IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,706,658

Granted Patent B2

US 12,706,658 · App. 17/369,881 · Granted Aug 11, 2026

Criteria and procedures for RLM/BFD relaxation

Inventor: Linhai He (San Diego, CA)

Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated

H04W52/0258 H04B17/328 H04L5/0051 H04W24/08 H04W24/10

View Patent ↗

Loading inventors, assignments & file history…

Monitor This Case

Get email alerts when status or documents change.

Order Certified Copies

Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.

Order via The Patent Place →

Pre-filled with this patent's details

Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12,706,658
App. No.: 17/369,881
Granted: Aug 11, 2026
Kind: B2

External Links

USPTO Patent Center↗ Full Patent PDF↗

Abstract

Apparatus and method for wireless communications that include RLM or BFD procedures. The apparatus measures one or more reference signals for an RLM procedure or a BFD procedure. The apparatus reduces a rate of the measuring the one or more reference signals for the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure based at least in part on at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals meeting a relaxation criteria.

Claims (112)

1 . An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to cause the UE to:

measure one or more reference signals from a first cell for one or more of a radio link monitoring (RLM) procedure or a beam failure detection (BFD) procedure associated with the first cell;

receive an indication that causes the UE to:

enable the UE to enter a relaxation procedure associated with a relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure based, at least in part, on at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals that meets both a distance criterion relative to a cell edge of the first cell and a mobility criterion; and

not enable the UE to enter the relaxation procedure based on the at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals that meets only one of the distance criterion relative to the cell edge of the first cell or the mobility criterion;

enter the relaxation procedure based at least in part on the at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals that meets both the mobility criterion and the distance criterion relative to the cell edge of the first cell, wherein the distance criterion is based at least in part on a radio link quality associated with the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is greater than a threshold; and

transmit a relaxation indication to indicate that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mobility criterion is based at least in part on a stability of a radio link.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the distance criterion is further based at least in part on at least one radio resource management (RRM) measurement in a cell reselection procedure that is greater than a first threshold that indicates the UE is remote from the cell edge.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio link quality is associated with a layer 1 reference signal received power L1-RSRP measurement averaged over a time window.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, to enter the relaxation procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

increment a relaxation counter by one based on the radio link quality that is greater than the threshold; and

enter the relaxation procedure in response to the relaxation counter that is within a counter threshold within an evaluation period.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mobility criterion is based at least in part on a time average of at least one Doppler shift measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is less than a Doppler threshold.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an additional criterion is based at least in part on a current rate of measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is associated with a periodicity that is less than a configured maximum measurement periodicity.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the indication that enables the UE to enter the relaxation procedure indicates that the relaxation procedure applies on a serving cell basis, applies for a special cell (SpCell) only, or applies for all secondary cells (SCell) only.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the indication that enables the UE to enter the relaxation procedure is associated with at least one scaling factor, and wherein the relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure are associated with a periodicity based at least in part on the at least one scaling factor.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

exit the relaxation procedure after one or more measurement periods to re-evaluate the mobility criterion and the distance criterion based at least in part on the radio link quality associated with at least one of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is less than an exit threshold.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, to enter the relaxation procedure, the one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to:

enter the relaxation procedure for the RLM procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the RLM procedure.

12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, to enter the relaxation procedure, the one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to:

enter the relaxation procedure for the BFD procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the BFD procedure.

13 . A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

measuring one or more reference signals from a first cell for one or more of a radio link monitoring (RLM) procedure or a beam failure detection (BFD) procedure associated with the first cell;

receiving an indication that:

enables the UE to enter a relaxation procedure associated with a relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure based, at least in part, on at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals that meets both a distance criterion relative to a cell edge of the first cell and a mobility criterion; and

does not enable the UE to enter the relaxation procedure based on the at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals that meets only one of the distance criterion relative to the cell edge of the first cell or the mobility criterion;

entering the relaxation procedure based at least in part on the at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals meeting both the mobility criterion and the distance criterion relative to the cell edge of the first cell, wherein the distance criterion is based at least in part on a radio link quality associated with the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is greater than a threshold; and

