CN116803175A

CN116803175A - Electronic device and method in wireless communication system

Info

Publication number: CN116803175A
Application number: CN202280011077.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许威; 朱书含; 吴志坤; 孙晨
Original assignee: Sony Group Corp
Current assignee: Sony Group Corp
Priority date: 2021-01-29
Filing date: 2022-01-27
Publication date: 2023-09-22
Also published as: WO2022161441A1; CN114828111A

Abstract

The present application relates to an electronic device and method in a wireless communication system. Disclosed is an electronic device for a base station side, the electronic device including: processing circuitry configured to: determining that a link between a base station and terminal equipment fails to transmit; in response to a transmission failure of a link between the base station and the terminal device, a new link is established for retransmission in accordance with the available beams and the interfering beams for the terminal device, wherein the new link utilizes one of: a beam between the base station and the terminal device; a beam between the base station and the intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or a beam between the base station and the second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.

Description

Electronic device and method in wireless communication system

The present application is based on and claims priority from chinese application No. 202110126430.8, application No. 2021, 1, 29, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an electronic device and method in a wireless communication system, and in particular, to an electronic device and method for resuming communication when a transmission failure occurs in a link in a wireless communication system.

Background

With the development of communication technology, requirements for reliability and delay in communication are increasing, and ultra-high reliability low-delay communication (URLLC) is gaining attention as one of main scenes to be considered in the fifth-generation communication system. For example, in application scenarios such as autopilot, industrial application and control, remote manufacturing, remote training, tele-surgery, and other highly delay-sensitive services, the application of URLLC services may be considered in order to meet its quality of service (QoS) requirements.

Millimeter wave and large-scale input-output technologies are being widely studied in order to achieve gigabit-level wireless access compliant with URLLC requirements. The large-scale input and output technology with large freedom degree ensures higher energy efficiency and spectral efficiency, and simultaneously provides wider available bandwidth in millimeter wave frequency band. In addition, since the wavelength of millimeter waves is short, a large number of antenna arrays can be equipped to form highly directional beams, thereby enabling the realization of a large-scale input-output system.

Link recovery and cell reselection are common problems in modern communication systems, especially in high mobility communication networks and high frequency link connection scenarios, where link transmission failures often occur. When a link fails to transmit, it is important for traffic in the communication system, especially delay sensitive traffic, to establish a new link as soon as possible to resume communication.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides an electronic device and method in a wireless communication system that can improve link recovery and reestablishment after a transmission failure in the wireless communication system.

An aspect of the present disclosure relates to an electronic device for a base station side, the electronic device including: processing circuitry configured to: determining that a link between a base station and terminal equipment fails to transmit; in response to a transmission failure of a link between the base station and the terminal device, a new link is established for retransmission in accordance with the available beams and the interfering beams for the terminal device, wherein the new link utilizes one of: a beam between the base station and the terminal device; a beam between the base station and the intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or a beam between the base station and the second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.

Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to an electronic device for a terminal device side, the electronic device comprising: processing circuitry configured to: after a transmission failure of a link between the base station and the terminal device, a new link is established with the base station for retransmission, wherein the new link is established by the base station from available beams and interfering beams for the terminal device, and wherein the new link utilizes one of: a beam between the base station and the terminal device; a beam between the base station and the intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or a beam between the base station and the second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.

Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for a base station, comprising: determining that a link between a base station and terminal equipment fails to transmit; in response to a transmission failure of a link between the base station and the terminal device, a new link is established for retransmission in accordance with the available beams and the interfering beams for the terminal device, wherein the new link utilizes one of: a beam between the base station and the terminal device; a beam between the base station and the intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or a beam between the base station and the second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.

Yet another aspect of the disclosure relates to a method for a terminal device, comprising: after a transmission failure of a link between the base station and the terminal device, a new link is established with the base station for retransmission, wherein the new link is established by the base station from available beams and interfering beams for the terminal device, and wherein the new link utilizes one of: a beam between the base station and the terminal device; a beam between the base station and the intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or a beam between the base station and the second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.

Another aspect of the disclosure relates to a computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processing circuits of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform a method as previously described.

Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method as described above.

Drawings

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the disclosure are further described below in connection with the following detailed description of the embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding technical features or components will be denoted by the same or corresponding reference numerals.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a base station side electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 shows a flowchart of a method for a base station side electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a terminal-side electronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of a method for a terminal-side electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic signaling diagram for transmission failure recovery between a base station side electronic device and a terminal side electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7A illustrates a schematic diagram of a scenario in which communication is performed through an intermediary device auxiliary link in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7B illustrates an exemplary list of available beams and a list of interfering beams according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a list showing correspondence between IDs of available beams and IDs of devices and IDs of device beams according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 shows a flowchart of a method for establishing a new link when a transmission failure of the link occurs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating a scenario in which a beam in which transmission failure occurs is determined by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11A and 11B illustrate diagrams of a scenario in which a beam in which transmission failure occurs is determined by an intermediary device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic signaling diagram of a communication procedure for determining a beam where transmission failure occurs by an intermediary device, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 shows a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a terminal device performs cell reselection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 is a block diagram schematically showing an example structure of a personal computer of an information processing apparatus employable in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 15 is a block diagram showing a first example of a schematic configuration of an eNB to which the techniques of the present disclosure may be applied;

fig. 16 is a block diagram showing a second example of a schematic configuration of an eNB to which the techniques of the present disclosure may be applied;

fig. 17 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a communication apparatus to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied, and

fig. 18 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied.

