Method and apparatus for handling random access failures in RRC inactive state

1. A method performed by a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising:

initiating a random access (RA)-based small data transmission (SDT) procedure while the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state;

starting a timer while the UE is in the RRC inactive state after initiating the RA-based SDT procedure;

initiating an RA procedure;

determining whether an RA problem associated with the RA procedure has occurred while the timer is running; and

in response to determining that the RA problem has occurred while the timer is running, transitioning from the RRC inactive state to an RRC idle state.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

stopping the timer when receiving at least one of an RRC resume message, an RRC setup message, an RRC release message, and an RRC reject message.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein starting the timer comprises:

starting the timer upon transmitting at least one of an RRC resume request message and an RRC resume request 1 message, and when a resume procedure is initiated for an SDT.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein transmitting the at least one of the RRC resume request message and the RRC resume request 1 message comprises transmitting the at least one of the RRC resume request message and the RRC resume request 1 message with an Msg3 payload or an MSGA payload.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transitioning from the RRC inactive state to an RRC idle state upon an expiry of the timer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the RA problem associated with the RA procedure has occurred while the timer is running comprises:

determining whether a number of RA preamble transmissions during the RA procedure exceeds a threshold while the timer is running.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

sending an RA problem indication from a MAC layer of the UE to an RRC layer of the UE in a case that the number of RA preamble transmissions exceeds the threshold.

8. A User Equipment (UE), comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory storing a set of computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the LIE to:

initiate a random access (RA)-based small data transmission (SDT) procedure while the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state;

start a timer while the UE is in the RRC inactive state after initiating the RA-based SDT procedure;

initiate an RA procedure;

determine whether an RA problem associated with the RA procedure has occurred while the timer is running; and

in response to determining that the RA problem associated with the RA procedure has occurred while the timer is running, transition from the RRC inactive state to an RRC idle state.

9. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the set of computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the UE to:

stop the timer when receiving at least one of an RRC resume message, an RRC setup message, an RRC release message, and an RRC reject message.

10. The UE of claim 8 , wherein starting the timer comprises:

starting the timer upon transmitting at least one of an RRC resume request message and an RRC resume request 1 message and when a resume procedure is initiated for an SDT.

11. The UE of claim 10 , wherein transmitting the at least one of the RRC resume request message and the RRC resume request 1 message comprises transmitting the at least one of the RRC resume request message and the RRC resume request 1 message with an Msg3 payload or an MSGA payload.

12. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the set of computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the UE to:

transition from the RRC inactive state to an RRC idle state upon an expiry of the timer.

13. The UE of claim 8 , wherein determining whether the RA problem associated with the RA procedure has occurred while the timer is running comprises:

determining whether a number of RA preamble transmissions during the RA procedure exceeds a threshold while the timer is running.

14. The UE of claim 13 , wherein the set of computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the UE to:

send an RA problem indication from a MAC layer of the UE to an RRC layer of the UE in a case that the number of RA preamble transmissions exceeds the threshold.