transmitting a relaxation indication to indicate that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the mobility criterion is based at least in part on a stability of a radio link, a low mobility of the UE, or a stationary status of the UE.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the distance criterion corresponds to the UE being remote from the cell edge further based at least in part on at least one radio resource management (RRM) measurement in a cell reselection procedure being greater than a first threshold.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein entering the relaxation procedure further comprises:

incrementing a relaxation counter by one based on the radio link quality that is greater than the threshold; and

entering the relaxation procedure in response to the relaxation counter being within a counter threshold within an evaluation period.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the indication that enables the UE to enter the relaxation procedure is associated with at least one scaling factor, and wherein the relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure are associated with a periodicity based at least in part on the at least one scaling factor.

18 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

exiting the relaxation procedure after one or more measurement periods to re-evaluate the mobility criterion and the distance criterion based at least in part on the radio link quality associated with at least one of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure being less than an exit threshold.

19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the radio link quality is associated with a layer 1 reference signal received power L1-RSRP measurement averaged over a time window.

20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the mobility criterion is based at least in part on a time average of at least one Doppler shift measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is less than a Doppler threshold.

21 . The method of claim 13 , wherein an additional criterion is based at least in part on a current rate of measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is associated with a periodicity that is less than a configured maximum measurement periodicity.

22 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the indication that enables the UE to enter the relaxation procedure indicates that the relaxation procedure applies on a serving cell basis, applies for a special cell (SpCell) only, or applies for all secondary cells (SCell) only.

23 . The method of claim 13 , wherein entering the relaxation procedure comprises:

entering the relaxation procedure for the RLM procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the RLM procedure.

24 . The method of claim 13 , wherein entering the relaxation procedure comprises:

entering the relaxation procedure for the BFD procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the BFD procedure.

25 . An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to cause the base station to:

transmit one or more reference signals associated with a first cell for one or more of a radio link monitoring (RLM) procedure or a beam failure detection (BFD) procedure associated with the first cell;

transmit, for a user equipment (UE), a relaxation configuration for the UE to enter a relaxation procedure associated with a relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with the first cell in association with at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals that meets a plurality of relaxation criteria, wherein the plurality of relaxation criteria comprises a mobility criterion and a distance criterion relative to a cell edge of the first cell, wherein the distance criterion is based at least in part on a radio link quality associated with the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is greater than a threshold,

wherein the relaxation configuration is configured to:

enable, at the UE, the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals that meets both the distance criterion relative to the cell edge of the first cell and the mobility criterion; and

not enable, at the UE, the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals based on the at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals that meets only one of the distance criterion relative to the cell edge of the first cell or the mobility criterion; and

receive a relaxation indication that indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure.

26 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the mobility criterion is based at least in part on a stability of a radio link between the base station and the UE.

27 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the distance criterion corresponds to a distance of the UE from the cell edge based at least in part on at least one radio resource management (RRM) measurement in a cell reselection procedure that is greater than a first threshold.

28 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein an additional criterion is based at least in part on a current rate of measurement of the one or more reference signals for the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with a periodicity that is less than a configured maximum measurement periodicity.

29 . The apparatus of claim 25 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the relaxation configuration indicates that the relaxation procedure applies on a serving cell basis, applies for a special cell (SpCell) only, or applies for all secondary cells (SCell) only.

30 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the relaxation configuration is associated with at least one scaling factor, wherein the relaxation configuration configures the relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure to have a periodicity based at least in part on the at least one scaling factor.

31 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein, to transmit the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with the first cell, the one or more processors are configured to cause the base station to:

transmit the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the RLM procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the RLM procedure.

32 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein, to transmit the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with the first cell, the one or more processors are configured to cause the base station to:

transmit the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the BFD procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the BFD procedure.