While the embodiments described in this disclosure may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the embodiment to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the interest of clarity and conciseness, not all features of an embodiment are described in the specification. However, it should be appreciated that many implementation-specific arrangements must be made in implementing the embodiments in order to achieve a developer's specific goals, such as compliance with those constraints related to equipment and business, and that these constraints may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

It should also be noted herein that, in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure with unnecessary details, only the processing steps and/or apparatus structures closely related to at least the schemes according to the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, while other details not greatly related to the present disclosure are omitted.

The introduction of some intermediate devices presents new challenges and opportunities for communication networks. Examples of intermediary devices include, but are not limited to: reflective antenna arrays, relay devices, roadside units (RSUs), etc. Among them, a reflective antenna array (or referred to as a large-scale antenna array, a smart reflective surface, etc.) is an emerging technology, which attracts a great deal of attention by virtue of low manufacturing costs and energy consumption. The reflective antenna array comprises a plurality of passive reflective arrays, wherein each array can independently adjust the phase and amplitude of incident electromagnetic waves, thereby controlling the propagation environment of the electromagnetic waves. The introduction of the reflective antenna array brings a new link to the communication system, which is beneficial to enabling signals from a base station (e.g., gNB) to bypass a barrier to reach the terminal equipment, thereby improving the service quality of the terminal equipment and the coverage capability of the communication network, and simultaneously providing a new path for updating and recovering the transmission link. However, new challenges also exist in systems that utilize reflective antenna array assisted links for communication. For example, link transmission failure may occur due to a beam between the base station and the reflective antenna array, or due to a beam between the reflective antenna array and the terminal device. Furthermore, beams of different reflective antenna arrays may utilize the same communication resources (e.g., frequency, time slots, etc.) when serving different terminal devices, thereby causing interference. It should be appreciated that while the above discussion exemplifies a reflective antenna array, similar problems may exist in scenarios where other intermediate devices are utilized to facilitate communications.

In existing beam failure detection, a beam is considered to fail when the L1-RSRP is below a certain threshold multiple times. The terminal device periodically performs beam detection and maintains only one spare beam through a synchronization signal and a PBCH block (Synchronization Signal and PBCH block, abbreviated SSB block) and informs the base station of the spare beam. When a beam failure occurs, if the spare beam is reliable, the base station may update it to a new transmission beam. However, in the existing mechanism, the period length of beam detection is typically 5ms to 160ms, and if applied to URLLC communication, the communication quality of the terminal device may be affected due to its long detection period. In addition, in the existing communication system, the communication between the base station and the terminal equipment utilizes a direct link between the base station and the terminal equipment, wherein different beams of the base station occupy different communication resources, and the interference problem between the beams does not need to be considered. However, when using a reflective antenna array for auxiliary communication, interference that may exist between beams of different reflective antenna arrays may cause a sharp decrease in communication quality. In addition, cell reselection may be required when channel conditions are poor such that beam switching cannot address transmission link failure. In URLLC communication, frequent cell switching may cause problems such as transmission resource loss and time delay.

Accordingly, an electronic device and method that improves link recovery and cell reselection after transmission failure in a wireless communication system is desired.

The basic technical concept of the wireless communication system of the present disclosure and exemplary embodiments will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 may include a base station (e.g., a gNB) 110, a terminal device (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet, etc.) 120, and intermediary devices 130, 140. It should be appreciated that although the intermediate devices 130, 140 are depicted in fig. 1 as reflective antenna arrays, the intermediate devices 130, 140 may be any other device capable of reflecting (or relaying) signals transmitted by the base station to the terminal devices. Furthermore, while only two intermediate devices are shown in fig. 1, it should be understood that wireless communication system 100 may also include any other suitable number of intermediate devices.

In fig. 1, three transmission paths may exist between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120. In the first transmission path, the base station 110 transmits communication data to the intermediate device 130 using the beam 111, and then the intermediate device 130 transmits communication data to the terminal device 120 using the beam 131. In the second transmission path, the base station 110 transmits communication data directly to the terminal device 120 via the beam 112. In the third transmission path, the base station 110 transmits communication data to the intermediate device 140 using the beam 113, and then the intermediate device 140 transmits communication data to the terminal device 120 using the beam 141. Wherein the first transmission path and the third transmission path are transmission paths assisted by an intermediate device, and the second transmission path is a direct transmission path.

