Communications device, infrastructure equipment and methods
A method of transmitting data to a communications device from a wireless communications network comprising one or more infrastructure equipment, the method comprises configuring one or more of the infrastructure equipment for transmitting one or more candidate beams of signals which can be used to transmit the data to the communications device from each of one or more cells of the wireless communications device formed by the infrastructure equipment. Each of the candidate beams is configured with a different directional bias with respect to a location of the one or more cells from which the signals of the candidate beam can be received when transmitted.
1 . A communications device, comprising:
circuitry configured to
transmit signals to an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network via a wireless access interface provided by the infrastructure equipment;
receive signals from the infrastructure equipment via the wireless access interface;
form a set of beams, from which data is received from the wireless communications network, from a plurality of candidate beams of signals to receive data transmitted by the infrastructure equipment from one or more of the cells of the wireless communications network or to transmit data to the one or more cells, wherein each candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams has a directional bias with respect to a location of a cell from which signals of the candidate beam are received or transmitted, and the set of beams comprises one or more serving beams and one or more fallback beams; and
switch a fallback beam of the one or more fallback beams to be one of the one or more serving beams.
2 . The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein the data is received or transmitted via the one or more serving beams.
3 . The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein the data is received or transmitted via the one or more fallback beams.
4 . The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to identify the set of beams by receiving one or more control channels received as beams transmitted in a plurality of directions from the one or more cells, the set of beams being identified from an evaluated signal quality of the received one or more control channels.
5 . The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein each beam of the plurality of candidate beams has a different directional bias.
6 . The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein to form the set of beams, the circuitry is configured to perform a beam sweeping operation to cover the cell, the beam sweeping operation including transmitting and/or receiving beams during a time period.
7 . The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein in a case that beam failure is detected, the circuitry is configured to use the one or more fallback beams to perform beam failure recovery.
8 . The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to detect beam failure.
9 . The communications device according to claim 8 , wherein a counter for beam failure instance is used to detect the beam failure.
10 . The communications device according to claim 9 , wherein the counter is incremented in a case that a periodic signal is not received.
11 . The communications device according to claim 9 , wherein the counter is reset after expiration of a time window.
12 . An infrastructure equipment, the infrastructure equipment comprising:
circuitry configured to
transmit signals to a communications device via a wireless access interface which forms a cell of a wireless communications network;
receive signals from the communications device via the wireless access interface;
transmit one or more candidate beams of signals to transmit data to the communications device, or receive the one or more candidate beams of signals to receive the data from the communications device, wherein each candidate beam of the one or more candidate beams has a directional bias with respect to a location of a cell from which the signals of the candidate beam are received or transmitted; and
determine whether each candidate beam of the one or more candidate beams is to form one or more serving beams or one or more fallback beams, with which the data can be transmitted or received from the communications device.
13 . The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein the circuitry is configured to switch a fallback beam of the one or more fallback beams to be one of the one or more serving beams.
14 . The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein the data is received or transmitted by the circuitry via the one or more serving beams.
15 . The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein the data is received or transmitted by the circuitry via the one or more fallback beams.
16 . The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to identify the set of beams by receiving one or more control channels received as beams transmitted in a plurality of directions from the one or more cells, the set of beams being identified from an evaluated signal quality of the received one or more control channels.
17 . The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein each beam of the plurality of candidate beams has a different directional bias.
18 . The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein in a case that beam failure is detected, the one or more fallback beams is used to perform beam failure recovery.
19 . The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein the circuitry is configured to detect beam failure.
20 . A transmission method, comprising:
transmitting signals to a communications device via a wireless access interface which forms a cell of a wireless communications network;
receiving signals from the communications device via the wireless access interface;
transmitting one or more candidate beams of signals to transmit data to the communications device, or receive the one or more candidate beams of signals to receive the data from the communications device, wherein each candidate beam of the one or more candidate beams has a directional bias with respect to a location of a cell from which the signals of the candidate beam are received or transmitted; and
determining whether each candidate beam of the one or more candidate beams is to form one or more serving beams or one or more fallback beams, with which the data can be transmitted or received from the communications device.