Serving Cell State Transitions With Preconfigured BWP and TCI

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing wireless communication systems, particularly in 5G New Radio (NR), face challenges in managing the state transitions of serving cells, including bandwidth part (BWP) operation, beam management, and uplink time alignment, especially when transitioning between dormant and activated states, leading to inefficiencies and delays.

Innovation Solution

Implementing methods to manage serving cell states through configuration with timers, specific BWP handling, and dedicated configurations for UEs, along with techniques for beam failure recovery and TCI state management to optimize transitions and reduce delays.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If a serving cell is transitioned from dormant state to activated state, then the cell becomes available for data transmission, but scheduling delays occur due to state transition processing

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata transmission availabilityVSAvoidscheduling delay
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring bandwidth parts (BWPs) and transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states while the serving cell is in dormant state. The UE receives and stores BWP configuration parameters and TCI state information in advance, so that when the cell transitions to activated state, data transmission can begin immediately without waiting for configuration processing, thus eliminating scheduling delays while ensuring transmission availability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Adaptability or versatility

If BWP configuration is performed during serving cell state transitions, then bandwidth management is optimized, but processing time increases causing delays

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebandwidth management flexibilityVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by receiving and configuring multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs) with different bandwidth configurations while the serving cell is in dormant state. The UE stores these BWP configurations and their associated parameters in advance. When the cell transitions to activated state, the pre-configured BWPs are immediately available for selection based on data transmission requirements, providing bandwidth management flexibility without incurring processing delays during the critical activation phase

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If TCI states are configured for PDSCH reception during state transitions, then beam management is improved, but scheduling latency increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebeam management qualityVSAvoidscheduling latency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by receiving and configuring transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) reception while the serving cell is in dormant state. The UE stores the TCI state configurations that associate different beam directions with specific PDSCH reception parameters. When the cell transitions to activated state, the appropriate TCI state is already in place, enabling immediate beam-managed data reception without the latency that would otherwise be required for beam configuration during activation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3918855B1Serving cell state management
Publication Date: 2026.03.11 ZTE CORP
  • EP3918855B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3918855B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3918855B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Methods, systems, and devices related to related to digital wireless communication, and more specifically, to techniques related to maintaining a serving cell state. In one exemplary aspect, a method for wireless communication includes detecting an occurrence of an event. The method also includes modifying the state configuration of the serving cell based on the occurrence of the event.