It should be appreciated that intermediate devices 130 and 140 may utilize multiple beams to transmit communication data, such as by adjusting the reflective array, and are not limited to either beam 131 or beam 141. Furthermore, while beams 111-113, 131, 141 are shown in fig. 1 as transmit beams, it is to be understood that there may also be corresponding receive beams, forming beam pairs between a base station and a terminal device, a base station and an intermediate device, or an intermediate device and a terminal device. For simplicity of description, the transmit beam is described herein as an example, however, it should be understood that the method of the present invention is equally applicable to scenarios utilizing beam pairs, and to the uplink and downlink.

As mentioned above, the introduction of intermediate devices presents new challenges and opportunities for communication networks. For example, when there is an obstruction between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120, if only a direct transmission path is utilized, the received signal quality of the terminal device 120 will be poor regardless of whether the base station 110 transmits with beams 111, 112 or 113. The intermediate device provides a new transmission path, possibly avoiding the obstruction to achieve efficient communication. For example, base station 110 may establish a new link using beam 111 between base station 110 and intermediate device 130 and beam 131 between intermediate device 130 and terminal device 120, or base station 110 may establish a new link using beam 113 between base station 110 and intermediate device 140 and beam 141 between intermediate device 140 and terminal device 120. However, transmission using the intermediate device auxiliary link may also fail, and there are a number of complications in that transmission failure may occur on one or both of the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze and judge the specific situation of the transmission failure and determine a fast and effective beam recovery method to reduce the delay and performance loss caused by the transmission failure as much as possible.

An electronic device and a method of improving link recovery and reestablishment after a transmission failure in a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a base station side electronic device 200 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The base station side electronic device 200 may correspond to the base station 110 in fig. 1, which may communicate with an intermediate device or a terminal device in a wireless communication system, or the base station side electronic device 200 may be used to control the operation of the base station 110 in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 2, the base station side electronic device 200 may include a processing circuit 220. The function of the processing circuit 220 will be described below in connection with the scenario of fig. 1 as an example.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuit 220 may be configured to: determining that a transmission failure occurs in a link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120; in response to a transmission failure of the link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120, a new link is established for retransmission in accordance with the available beams and interference beams for the terminal device 120, wherein the new link utilizes one of: a beam (e.g., beam 112) between base station 110 and terminal device 120; a beam (e.g., beam 111) between base station 110 and an intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130) and a spare beam (e.g., other beams of intermediate device 130, not shown in fig. 1) between the intermediate device and terminal device 120; or a beam (e.g., beam 113) between base station 110 and a second intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 140) and a beam (e.g., beam 141) between the second intermediate device and terminal device 120.

In the above structural example of the apparatus, the processing circuit 220 may be in the form of a general-purpose processor or may be a dedicated processing circuit, such as an ASIC. For example, the processing circuit 220 can be constructed of circuitry (hardware) or a central processing device, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU). Further, the processing circuit 220 may have a program (software) for operating a circuit (hardware) or a central processing apparatus carried thereon. The program can be stored in a memory (such as one disposed in the memory) or an external storage medium connected from the outside, and downloaded via a network (such as the internet).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuit 220 may include various units for implementing the above-described functions, such as a transmission failure determining unit 222 configured to determine that a transmission failure has occurred in a link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120, and a new link establishing unit 224 configured to establish a new link for retransmission according to an available beam and an interference beam for the terminal device 120 in response to the transmission failure occurring in the link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120.

The processing circuit 220 may optionally include a beam communication quality measurement unit 226 configured to send reference signals for measuring the communication quality of the beam to the terminal device 120 and to receive beam quality measurements from the terminal device 120. The beam communication quality measurement unit 226 is depicted with a broken line for the purpose of illustrating that the unit is not necessarily included in the processing circuit, and as an example, the unit may be in the base station side electronic device 200 but outside the processing circuit 220, or may even be located outside the base station side electronic device 200.

These units included in processing circuitry 220 may be communicatively coupled to one another (not shown). It should be noted that although each unit is illustrated as a separate unit in fig. 2, one or more of the units may be combined into one unit or split into a plurality of units.

It should be noted that the above units are merely logic modules divided according to the specific functions implemented by them, and are not intended to limit the specific implementation, and may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware, for example. In actual implementation, each unit described above may be implemented as an independent physical entity, or may be implemented by a single entity (e.g., a processor (CPU or DSP, etc.), an integrated circuit, etc.). Furthermore, the various units described above are shown in dashed lines in the figures to indicate that these units may not actually be present, and that the operations/functions they implement may be implemented by the processing circuitry itself.

The processing circuit 220 may be implemented to include one or more other components in the base station side electronic device or may be implemented as the base station side electronic device. In actual implementation, the processing circuit 220 may be implemented as a chip (such as an integrated circuit module comprising a single wafer), a hardware component, or an entire product.

