IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,408,224
Granted Patent B2
US 12,408,224 · App. 17/275,404 · Granted Sep 2, 2025

Radio link monitoring and failure for new radio-unlicensed operation

Inventors: Seau S. Lim (Swindon, GB); Yongjun Kwak (Portland, OR); Anthony Lee (San Diego, CA); Youn Hyoung Heo (Seoul, KR)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W76/19H04L5/0048H04L5/0053H04L41/0654H04W24/08H04L5/001H04W56/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,408,224
App. No.
17/275,404
Granted
Sep 2, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods of in-sync/out-of-sync (IS/OOS) determination in the unlicensed band are described. Reference signals are measured on the unlicensed band. If the UE determines that at least one of the reference signals is missing, the IS/OOS condition is evaluated on that basis. If the missing signals are ignored when determining the IS/OOS condition, and the IS/OOS condition is unable to evaluated, the L1 sends an indication to the RRC layer. If the number of indications exceeds a threshold, the UE performs re-establishment or sends a report to the base station for adjustment of the reference signal resources. If the missing signals are counted, the missing signals are weighted based on proximity to the noise floor or a number of adjacent signals that are missing.

Claims (48)

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring a plurality of Radio Link Monitoring Reference Signals (RLM-RS) resources or samples from a base station on an unlicensed band during an in-sync evaluation period, wherein the in-sync evaluation period is based on a periodicity of a synchronization signal block (SSB) configured for radio link monitoring (RLM);

evaluating an in-sync condition within the in-sync evaluation period with an increased number of RLM-RS resources or samples within the in-sync evaluation period to compensate for missing RLM-RS resources or samples; and

determining whether to provide an in-sync indication via layer-1 signaling based on the evaluating.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a number of consecutive missing RLM-RS resource samples during the in-sync evaluation period, including determining the number of consecutive missing RLM-RS resource samples by energy detection of the RLM-RS resources.

3. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the RLM-RS resources have an increased periodicity compared to licensed band RLM-RS resources.

4. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the RLM-RS resources have a larger number during the in-sync evaluation period compared to licensed band RLM-RS resources.

5. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the in-sync evaluation period is further based on a discontinuous reception cycle (DRX) cycle length.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing, in response to determining to declare radio link failure, a re-establishment with the base station when the radio link failure is on a primary cell.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

initiating, in response to determining to declare radio link failure, reporting to the base station when the radio link failure is on a primary secondary cell or a secondary cell, wherein the reporting aids the base station in changing a bandwidth part of the primary secondary cell or the secondary cell.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a number of consecutive missing RLM-RS resources or samples during the in-sync evaluation period, wherein determining whether to provide an in-sync indication via layer-1 is further based on the number of missing RLM-RS resource samples during the in-sync evaluation period.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) to cause the UE to:

monitor a plurality of Radio Link Monitoring Reference Signals (RLM-RS) resources or samples from a base station at each of a plurality of RLM-RS resources on an unlicensed band during an in-sync evaluation period, wherein the in-sync evaluation period is based on a periodicity of a synchronization signal block (SSB) configured for radio link monitoring (RLM);

evaluate an in-sync condition within the in-sync evaluation period with an increased number of RLM-RS resources or samples within the in-sync evaluation period to compensate for missing RLM-RS resources or samples; and

determine whether to provide an in-sync indication via layer-1 signaling based on the evaluating.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 9 ,

wherein the RLM-RS resource samples comprise synchronization signal block resources.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 9 ,

wherein the RLM-RS resource samples comprise channel state reference signal resources.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 9 ,

wherein the RLM-RS resource samples are cell discovery reference signals.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 12 ,

wherein the cell discovery reference signals are received within a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 9 ,

wherein the program instructions are further executable by one the or more processors of the UE to cause the UE to

determine a number of consecutive missing RLM-RS resources or samples during the in-sync evaluation period, wherein determining whether to provide an in-sync indication via layer-1 is further based on the number of missing RLM-RS resource samples during the in-sync evaluation period.

15. A baseband processor comprising processing circuitry configured to:

monitor a plurality of Radio Link Monitoring Reference Signals (RLM-RS) resources or samples from a base station at each of a plurality of RLM-RS resources on an unlicensed band during an in-sync evaluation period, wherein the in-sync evaluation period is based on a periodicity of a synchronization signal block (SSB) configured for radio link monitoring (RLM);

evaluate an in-sync condition within the in-sync evaluation period with an increased number of RLM-RS resources or samples within the in-sync evaluation period to compensate for missing RLM-RS resources or samples; and

determine whether to provide an in-sync indication via layer-1 signaling based on the evaluating.

16. The baseband processor of claim 15 ,

wherein the RLM-RS resource samples comprise synchronization signal block resources.

17. The baseband processor of claim 15 ,

wherein the RLM-RS resource samples comprise channel state reference signal resources.

18. The baseband processor of claim 15 ,

wherein the RLM-RS resource samples are cell discovery reference signals.

19. The baseband processor of claim 18 ,

wherein the cell discovery reference signals are received within a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration.

20. The baseband processor of claim 15 ,

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

determine a number of consecutive missing RLM-RS resources or samples during the in-sync evaluation period, wherein determining whether to provide an in-sync indication via layer-1 is further based on the number of missing RLM-RS resource samples during the in-sync evaluation period.

Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62737480 · Sep 27, 2018
Related Publication 20220061116A1 · Feb 24, 2022
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