Patent Description:
A user equipment (UE) may receive a plurality of beams from a base station (BS), and may perform a random access (RA) procedure with the BS via one of the plurality of beams. However, it is unknown how (or when) the UE selects the one of the plurality of beams, when the UE performs the RA procedure. Thus, how to handle the RA procedure is an important problem to be solved.

<NPL>, discusses alternatives for configuration of RACH resource allocation.

<NPL>, discusses the relation between a beamformed SS block and random access configuration.

<CIT> discloses a <NUM> or pre-<NUM> communication system for supporting a data transmission rate higher than that of a <NUM> communication system, such as LTE, and subsequent systems. Provided is a random access preamble transmitting method of a terminal for performing an initial access in a communication system, the method comprising the steps of: acquiring system information from a base station; determining a repetition level of a random access preamble by using the acquired system information; and transmitting the random access preamble with a repetitive frequency corresponding to the repetition level in a transmission resource area corresponding to the determined repetition level.

<CIT> discloses a method for random access to a small cell by means of a terminal. The method includes the steps of: receiving a plurality of settings for a random access preamble; selecting one of the plurality of settings; and transmitting the random access preamble according to the one selected setting. Here, a resource on which the random access preamble can be transmitted can be provided in plurality in one subframe, and the preamble transmitted on each resource is distinguishable.

The present invention therefore provides a communication device for handling a random access procedure to solve the abovementioned problem.

According to the present invention, a communication device for performing a random access (RA) procedure is provided as set forth in claim <NUM>. Preferred embodiments of the present invention may be gathered from the dependent claims.

In <FIG>, the wireless communication system <NUM> is briefly composed of a network and a plurality of communication devices. The network and the communication device may (e.g. , simultaneously) communicate with each other via one or multiple cells including a primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells).

Practically, the network in <FIG> may comprise a narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) network or an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) including at least one evolved Node-B (eNB). The network may comprise a new radio (NR) /next generation (NextGen) network including at least one <NUM> base station (BS) (or called gNB) or an evolved gNB (egNB) or a sixth generation (<NUM>) BS. The <NUM>/<NUM> radio communication technology may employ orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and/or non-OFDM. In general, a BS may also be used to refer any of the eNB, the gNB, the egNB and the <NUM> BS.

A communication device may be a user equipment (UE), a NB-IoT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) device, a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet computer, an electronic book, a portable computer system, a vehicle, or an aircraft. In addition, the network and the communication device can be seen as a transmitter or a receiver according to direction (i.e., transmission direction), e.g., for a uplink (UL), the communication device is the transmitter and the network is the receiver, and for a downlink (DL), the network is the transmitter and the communication device is the receiver.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a communication device <NUM> according to an example of the present invention. The communication device <NUM> may be the communication device shown in <FIG>, but is not limited herein. The communication device <NUM> may include at least one processing circuit <NUM> such as a microprocessor or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), at least one storage device <NUM> and at least one communication interfacing device <NUM>. The at least one storage device <NUM> may be any data storage device that may store program codes <NUM>, accessed and executed by the at least one processing circuit <NUM>. Examples of the at least one storage device <NUM> include but are not limited to a subscriber identity module (SIM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, random-access memory (RAM), Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc-ROM (DVD-ROM), Blu-ray Disc-ROM (BD-ROM), magnetic tape, hard disk, optical data storage device, non-volatile storage device, non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., tangible media), etc. The at least one communication interfacing device <NUM> is preferably at least one transceiver and is used to transmit and receive signals (e.g., data, messages and/or packets) according to processing results of the at least one processing circuit <NUM>.

In the following examples, a UE is used for representing the communication device in <FIG>, to simplify the illustration of the embodiments.

A process <NUM> in <FIG> according to an example of the present invention is utilized in a UE. The process <NUM> includes the following steps:.

According to the process <NUM>, the UE receives a first configuration of a first SS block (e.g., related to a first beam) of a BS and a second conf iguration of a second SS block (e.g., related to a second beam) of the BS. The UE obtains (e.g., determines) a first result indicating that a first signal quality of the first SS block is higher than a second signal quality of the second SS block. The UE selects (e.g., determines to select) the first configuration according to the first result. The UE obtains a second result indicating that the first signal quality is lower than the second signal quality, when (e.g., after) the UE fails to receive at least one message from the BS. The UE selects the second configuration according to the second result. That is, the UE selects the second configuration, when the UE fails to receive the at least one message from the BS.

In the present invention, the UE selects (e. , randomly) a first RA preamble and a first resource (e.g., time resource and/or frequency resource) from the first configuration. The UE transmits the first RA preamble to the BS via the first resource or a second resource in each of the first number of times. The second resource is selected from the first configuration. In a preferred embodiment, the first number of times is the number of a plurality of SS blocks of the BS.

In one example, the UE obtains (e.g., determines) that the UE fails to receive the at least one message from the BS, when (e.g., if) the UE does not receive the at least one message from the BS before/when a first timer expires. In one example, the first timer starts after a first time interval from that (e.g., when) the UE transmits the first RA preamble to the BS (e.g., from a first time of the transmission of the first RA preamble, or from an end of the transmission of the first RA preamble). In one example, the first timer may be a RA response (RAR) timer, and the at least one message may be a RAR message including the first RA preamble.