It should be understood that fig. 2 is merely a schematic structural configuration of the base station side electronic device, and that the base station side electronic device 200 may also include other possible components (e.g., a memory, etc.). Optionally, the base station side electronic device 200 may also include other components not shown, such as a memory, a radio frequency link, a baseband processing unit, a network interface, a controller, etc. The processing circuitry may be associated with the memory and/or the antenna. For example, the processing circuitry may be directly or indirectly (e.g., with other components possibly connected in between) connected to the memory for access of data. Also for example, the processing circuit may be directly or indirectly connected to the antenna to transmit radio signals via the communication unit and to receive radio signals via the communication unit.

The memory may store various information (e.g., link configuration information, available beam and interference beam information, etc.), programs and data for operation of the base station side electronic device, data to be transmitted by the base station side electronic device, etc., generated by the processing circuit 220. The memory may also be located within the base station side electronics but outside the processing circuitry, or even outside the base station side electronics. The memory may be volatile memory and/or nonvolatile memory. For example, the memory may include, but is not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), static Random Access Memory (SRAM), read Only Memory (ROM), flash memory.

The functions of the units in the processing circuit 220 of the base station side electronic apparatus 200 in fig. 2 will be specifically described below.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the intermediate device, the second intermediate device may comprise a reflective antenna array.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may be configured to transmit a reference signal for measuring the communication quality of the beam to the terminal device 120 and to receive the beam quality measurement result from the terminal device 120. In one embodiment, the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may transmit a reference signal for measuring the communication quality of the beam to the terminal device 120 in response to receiving the beam measurement request signal from the terminal device 120. For example, the terminal device 120 may trigger transmission of the beam measurement request signal to the base station 110 when the communication quality is poor, or periodically transmit the beam measurement request signal to the base station 110. In another embodiment, the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may autonomously transmit a reference signal for measuring the communication quality of the beam to the terminal device 120, e.g., the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may periodically transmit (e.g., transmit every fixed period of time).

According to an embodiment of the invention, the beam quality measurements received from the terminal device 120 may comprise a list of available beams and a list of interfering beams for the terminal device 120. According to one embodiment, the available beams for the terminal device 120 may be beams with a communication quality (e.g., reference Signal Received Power (RSRP)) above a first threshold, and the interfering beams for the terminal device 120 may be beams with a communication quality above a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold. The concept of usable beams and interfering beams will be further described below in connection with fig. 7A and 7B.

Terminal device 120 may receive the reference signal via a beam between base station 110 and terminal device 120 (e.g., beam 112) or a beam between an intermediate device and terminal device 120 (e.g., beams 131, 141). In a system where the intermediate device is opaque, the terminal device 120 is aware of the presence of the intermediate device, and thus, the terminal device 120 can determine whether the available beam and the interference beam are the beam of the base station 110 or the beam of the intermediate device and the corresponding beam ID. According to one embodiment, the list of available beams may include an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of the beam of the intermediate device, and the list of interfering beams may include an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of the beam of the intermediate device.

In a system where the intermediate device is transparent, the terminal device 120 does not know the existence of the intermediate device, it only knows the beam ID named by the base station 110, and cannot determine whether the beam is specifically from the base station 110 or some intermediate device. In this case, the base station 110 may determine the source and specific information of the beam from the beam ID received from the terminal device 120. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the available beam list may include IDs of available beams, and the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may be further configured to: determining whether each available beam is a beam between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 based on the ID of the available beam; and in response to determining that the available beam is a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120, determining an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the available beam based on the ID of the available beam. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the interference beam list may include IDs of interference beams, and the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may be further configured to: an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the interference beam are determined based on the ID of the interference beam. It should be noted that, as described above, since different beams of the base station occupy different communication resources, the interference beam does not include the beam of the base station, but only may include the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120.

