New Beam Identification for 5G Beam Failure Recovery

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional 5G beam failure recovery procedures are limited by high latency due to the inability to switch beams between different transmission and reception points, leading to prolonged connection losses when channel state feedback is infrequent or sudden blockages occur.

Innovation Solution

A method where a user equipment determines the quality of New Beam identification-Reference signal (NBI-RS) resources associated with serving and candidate TRPs, selecting a new beam for recovery based on threshold comparisons and predetermined rules to reduce latency by switching to a candidate TRP when necessary.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional BFR procedure is used to handle beam tracking issues, then beam failure recovery can be performed, but the recovery latency is high due to inability to switch to candidate TRPs

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebeam failure recovery capabilityVSAvoidrecovery latency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent pre-configures multiple candidate TRPs and their associated NBI-RS resources before beam failure occurs. When beam failure is detected, the UE can immediately evaluate pre-configured candidate TRPs and switch to the best available candidate, eliminating the need for time-consuming TRP discovery and configuration procedures after failure occurs.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent enables dynamic selection among multiple candidate TRPs based on real-time beam quality measurements. The system transitions from a static single-TRP configuration to a dynamic multi-TRP evaluation mechanism, allowing the UE to adaptively choose the optimal TRP for recovery based on current channel conditions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

2Device complexity

If beam switching is limited to the same serving TRP, then the BFR procedure is simpler to implement, but the recovery effectiveness is reduced when serving TRP beams are blocked

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveBFR procedure complexityVSAvoidrecovery effectiveness
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the recovery process into two distinct phases: beam level evaluation (comparing multiple beams from the same TRP) and TRP level evaluation (comparing beams from different TRPs). This segmentation allows the system to first attempt simpler same-TRP recovery, and only escalate to candidate TRP switching when necessary, maintaining procedural simplicity while enhancing recovery effectiveness.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies different evaluation criteria and thresholds for same-TRP beam switching versus cross-TRP beam switching. The system uses localized quality metrics specific to each TRP scenario, allowing optimized decision-making for each recovery context without requiring a completely complex unified procedure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP4156544A1Method and apparatus for new beam identification
Publication Date: 2023.03.29 MEDIATEK INC
  • EP4156544A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4156544A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4156544A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A new beam identification method is proposed. The UE determines (301) whether a quality of at least one NBI-RS resource associated with a serving Transmission and Reception Point (TRP)is larger than or equal to a first threshold. The UE determines (302) whether a quality of at least one NBI-RS resource associated with at least one candidate TRP is larger than or equal to a second threshold. The UE selects (303) a new beam for a recovery procedure based on determining results associated with the serving TRP and the at least one candidate TRP.