Beam Failure Recovery Timer Mechanism for 5G User Equipment

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

The existing 5G beam failure handling mechanisms are prone to false beam failures, where intermittent issues are misinterpreted as actual failures, leading to unnecessary recovery processes.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a beam failure recovery timer and additional timers such as beamFailureInstanceTimer and beamFailureResetTimer to differentiate between actual and false beam failures by managing the accumulation of failure instances and resetting counters based on specific thresholds and elapsed times.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If beam failure instance counter is incremented for every detected beam failure instance, then beam failure detection sensitivity is improved, but false beam failures increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebeam failure detection sensitivityVSAvoidfalse beam failure rate
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces dynamic timing constraints to the beam failure detection process. Instead of statically counting all beam failure instances, the system dynamically evaluates whether successive failures occur within a predetermined time interval. This temporal dimension transforms the detection mechanism from a simple counter to a time-aware evaluation system that adapts to the actual failure patterns, thereby reducing false detections while maintaining sensitivity to genuine failures.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the outcome of beam failure recovery procedures influences future failure counting. When a beam failure recovery procedure is initiated or completed, the system provides feedback by resetting or adjusting the failure instance counter. This feedback loop prevents the same intermittent failure conditions from continuously triggering false beam failure declarations, allowing the system to learn from previous recovery attempts and adjust its detection behavior accordingly.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Speed

If beam failure recovery procedure is initiated immediately when failure threshold is reached, then recovery speed is improved, but unnecessary recovery processes increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improverecovery speedVSAvoidunnecessary recovery process time
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by establishing timing criteria before initiating beam failure recovery procedures. Instead of immediately triggering recovery upon reaching the failure threshold, the system first checks whether the threshold was reached within a predetermined time interval. This preliminary temporal evaluation prevents hasty recovery actions for intermittent failures, ensuring that recovery procedures are only initiated when there is conclusive evidence of sustained beam failure, thereby eliminating unnecessary recovery processes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If beam failure instance counter is reset after recovery procedure, then false failures from intermittent issues are reduced, but actual failure tracking may be lost

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefalse failure reductionVSAvoidfailure history tracking
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by selectively resetting the beam failure instance counter only under specific conditions rather than universally. The counter is reset when a beam failure recovery procedure is successfully completed or when timing criteria indicate that failures were intermittent. However, the counter continues to track failures that occur outside these specific conditions, preserving the ability to detect genuine sustained failures. This localized reset approach maintains failure history tracking where needed while eliminating false positives where appropriate.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP3739930B1User equipment and beam failure recovery method
Publication Date: 2023.10.25 SHARP KK
  • EP3739930B1 patent drawingFigure 1A
  • EP3739930B1 patent drawingFigure 1B
  • EP3739930B1 patent drawingFigure 2A

AI summary

The present invention provides user equipment and a beam failure recovery method. The beam failure recovery method for user equipment (UE), includes: receiving indication of beam failure instance; accumulating the number of received indications so as to obtain an accumulative value; initiating a beam failure recovery procedure when the accumulative value is greater than a first threshold; and skipping processing the received indication of beam failure instance during the beam failure recovery period. Thus, it is possible to eliminate false beam failures.