As described above, in the existing communication mechanism, the terminal device maintains only one spare beam and informs the base station of the spare beam. If the spare beam is occupied, has interference, or becomes unavailable once it becomes unavailable, beam measurements may need to be re-made, severely increasing transmission delay, affecting quality of service. Thus, according to an embodiment of the invention, the list of available beams may comprise the IDs of the plurality of available beams. In a system transparent to the intermediate device, in order to require the terminal device to report a plurality of available beams after measurement, multi-beam reporting can be ensured by an explicit or implicit trigger mechanism. According to one embodiment, the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may be configured to send signaling to the terminal device 120, the signaling comprising information indicating that the terminal device reports a plurality of available beams. For example, the information may be any 1-bit instruction information, which may be embedded in any suitable existing downlink signaling (e.g., DCI), or may be sent as separate signaling. Such a mechanism may be referred to as an explicit multi-beam reporting trigger mechanism. After receiving the signaling, the terminal device 120 may determine that multiple available beams need to be reported, and measure and report accordingly. According to one embodiment, the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may be configured to send signaling to the terminal device 120 at predetermined time slots corresponding to the mode in which the terminal device reports the plurality of available beams. The correspondence of the time slots and the patterns may be pre-agreed by the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 (e.g., during registration). By receiving signaling sent by the base station 110 in a predetermined time slot, the terminal device 120 can determine that multiple available beams need to be reported, regardless of the content of the signaling. Such a mechanism may be referred to as an implicit multi-beam reporting trigger mechanism. In systems where the intermediate device is opaque, the terminal device 120 reports the available beams through the intermediate device. Since the intermediate device generally has multiple beams and resource sharing between beams is complex, the terminal device 120 is generally required to report multiple available beams by default, without an additional trigger mechanism.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the new link establishment unit 224 may be configured to establish a new link for retransmission from the available beams and interference beams for the terminal device 120. According to one embodiment, in response to a transmission failure occurring in a link between base station 110 and terminal device 120 that utilizes only a beam (e.g., beam 112) between base station 110 and terminal device 120, new link establishment unit 224 may be configured to establish a new link utilizing a beam (e.g., beam 111 or 113) between base station 110 and an intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130 or 140) and a beam (e.g., beam 131 or 141) between the intermediate device and terminal device 120. That is, if transmission is not performed using the intermediate device auxiliary link when transmission failure occurs, a new link may be established using the intermediate device auxiliary link for retransmission.

If the intermediate device auxiliary link participates in transmission when transmission failure occurs, a retransmission policy can be formulated accordingly after determining the specific beam where transmission failure occurs. According to one embodiment, in response to a transmission failure occurring on a link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120, the link utilizes a beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device (e.g., beam 111 or 113) and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 (e.g., beam 131 or 141), the new link establishment unit 224 may be configured to determine whether the transmission failure occurred on the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device or the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120.

According to one embodiment, the new link establishment unit 224 may determine whether the transmission failure occurs on the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device or the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 based on the communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station 110 through the same intermediate device. This may occur, for example, when the intermediate device is passive (e.g., a passive reflective antenna array having only the ability to reflect electromagnetic waves without the ability to logically determine and actively transmit signals). Of course, when the intermediate device is active, it is also possible that the new link establishment unit 224 determines whether the transmission failure occurs on the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device or on the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120. Since the channel condition of the high-band communication service changes rapidly, the communication quality feedback of other terminal devices needs to be valid at the current time (e.g., the channel is flat in the time interval from the time of feeding back the communication quality to the current time). According to one embodiment, the communication quality of other terminal devices may be feedback (e.g., ACK/NACK or channel estimation results, etc.) by other terminal devices during the time period when the channel is flat. If the base station 110 does not have communication quality feedback information from other terminal devices available at the current time, the base station 110 may transmit a reference signal to other terminal devices to measure the current communication quality of the other terminal devices. According to one embodiment, the communication quality of the other terminal devices is measured based on the reference signals transmitted by the base station 110 to the other terminal devices. According to one embodiment, the new link setup unit 224 may determine that a transmission failure occurred on the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 in response to the communication quality of at least some of the other terminal devices communicating with the base station 110 through the intermediate device being above a threshold. According to one embodiment, the new link setup unit 224 may determine that a transmission failure occurred on the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device in response to the communication quality of the other terminal devices communicating with the base station 110 through the intermediate device being below a threshold.

In the case where the intermediate device is active, for example, the intermediate device is an active reflective antenna array, the intermediate device may have not only the ability to reflect electromagnetic waves, but also logic determination capabilities (e.g., the ability to determine whether the signal power is below a threshold value) and the ability to actively transmit signals. At this time, the intermediate device may compare the signal quality (e.g., received signal power) received from the base station 110 with an effective signal threshold. If the signal quality is below the valid signal threshold, the intermediate device may send feedback information to the base station 110 indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below the valid signal threshold; if the signal quality is greater than or equal to the valid signal threshold, the intermediate device may send feedback information to the base station 110 indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is greater than or equal to the valid signal threshold or may not send any feedback information to the base station 110. Thus, the base station 110 can determine the beam where the transmission failure occurs based on feedback information from the intermediate device. According to one embodiment, the new link establishment unit 224 may determine whether the transmission failure occurs on the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device or the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 based on the feedback information received from the intermediate device. According to one embodiment, the new link setup unit 224 may determine that a transmission failure occurred on the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device in response to the received feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold. According to one embodiment, the new link setup unit 224 may determine that a transmission failure occurred on the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is equal to or above the valid signal threshold or that no feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below the valid signal threshold is received.

