EP-4736343-A1 - NCR OPERATIONS DURING CONTROL LINK FAILURE

Abstract

An apparatus configured to determine a beam failure of a control link with a base station, perform a beam recovery operation for the control link, wherein the beam recovery operation comprises a beam failure recovery (BFR) or a radio link failure (RLF) operation and determine a forwarding operation for a first data link with a user equipment (UE), wherein the forwarding operation is performed during a time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete.

Inventors

• BHAMRI, ANKIT
• HE, HONG
• SUN, HAITONG
• ZENG, WEI
• ZHANG, DAWEI
• NIU, HUANING

Assignees

• Apple Inc.

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20240627

Claims (20)

1. 1 . An apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to : determine a beam failure of a control link with a base station; perform a beam recovery operation for the control link, wherein the beam recovery operation comprises a beam failure recovery (BFR) or a radio link failure (RLF) operation; and determine a forwarding operation for a first data link with a user equipment (UE ) , wherein the forwarding operation is performed during a time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete .
2. 2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a second data link with the base station comprises a first beam and the control link comprises a second beam, wherein the first and second beam are di f ferent beams .
3. 3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein data exchanged between the apparatus and the UE is periodic scheduled data or semi- persistent scheduled data .
4. 4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises sending data received from the base station to the UE using one or more beams during any periodic or semi-persistent scheduling occasions during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete .
5. 5 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises receiving data from the UE using one or more beams during any periodic or semi-persistent scheduling occasions during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete .
6. 6 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises skipping forwarding any data for periodic or semi- persistent scheduling occasions during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete .
7. 7 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein data exchanged between the apparatus and the UE is aperiodic scheduled data or dynamically scheduled data and wherein the forwarding operation for the first data link is based on downlink control information ( DCI ) received via the control link before the beam failure of the control link .
8. 8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises sending data received from the base station to the UE using one or more beams during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to occur during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete .
9. 9 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises receiving data from the UE using one or more beams during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to occur during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete .
10. 10 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises sending data received from the base station to the UE using one or more beams during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin before the time and continue during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to skip forwarding data received from the base station to the UE during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin during the time .
11. 11 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises receiving data from the UE using one or more beams during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin before the time and continue during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to skip forwarding data received from the UE during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin during the time .
12. 12 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises sending data received from the base station to the UE using a first beam during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin before the time and continue during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to skip forwarding data received from the base station to the UE during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin during the time or during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin before the time and continue during the time when using a second beam that is different from the first beam .
13. 13 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises receiving data from the UE using a first beam during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin before the time and continue during the time , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to skip forwarding data received from the UE during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin during the time or during any aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to begin before the time and continue during the time when using a second beam that is di f ferent from the first beam .
14. 14 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the forwarding operation comprises skipping forwarding any data for aperiodic or dynamic scheduling occasions configured by the DCI to occur during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete .
15. 15 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a second data link with the base station comprises a first beam and the control link comprises the first beam, wherein the forwarding operation comprises skipping forwarding any data for any scheduling occasions configured to occur during the time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete.
16. 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the beam recovery operation is successful, a new beam is established for the control link to the base station.
17. 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: ignore all scheduling occasions for data forwarding that were configured prior to the new beam being established.
18. 18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: perform data forwarding for any scheduling occasions that were configured prior to the new beam being established, wherein the scheduling occasions occur after the new beam is established.
19. 19. A network controlled repeater (NCR) , comprising: a transceiver configured to communicate with a base station and a user equipment (UE) ; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to: determine a beam failure of a control link with the base station; perform a beam recovery operation for the control link, wherein the beam recovery operation comprises a beam failure recovery (BFR) or a radio link failure (RLE) operation; and determine a forwarding operation for a first data link with the UE, wherein the forwarding operation is performed during a time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete .
20. 20 . The NCR of claim 19 , wherein a second data link with the base station comprises a first beam and the control link comprises a second beam, wherein the first and second beam are di f ferent beams .

Description

NCR Operations During Control Link Failure Inventors: Ankit Bhamri, Hong He, Haitong Sun, Wei Zeng, Dawei Zhang and Huaning Niu PRIORITY/ INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE [0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 63/510,971 filed on June 29, 2023, and entitled "NCR Operations During Control Link Failure," the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND [0002] Network controlled repeaters (NCRs) play an important role in 5G networks by repeating signals in locations poorly served by a typical base station. NCRs act as relays in both the uplink and downlink with both base stations (e.g., a gNB) and user equipment (UEs) . NCRs may have an NCR-MT (mobile termination) , which is a functional entity that communicates with a gNB via a control link (e.g., c-link) , which carries control information between the gNB and the NCR. The control link information may be used to control the behavior of an NCR- Fwd via downlink control information (DCI) . [0003] An NCR may have an NCR-Fwd, which is a functional entity that communicates with the gNB via a backhaul link. The NCR-Fwd may also communicate with a UE via an access link. The NCR-Fwd operates in both the uplink and downlink with both the gNB and the UE . For example, the gNB may transmit data that is bound for the UE (e.g., downlink) via the backhaul link to the NCR-Fwd. The NCR Fwd may then forward the data to the UE via an access link. Similarly, the UE may transmit data that is bound for the gNB (e.g., uplink) to the NCR-Fwd via the access link, which is then forwarded to the gNB from the NCR Fwd via the backhaul link. [0004] In some scenarios, the control link between the gNB and the NCR-MT may fail (e.g. , beam failure) , but the backhaul and access links may still be functional. Improvements to NCR behavior for such scenarios are needed. SUMMARY [0005] Some example embodiments are related to an apparatus having processing circuitry configured to determine a beam failure of a control link with a base station, perform a beam recovery operation for the control link, wherein the beam recovery operation comprises a beam failure recovery (BFR) or a radio link failure (RLF) operation and determine a forwarding operation for a first data link with a user equipment (UE) , wherein the forwarding operation is performed during a time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete. [0006] Other example embodiments are related to a network controlled repeater (NCR) having a transceiver configured to communicate with a base station and a user equipment (UE) and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to determine a beam failure of a control link with the base station, perform a beam recovery operation for the control link, wherein the beam recovery operation comprises a beam failure recovery (BFR) or a radio link failure (RLF) operation and determine a forwarding operation for a first data link with the UE, wherein the forwarding operation is performed during a time from the beam failure of the control link until the beam recovery operation for the control link is complete. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0007] Fig. 1 shows an example network arrangement according to various example embodiments. [0008] Fig. 2 shows an example UE according to various example embodiments. [0009] Fig. 3 shows an example base station, according to various example embodiments. [0010] Fig. 4 shows a first beam diagram for periodically configured forwarding and semi-persistent forwarding during beam failure recovery (BFR) or radio link failure (RLF) according to various example embodiments. [0011] Fig. 5 shows a second beam diagram for aperiodic/dynamically configured forwarding during BFR or RLF according to various example embodiments. [0012] Fig. 6 shows a third beam diagram for aperiodic/dynamically configured forwarding during BFR or RLF according to various example embodiments. [0013] Fig. 7 shows a fourth beam diagram for aperiodic/dynamically configured forwarding during BFR or RLF according to various example embodiments. [0014] Fig. 8 shows a method diagram according to various example embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [ 0015 ] The example embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings , wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals . The example embodiments relate to data forwarding operations for network controlled repeaters (NCRs ) during beam recovery operations for a control link between the NCR and a base station . [ 0016] The example embodiments are described with regard to a user equipment (UE ) . However, reference to a UE is merely provided for illustrative purposes . The example embodiments may be utili zed with any electronic component that may establish a connection to a network and is configured with the hardware , software , and/