T312 Timer Early Initiation for Radio Link Failure Recovery

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current wireless communication systems face challenges in the timely detection and recovery from radio link failures due to the long reaction time of the T310 timer and the inefficiency of the T312 timer in initiating handovers, particularly when consecutive out-of-sync samples occur after detecting radio link problems.

Innovation Solution

A method is introduced where a second timer (T312) is initiated before the expiry of the first timer (T310) by detecting a triggering condition earlier, allowing for immediate action if a predetermined condition is met, with the option to start the T312 timer with a value of zero or a predetermined value, thereby reducing the time to re-establish a connection and prioritizing prepared cells for handover.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the T310 timer is used to detect radio link failure, then the system maintains control over handover timing, but the UE outage time becomes excessively long

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehandover controlVSAvoidUE outage time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by starting the T312 timer before the T310 timer expires. When the network configures both timers and the UE detects that T310 will expire, it proactively starts T312 with a shorter duration. This allows the re-establishment procedure to begin earlier, reducing UE outage time while maintaining controlled handover timing through the network-configured timer values.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If the T312 timer is started only after T310 expiry detection, then the system avoids false alarms, but the re-establishment procedure is delayed

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefalse alarm avoidanceVSAvoidre-establishment delay
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by enabling the UE to start the T312 timer in advance, before T310 actually expires. The UE monitors T310's countdown and initiates T312 when it detects that T310 will expire soon. This early initiation reduces re-establishment delay while the network's configuration of both timers prevents false alarms by ensuring proper coordination between the two timer values.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3681243B1Improving communication efficiency
Publication Date: 2023.11.15 NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
  • EP3681243B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3681243B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3681243B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4

AI summary

There is provided a method comprising: detecting a triggering condition for a second timer for initiating a reestablishment procedure before expiry of a first timer that is a radio link failure related timer; detecting a triggering condition for the first timer and starting the first timer, wherein the detecting the triggering condition for the second timer is performed prior to detecting the triggering condition for the first timer; based on detecting the triggering condition for the first timer, determining whether a predetermined condition regarding the triggering condition for the second timer is true; upon determining that the predetermined condition is true, determining whether there is at least one prepared cell; in case there is at least one prepared cell, starting the second timer with a value that is lower than or equal to a predetermined value, or otherwise, starting the second timer with a value greater than the predetermined value.