the following parameters associated with SBFD operation: xi. beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for determining after how many beam failure events the UE is to trigger BFR; xii. beamFailureDetectionTimer for BFR; xiii. at least one BF detection RS set; xiv. at least one RACH resource for a BFR procedure; and xv. at least one candidate RS sets or beam.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the third information received from the UE (112) that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is associated with at least one non-SBFD operation, and wherein reconfiguring the UE (112) with Radio Link Monitoring Config comprises reconfiguring at least one of the following parameters associated with non-SBFD operation: xvi. beamFailurelnstanceMaxCount for determining after how many beam failure events the UE is to trigger BFR; xvii. beamFailureDetectionTimer for BFR; xviii. at least one BF detection RS set; xix. at least one RACH resource for a BFR procedure; and xx. at least one candidate RS sets or beam.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein taking (204) the at least one action comprises disabling or enabling SBFD operation for the UE.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the third information received from the UE (112) that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is associated with at least one SBFD operation, and wherein taking (204) the at least one action comprises disabling SBFD operation for the UE (112).

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the information received from the UE (112) that indicates the at least one of the BFI, beam failure, and / or BFR procedure is associated with atleast one non-SBFD operation, and wherein taking (204) the at least one action comprises enabling SBFD operation for the UE (112).

26. The method of claim 16, wherein taking (204) the at least one action comprises moving the UE (112) to a new Bandwidth part, BWP, a new subband, a new channel, a new carrier segment, a new cell, and / or a new carrier.

27. The method of any one of the claims 16 to 26, comprising configuring the UE (112) to determine that a number of BFIs is greater than or equal to a threshold, and wherein the beam failure and / or the BFR procedure is declared based on the number of BFIs being greater than or equal to the threshold.

28. The method of any one of the claims 16 to 27, wherein the third information comprises an indication that BF is detected during the at least one SBFD symbol and / or the at least one non-SBFD symbol.

29. The method of any one of the claims 16 to 28, comprising configuring the UE (112) to declare the BF and / or trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one of: a number of retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a second threshold; a time period associated with retransmissions of the at least one uplink beam transmission is greater than or equal to a third threshold; at least one measurement quantity for the at least one uplink beam transmission is less than or equal to a fourth threshold for a time period; and an indication has been received from the network node that the network node suffers reception failure or decoding failure for the at least one uplink beam transmission.

30. The method of any one of the claims 16 to 29, comprising configuring the UE (112) to declare the BF and / or trigger the BFR procedure based on at least one of: only uplink beam transmission failures, only downlink beam reception failures, and both downlink and uplink beam transmission failures.

31. A user equipment configured to perform any of the steps of any of the claims 1-15.

32. A network node configured to perform any of the steps of any of the claims 16-30.

33. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the claims 1-15 and / or claims 16-30, as performed by the UE and network node, respectively.

34. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the steps of any of the claims 1-15 and / or claims 16- 30, as performed by the UE and network node, respectively.

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