In one example, the UE transmits a "msg3" message including a UE identity (ID) (e.g., cell radio network temporary identifier, C-RNTI) of the UE to the BS via a third resource specified (e.g., assigned, configured, indicated) in the RAR message, if the UE receives (e.g. , successfully) the RAR message before the first timer expires. According to the present invention, the UE obtains (e.g., determines) that the UE fails to receive the at least one message from the BS, when (e.g., if) the UE does not receive the at least one message from the BS before/when a second timer expires. In one example, the second timer starts after a second time interval from that (when) the UE transmits the "msg3" message including the UE ID of the UE to the BS (e.g., from an end of the transmission of the "msg3" message). In the present invention, the second timer is a contention resolution timer. In a preferred embodiment, the at least one message is a contention resolution message (e.g., "msg4") including the UE ID of the UE.

In a preferred embodiment, the UE selects (e.g., randomly) a second RA preamble and a third resource (e.g. , time resource and/or frequency resource) from the second configuration. The UE transmits the second RA preamble to the BS via the third resource. In a preferred embodiment, the UE transmits the second RA preamble to the BS for a second number of times. That is, the UE transmits the second RA preamble repeatedly. In a preferred embodiment, the second number of times is the number of the plurality of SS blocks of the BS.

In the preferred embodiment, the UE selects (e.g., randomly) the second RA preamble and the third resource from the second configuration, if the first signal quality and the second signal quality are higher than a threshold and the first signal quality is lower than the second signal quality minus an offset. In a preferred embodiment, the threshold is broadcasted by the BS, when the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode (e.g., state), a RRC connected mode or a RRC inactive mode. In a preferred embodiment, the threshold is transmitted by the BS in a RRC message, when the UE is in a RRC connected mode.

In one example, the first signal quality or the second signal quality includes a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH). In one example, the first signal quality (or the second signal quality) includes a RSRP of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) in the first SS block (or the second SS block).

The following example is concluded according to the process <NUM> and related examples. A gNB transmits a first configuration associated with a first SS block of the gNB and a second configuration associated with a second SS block of the gNB to a UE. The UE selects the first configuration, when a first signal quality of the first SS block is higher than a second signal quality of the second SS block. The UE randomly selects a first RA preamble and a first resource from the first configuration, and transmits the first preamble via the first resource. The UE transmits the first preamble repeatedly for a first number of times. For each of the number of times, the UE transmit the first preamble via the first resource or a second resource. The second resource may be selected from the first configuration.

A RAR timer starts after a first time interval from that the UE transmits the first RA preamble for the first time or for the last time. The UE tries to receive a RAR message including the first RA preamble. If the UE does not receive the RAR message before the RAR timer expires, the UE obtains that it fails to receive the RAR message. If the UE successfully receives the RAR message before the RAR timer expires, the UE transmits a "msg3" message including a UE ID to the gNB via a third resource specified in the RAR message. A contention resolution timer starts after a second time interval from an end of the transmission of the "msg3" message. The UE tries to receive a "msg4" message including the UE ID. If the UE does not receive the "msg4" message before the contention resolution timer expires, the UE obtains that that it fails to receive the "msg4" message.

The UE obtains that the first signal quality of the first SS block is lower than the second signal quality of the second SS block, when the UE obtains that it fails to receive the RAR message or the "msg4" message. The UE selects the second configuration. The UE randomly selects a second RA preamble and a fourth resource from the second configuration, and transmits the second preamble via the fourth resource. The procedure of transmitting the second RA preamble can be referred to the procedure of transmitting the first RA preamble described above.

The "obtain" described above may be replaced by "select", "compute" or "calculate". The "according to" described above may be replaced by "in" or "on". The "of" described above may be replaced by "associated with" or "corresponding to". The "via" described above may be replaced by "on".

Those skilled in the art should readily make combinations, modifications and/or alterations on the abovementioned steps, description and examples. Some steps described above may not be necessary for realizing the present invention. The abovementioned description, steps and/or processes including suggested steps can be realized by means that could be hardware, software, firmware (known as a combination of a hardware device and computer instructions and data that reside as read-only software on the hardware device), an electronic system, or combination thereof. An example of the means may be the communication device <NUM>. Any of the processes above may be compiled into the program codes <NUM>.

Claim 1:
A communication device (<NUM>) for performing a random access, RA, procedure, comprising:
at least one storage device (<NUM>); and
at least one processing circuit (<NUM>), coupled to the at least one storage device (<NUM>), wherein the at least one storage device (<NUM>) stores, and the at least one processing circuit (<NUM>) is configured to execute instructions of:
receiving (<NUM>) a first configuration of a first synchronization signal, SS, block of a base station, BS, and a second configuration of a second SS block of the BS;
obtaining (<NUM>) a first result indicating that a first signal quality of the first SS block is higher than a second signal quality of the second SS block;
selecting (<NUM>) the first configuration according to the first result;
selecting a first RA preamble and a first resource from the first configuration;
transmitting the first RA preamble to the BS via the first resource or a second resource in each of a first number of times, wherein the second resource is selected from the first configuration;
characterized by
obtaining (<NUM>) a second result indicating that the first signal quality is lower than the second signal quality, when the communication device fails to receive at least one message from the BS;
selecting (<NUM>) the second configuration according to the second result; and
obtaining that the communication device (<NUM>) fails to receive the at least one message from the BS, when the communication device (<NUM>) does not receive the at least one message from the BS before a contention resolution timer expires.