In response to determining that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station 110 and an intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130), the new link establishment unit 224 may establish a new link using a beam between the base station 110 and a second intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 140) (e.g., beam 113) and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device 120 (e.g., beam 141), in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. That is, another intermediate device may be utilized to establish a new link for communication. In response to determining that the transmission failure occurred on the beam (e.g., beam 131) between the intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130) and the terminal device 120, the new link establishment unit 224 may establish a new link using the beam (e.g., beam 111) between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and the alternate beam (e.g., other beams than beam 131) between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120, according to one embodiment of the present invention. That is, a new link may be established by switching different beams of the same intermediate device. This may be accomplished by the base station 110 instructing the intermediate device to perform beam switching.

Of course, when the intermediate device assists the link to participate in the transmission when the transmission failure occurs, a new link may be directly established by another intermediate device without considering the specific beam in which the transmission failure occurs. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the new link establishment unit 224 may establish a new link using a beam (e.g., beam 113) between the base station 110 and a second intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 140) and a beam (e.g., beam 141) between the second intermediate device and the terminal device 120 in response to a transmission failure of the link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 using the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130) and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120. This has the advantage of reducing the decision tasks of the base station or intermediate device, but may result in a reduced number of available beams and additional signalling overhead.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120, which is utilized in beam restoration, may be the beam with the best communication quality among available beams between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120. For example, the terminal device 120 may rank the available beams based on received signal quality (e.g., RSRP), or the base station 110 may rank the available beams based on received signal quality fed back by the terminal device 120. The list and ordering of available beams may be updated after the periodic measurements or measurements in response to a triggering event are completed. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120, which is utilized in beam restoration, is not an interference beam for other terminal devices, so that interference to communication of other terminal devices can be avoided. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120, which is utilized in beam restoration, may be the beam with the best communication quality after excluding the interference beam for other terminal devices among the available beams between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120.

According to the embodiment of the invention, if the retransmission is successful by using the new link, the terminal equipment successfully receives the communication data, and can continue to communicate by using the new link. And if retransmission with a new link fails, it can be determined whether the criteria for cell reselection (e.g., whether the number of retransmission failures exceeds a threshold) is met. According to one embodiment, in response to the number of retransmission failures with the new link not exceeding the threshold (e.g., 5 times, 10 times, etc.), the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 may transmit a reference signal for measuring the communication quality of the beam to the terminal device 120 to re-perform beam measurement and beam switching. According to one embodiment, the base station 110 may instruct the terminal device 120 to perform cell reselection in response to the number of retransmission failures with the new link exceeding a threshold.

In a communication system including an intermediate device, a signal transmission path of a cell includes not only a direct path from a base station to a terminal device but also an intermediate device auxiliary transmission path. In some cases, the communication quality of the direct path and the intermediate device auxiliary transmission path may be measured separately when cell reselection is performed, for example when the receiver of the terminal device does not have the capability to synchronously receive the transmission signals from both paths. According to one embodiment of the invention, the terminal device 120 may perform cell reselection by: first, the terminal device 120 may measure communication quality of transmission through a beam between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120. The terminal device 120 may also measure the communication quality of the transmission over the beam between the second base station and the terminal device 120. In response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, the terminal device 120 may not perform a cell handover. In response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 is less than the cell access threshold, the terminal device 120 may further measure the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120. According to one embodiment, the terminal device 120 may not perform a cell handover in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold. According to one embodiment, in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted over the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 is less than the cell access threshold and the quality of communication transmitted over the beam between the second base station and the terminal device 120 (e.g., the direct path between the second base station and the terminal device 120 or the intermediate device auxiliary transmission path) is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, the terminal device 120 may switch to the cell of the second base station.

In some cases, for example when the receiver of the terminal device has the ability to synchronously receive the transmission signals from both paths, the communication quality of the direct path and the intermediate device auxiliary transmission path may be synchronously measured when cell reselection is performed. At this time, the signal power received by the terminal device will be the sum of the signal power of the direct path and the auxiliary transmission path of the intermediate device. According to one embodiment of the invention, the terminal device 120 may perform cell reselection by: first, the terminal device 120 can measure the communication quality of transmission through the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 and through the beam synchronization between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120. According to one embodiment, in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted via the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 and via the beam synchronization between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 is less than the cell access threshold and the quality of communication transmitted via the beam between the second base station and the terminal device 120 (e.g., using one or both of the direct path between the second base station and the terminal device 120 and the intermediate device auxiliary transmission path) is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, the terminal device 120 may switch to the cell of the second base station. According to one embodiment, the terminal device 120 may not perform a cell handover in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions through the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120 and through the beam synchronization between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold. Therefore, in the process of cell reselection, the mechanism of the invention can preferentially select the auxiliary path of the intermediate equipment as much as possible or synchronously transmit by utilizing the direct path and the auxiliary path of the intermediate equipment, thereby reducing signaling loss and time delay caused by cell switching as much as possible.

Fig. 3 shows a flowchart of a method 300 for a base station side electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication method 300 will be described below in conjunction with fig. 1 and 2, wherein the base station side electronic device may be, for example, the base station 110 shown in fig. 1 or the base station side electronic device 200 shown in fig. 2.