33 . A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

transmitting one or more reference signals associated with a first cell for one or more of a radio link monitoring (RLM) procedure or a beam failure detection (BFD) procedure associated with the first cell;

transmitting, for a user equipment (UE), a relaxation configuration for the UE to enter a relaxation procedure associated with a relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with the first cell in association with at least one measurement of the one or more reference signals meeting a plurality of relaxation criteria, wherein the plurality of relaxation criteria comprises a mobility criterion and a distance criterion relative to a cell edge of the first cell, wherein the distance criterion is based at least in part on a radio link quality associated with the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure that is greater than a threshold,

wherein the relaxation configuration is configured to:

receiving a relaxation indication that indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure.

34 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the distance criterion corresponds to a distance of the UE from the cell edge based at least in part on at least one radio resource management (RRM) measurement in a cell reselection procedure being greater than a first threshold.

35 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the relaxation configuration indicates that the relaxation procedure applies on a serving cell basis, applies for a special cell (SpCell) only, or applies for all secondary cells (SCell) only.

36 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the relaxation configuration is associated with at least one scaling factor, wherein the relaxation configuration configures the relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure to have a periodicity based at least in part on the at least one scaling factor.

37 . The method of claim 33 , wherein an additional criterion is based at least in part on a current rate of measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with a periodicity that is less than a configured maximum measurement periodicity.

38 . The method of claim 33 , wherein transmitting the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with the first cell comprises:

transmitting the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the RLM procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the RLM procedure.

39 . The method of claim 33 , wherein transmitting the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with the first cell comprises:

transmitting the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the BFD procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the BFD procedure.

40 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable code at a user equipment (UE), the code when executed by one or more processors causes the UE to:

measure one or more reference signals from a first cell for one or more of a radio link monitoring (RLM) procedure or a beam failure detection (BFD) procedure associated with the first cell;

receive an indication that causes the UE to:

transmit a relaxation indication to indicate that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure.

41 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 , wherein the indication that enables the UE to enter the relaxation procedure indicates that the relaxation procedure applies on a serving cell basis, applies for a special cell (SpCell) only, or applies for all secondary cells (SCell) only.

42 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 , wherein the mobility criterion is based at least in part on a stability of a radio link.

43 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 , wherein the distance criterion is further based at least in part on at least one radio resource management (RRM) measurement in a cell reselection procedure that is greater than a first threshold that indicates the UE is remote from the cell edge.

44 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 , wherein the indication that enables the UE to enter the relaxation procedure indicates that the relaxation procedure applies on a serving cell basis, applies for a special cell (SpCell) only, or applies for all secondary cells (SCell) only.

45 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 , wherein the indication that enables the UE to enter the relaxation procedure is associated with at least one scaling factor, and wherein the relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure are associated with a periodicity based at least in part on the at least one scaling factor.

46 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 , wherein the code when executed by the one or more processors causes the UE to:

47 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 , wherein, to enter the relaxation procedure, the code when executed by the one or more processors causes the UE to:

enter the relaxation procedure for the RLM procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the RLM procedure.

48 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 , wherein, to enter the relaxation procedure, the code when executed by the one or more processors causes the UE to:

enter the relaxation procedure for the BFD procedure, wherein the relaxation indication indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure for the BFD procedure.

49 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable code at a base station, the code when executed by one or more processors causes the base station to:

wherein the relaxation configuration is configured to:

receive a relaxation indication that indicates that the UE has entered the relaxation procedure.

50 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 49 , wherein the relaxation configuration indicates that the relaxation procedure applies on a serving cell basis, applies for a special cell (SpCell) only, or applies for all secondary cells (SCell) only.

51 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 49 , wherein the relaxation configuration is associated with at least one scaling factor, wherein the relaxation configuration configures the relaxed measurement of the one or more reference signals to have a periodicity based at least in part on the at least one scaling factor.

52 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 49 , wherein, to transmit the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with the first cell, the code when executed by the one or more processors causes the base station to:

53 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 49 , wherein, to transmit the relaxation configuration for the UE to enter the relaxation procedure for the one or more reference signals for the one or more of the RLM procedure or the BFD procedure associated with the first cell, the code when executed by the one or more processors causes the base station to: