Interaction mechanism between radio link monitoring/radio link failure (RLM/RLF) and beam failure recovery procedure

1. A method for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, the method comprising:

starting a first timer when an out-of-sync condition is detected;

receiving a beam recovery success (BRS) indication indicating a beam recovery is successfully made;

determining, in response to the BRS indication, to consecutively receive a plurality of in-sync (IS) indications;

comparing a number of the consecutively received IS indications with a threshold number;

identifying whether the out-of-sync condition is resolved based on the comparison;

determining whether an amount of time remaining on the first timer after receiving the BRS indication is enough to consecutively receive sufficient IS indications of the plurality of IS indications; and

extending the first timer in response to a determination that the amount of time remaining on the first timer is not enough.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold number is configured by the wireless network, and the out-of-sync condition is identified as resolved successfully when the number of the consecutively received IS indications is equal to or larger than the threshold number.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the BRS indication is counted as one of the consecutively received IS indications.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of consecutively received IS indications includes IS indications received before the BRS indication is received.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the BRS indication is generated in a lower sublayer, the lower sublayer being a medium access control (MAC) sublayer or a physical (PHY) sublayer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the out-of-sync condition is detected when consecutively receiving a plurality of out-of-sync (OOS) indications.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

suspending the first timer upon receiving the BRS indication; and

re-starting the first timer after receiving at least one out-of-sync indication.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

suspending the first timer and starting a second timer upon receiving the BRS indication;

determining to consecutively receive the plurality of the IS indications before the second timer expires; and

re-starting the first timer when the second timer expires.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

staring, after the first timer expires, a second timer for a time period within which a radio resource control (RRC) connection re-establishment is initiated; and

entering an RRC idle state when the RRC connection re-establishment fails.

10. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions;

a processor coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium, and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

start a first timer when an out-of-sync condition is detected;

receive a beam recovery success (BRS) indication indicating a beam recovery is successfully made;

determine, in response to the BRS indication, to consecutively receive a plurality of in-sync (IS) indications;

compare a number of the consecutively received IS indications with a threshold number;

identify whether the out-of-sync condition is resolved based on the comparison;

determine whether an amount of time remaining on the first timer after receiving the BRS indication is enough to consecutively receive sufficient IS indications of the plurality of IS indications; and

extend the first timer in response to a determination that the amount of time remaining on the first timer is not enough.

11. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the threshold number is configured by the wireless network, and the out-of-sync condition is identified as resolved successfully when the number of the consecutively received IS indications is equal to or larger than the threshold number.

12. The US of claim 10 , wherein the BRS indication is counted as one of the consecutively received IS indications.

13. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of consecutively received IS indications include IS indications received before the BRS indication is received.

14. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the BRS indication is generated in a lower sublayer, the lower sublayer being a medium access control (MAC) sublayer or a physical (PHY) sublayer.

15. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the out-of-sync condition is detected when consecutively receiving a plurality of out-of-sync (OOS) indications.

16. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

suspend the first timer upon receiving the BRS indication; and

re-start the first timer after receiving at least one out-of-sync indication.

17. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

suspend the first timer and start a second timer upon receiving the BRS indication;

determine to consecutively receive the plurality of the IS indications before the second timer expires; and

re-start the first timer when the second timer expires.

18. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

start, after the first timer expires, a second timer for a time period within which a radio resource control (RRC) connection re-establishment is initiated; and

enter an RRC idle state when the RRC connection re-establishment fails.