Methods and apparatus supporting beam failure recovery in system with multiple-beam operation

1. A method, comprising:

performing, by processing circuitry, beam quality measurement of one or more first beams and one or more second beams in a serving cell transmitted from a base station (BS) at a user equipment (UE) in a beamformed wireless communication system, the one or more first beams used for transmitting physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs), the one or more second beams used as one or more candidate beams for beam failure recovery;

determining, by the processing circuitry, a beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs based on the beam quality measurement of the one or more first beams; and

performing, by the processing circuitry, a beam recovery process that includes at least one of a contention-free beam recovery process or a contention-based beam recovery process, wherein

in response to that the beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs where the UE cannot detect the PDCCHs, a candidate beam having a quality above a threshold is available among the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, and dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preambles are configured for the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell at the UE, performing the contention-free beam recovery process with the dedicated PRACH preambles, and

in response to that the beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs and a candidate beam having a quality above the threshold is unavailable among the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, performing the contention-based beam recovery process based on a selected beam in the serving cell other than the one or more first beams and the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, the selected beam corresponding to a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel-state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmitted in the serving cell from the BS.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing the contention-free beam recovery process with the dedicated PRACH preambles comprises:

transmitting one of the dedicated PRACH preambles based on the candidate beam having the quality above the threshold among the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process comprises:

performing the contention-free and contention-based processes alternately, wherein one of the contention-free and contention-based processes are performed one or more times before performing another one of the contention-free and contention-based processes one or more times.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process comprises one of:

performing the contention-free beam recovery process one or more times until a timer expires,

performing the contention-free beam recovery process one or more times until a counter reaches a maximum counter value,

performing the contention-free beam recovery process one or more times until a timer expires or a counter reaches a maximum counter value,

performing the contention-based beam recovery process one or more times until a timer expires,

performing the contention-based beam recovery process one or more times until a counter reaches a maximum counter value, or

performing the contention-based beam recovery process one or more times until a timer expires or a counter reaches a maximum counter value.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process comprises one of:

performing the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process until a timer expires,

performing the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process until a counter reaches a maximum counter value, or

performing the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process until a timer expires or a counter reaches a maximum counter value.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a beam recovery failure indication when the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process fails; and

in response to the beam recovery failure indication, establishing a connection to a preconfigured macro cell.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a macro-cell-assisted beam recovery process before or after performing the beam recovery process that includes at least one of a contention-free beam recovery process or a contention-based beam recovery process.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a beam recovery success indication when the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process succeeds; and

in response to the beam recovery success indication, terminating a radio link failure (RLF) recovery process.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a beam recovery failure indication when the beam recovery process that includes at least one of the contention-free beam recovery process or the contention-based beam recovery process fails; and

in response to the beam recovery failure indication, declaring a radio link failure before a RLF self-recovery timer expires.

10. A user equipment (UE), comprising circuitry configured to:

perform beam quality measurement of one or more first beams and one or more second beams in a serving cell transmitted from a base station (BS) in a beamformed wireless communication system, the one or more first beams used for transmitting physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs), the one or more second beams used as one or more candidate beams for beam failure recovery;

determine a beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs based on the beam quality measurement of the one or more first beams; and

perform a beam recovery process that includes at least one of a contention-free beam recovery process or a contention-based beam recovery process, wherein

in response to that the beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs where the UE cannot detect the PDCCHs, a candidate beam having a quality above a threshold is available among the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, and dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preambles are configured for the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell at the UE, performing the contention-free beam recovery process with the dedicated PRACH preambles, and

in response to that the beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs and a candidate beam having a quality above the threshold is unavailable among the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, performing the contention-based beam recovery process based on a selected beam in the serving cell other than the one or more first beams and the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, the selected beam corresponding to a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel-state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmitted in the serving cell from the BS.

11. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

transmit one of the dedicated PRACH preambles based on the candidate beam having the quality above the threshold among the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell.

12. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

perform the contention-free and contention-based processes alternately, wherein one of the contention-free and contention-based processes are performed one or more times before performing another one of the contention-free and contention-based processes one or more times.

13. The UE of claim 10 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to perform one of:

performing the contention-free beam recovery process one or more times until a timer expires,

performing the contention-free beam recovery process one or more times until a counter reaches a maximum counter value,

performing the contention-free beam recovery process one or more times until a timer expires or a counter reaches a maximum counter value,

performing the contention-based beam recovery process one or more times until a timer expires,

performing the contention-based beam recovery process one or more times until a counter reaches a maximum counter value, or

performing the contention-based beam recovery process one or more times until a timer expires or a counter reaches a maximum counter value.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

perform beam quality measurement of one or more first beams and one or more second beams in a serving cell transmitted from a base station (BS) in a beamformed wireless communication system, the one or more first beams used for transmitting physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs), the one or more second beams used as one or more candidate beams for beam failure recovery;

determine a beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs based on the beam quality measurement of the one or more first beams; and

perform a beam recovery process that includes at least one of a contention-free beam recovery process or a contention-based beam recovery process, wherein

in response to that the beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs where the UE cannot detect the PDCCHs, a candidate beam having a quality above a threshold is available among the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, and dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) preambles are configured for the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell at the UE, performing the contention-free beam recovery process with the dedicated PRACH preambles, and

in response to that the beam failure for the one or more first beams in the serving cell occurs and a candidate beam having a quality above the threshold is unavailable among the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, perfoiining the contention-based beam recovery process based on a selected beam in the serving cell other than the one or more first beams and the one or more candidate beams in the serving cell, the selected beam corresponding to a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel-state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmitted in the serving cell from the BS.