At step S310, it is determined that transmission failure occurs in the link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120. This step S310 may be performed, for example, by the transmission failure determination unit 222 in fig. 2. According to one embodiment, it may be determined that a transmission failure occurs in a link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 in response to receiving a NACK signal from the terminal device 120, or not receiving an ACK signal from the terminal device 120 for a predetermined time, or the like.

Then, the flow proceeds to step S320. Steps S320 and S330 are depicted with dashed boxes to indicate that they are optional. Further, steps S320 and S330 may occur periodically, not necessarily in response to step S310. At step S320, a reference signal for measuring the communication quality of the beam is transmitted to the terminal device 120. This step S320 may be performed, for example, by the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 in fig. 2. Various implementations of transmitting reference signals have been described above and are not described in detail herein.

Then, the flow proceeds to step S330. At step S330, the beam quality measurement may be received from the terminal device 120. This step S330 may be performed, for example, by the beam communication quality measurement unit 226 in fig. 2. Various examples of beam quality measurements have been described above and are not described in detail herein.

Then, the flow proceeds to step S340. At step S340, a new link may be established for retransmission based on the available beams and interference beams for the terminal device 120. This step S340 may be performed, for example, by the new link establishment unit 224 in fig. 2. Various examples of available beams and interfering beams, as well as various implementations of establishing new links, have been described above and are not described in detail herein.

Then, the flow proceeds to step S350. At step S350, it may be determined whether the link retransmission between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 fails. If the retransmission is successful, the flow may proceed to step S360, where the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 may continue to communicate using the new link. If the retransmission fails, the flow may proceed to step S370 to further determine whether the number of retransmission failures exceeds a threshold. If the number of retransmission failures does not exceed the threshold, the flow may return to step S320 to re-measure the beam quality and re-establish a new link. If the number of retransmission failures exceeds the threshold, the flow may proceed to step S380. At step S380, the terminal device 120 may be instructed to perform cell reselection. Various implementations of cell reselection have been described above and are not described in detail herein.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a terminal device side electronic device 400 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The terminal device side electronic device 400 may correspond to the terminal device 120 in fig. 1, which may communicate with a base station or an intermediate device in a wireless communication system, or the terminal device side electronic device 400 may be used to control the operation of the terminal device 120 in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 4, the terminal device side electronic device 400 may include a processing circuit 420. The function of the processing circuit 420 will be described below in connection with the scenario of fig. 1 as an example.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuit 420 may be configured to: after a transmission failure of the link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120, a new link is established with the base station 110 for retransmission. Wherein the new link is established by the base station 110 from the available beams and the interfering beams for the terminal device 120, and wherein the new link utilizes one of: a beam (e.g., beam 112) between base station 110 and terminal device 120; a beam (e.g., beam 111) between base station 110 and an intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130) and a spare beam (e.g., other beams of intermediate device 130, not shown in fig. 1) between the intermediate device and terminal device 120; or a beam (e.g., beam 113) between base station 110 and a second intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 140) and a beam (e.g., beam 141) between the second intermediate device and terminal device 120.

In the above structural examples of the apparatus, the processing circuit 420 may be in the form of a general-purpose processor or may be a dedicated processing circuit, such as an ASIC. For example, the processing circuit 420 can be constructed of circuitry (hardware) or a central processing device, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU). Further, the processing circuit 420 may have a program (software) for operating a circuit (hardware) or a central processing device. The program can be stored in a memory (such as one disposed in the memory) or an external storage medium connected from the outside, and downloaded via a network (such as the internet).

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing circuit 420 may include various means for implementing the above-described functionality, such as a new link establishment unit 422 configured to establish a new link with the base station 110 for retransmission.

The processing circuit 420 may optionally include a beam communication quality measurement unit 424 configured to receive reference signals from the base station 110 for measuring the communication quality of the beam and to transmit the beam quality measurements to the base station 110. The processing circuit 420 may optionally further include a cell reselection unit 426 configured to perform cell reselection. The beam communication quality measurement unit 424 and the cell reselection unit 426 are depicted with dashed lines for the purpose of illustrating that they are not necessarily comprised in the processing circuitry, as an example, these two units may be in the terminal device side electronic device 400 but outside the processing circuitry 420, or even outside the terminal device side electronic device 400.

These units included in processing circuit 420 may be communicatively coupled to one another (not shown). It should be noted that although each unit is illustrated as a separate unit in fig. 4, one or more of the units may be combined into one unit or split into a plurality of units.

The processing circuitry 420 may be implemented to include one or more other components in the terminal device side electronics, or may be implemented as the terminal device side electronics. In actual implementation, the processing circuit 420 may be implemented as a chip (such as an integrated circuit module comprising a single wafer), a hardware component, or an entire product.

It should be understood that fig. 4 is merely a schematic structural configuration of the terminal device side electronic device, and that the terminal device side electronic device 400 may also include other possible components (e.g., a memory, etc.). Optionally, the terminal device side electronic device 400 may also include other components not shown, such as a memory, a radio frequency link, a baseband processing unit, a network interface, a controller, etc. The processing circuitry may be associated with the memory and/or the antenna. For example, the processing circuitry may be directly or indirectly (e.g., with other components possibly connected in between) connected to the memory for access of data. Also for example, the processing circuit may be directly or indirectly connected to the antenna to transmit radio signals via the communication unit and to receive radio signals via the communication unit.

The memory may store various information (e.g., beam quality measurements, available beam and interference beam information, etc.), programs and data for terminal device side electronic device operation, data to be transmitted by the terminal device side electronic device, etc., generated by the processing circuit 420. The memory may also be located within the terminal device side electronics but outside the processing circuitry, or even outside the terminal device side electronics. The memory may be volatile memory and/or nonvolatile memory. For example, the memory may include, but is not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), static Random Access Memory (SRAM), read Only Memory (ROM), flash memory.

The functions of the units in the processing circuit 420 of the terminal device side electronic device 400 in fig. 4 will be specifically described below.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the beam communication quality measurement unit 424 may be configured to receive a reference signal for measuring the communication quality of a beam from the base station 110 and transmit the beam quality measurement result to the base station 110. The meaning, type, etc. of the beam quality measurements may be as described above and will not be described in detail here.

It should be noted that although not shown in the figures, the processing circuit 420 may comprise means for receiving signaling from the base station instructing the terminal device to report a plurality of available beams. The signaling may include information instructing the terminal device to report the plurality of available beams, or the signaling may be transmitted in a predetermined time slot corresponding to a mode in which the terminal device reports the plurality of available beams. The specific definition of signaling, etc., may be as described above and will not be described in detail herein.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the new link establishment unit 422 may be configured to establish a new link with the base station 110 for retransmission. For example, the new link setup unit 422 may receive the new link configuration sent by the base station 110 and adjust its receiver configuration accordingly (e.g., switch to a particular receive beam, etc.). The specific manner of establishing the new link, etc. may be as described above and will not be described in detail here.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the cell reselection unit 426 may be configured to perform cell reselection in response to the number of retransmission failures with the new link exceeding a threshold. According to one embodiment, cell reselection unit 426 may autonomously perform cell reselection in response to the number of retransmission failures with the new link exceeding a threshold. According to one embodiment, the cell reselection unit 426 may perform cell reselection in response to receiving an indication of the base station 110. The specific manner and operation of cell reselection, etc. may be as described above and will not be described in detail here.

Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of a method 500 for a terminal device side electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication method 500 will be described below in connection with fig. 1 and 2, wherein the terminal device side electronic device may be, for example, the terminal device 120 shown in fig. 1 or the terminal device side electronic device 400 shown in fig. 4.

At step S510, a reference signal for measuring the communication quality of a beam is received from the base station 110. In one embodiment, the terminal device 120 may transmit a beam measurement request signal to the base station 110 (e.g., when communication quality is poor or periodically). The base station 110 transmits a reference signal to the terminal device 120 in response to receiving a beam measurement request signal from the terminal device 120. This step S510 may be performed, for example, by the beam communication quality measurement unit 424 in fig. 4.

Then, the flow proceeds to step S520. Steps S510 and S520 are depicted with dashed boxes to indicate that they are optional. Further, steps S510 and S520 may occur periodically. At step S520, the beam quality measurement result is transmitted to the base station 110. This step S520 may be performed, for example, by the beam communication quality measurement unit 424 in fig. 4. Various examples of beam quality measurements have been described above and are not described in detail herein.

Then, the flow proceeds to step S530. At step S530, a new link may be established with the base station 110 for retransmission. This step S530 may be performed, for example, by the new link establishment unit 422 in fig. 4. Various implementations of establishing a new link have been described above and are not described in detail herein.

Then, the flow proceeds to step S540. At step S540, it may be determined whether the link retransmission between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 fails. If the retransmission is successful, the flow may proceed to step S550, where the base station 110 and the terminal device 120 may continue to communicate using the new link. If the retransmission fails, the flow may proceed to step S560 to further determine whether the number of retransmission failures exceeds a threshold. If the number of retransmission failures does not exceed the threshold, the flow may return to step S510 to re-measure the beam quality and re-establish a new link. If the number of retransmission failures exceeds the threshold, the flow may proceed to step S570. At step S570, the terminal device 120 may perform cell reselection. Various implementations of cell reselection have been described above and are not described in detail herein.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic signaling diagram 600 for transmission failure recovery between a base station side electronic device and a terminal side electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The base station side electronic device here may be, for example, the base station 110 in fig. 1 or the base station side electronic device 200 in fig. 2, and the terminal side electronic device here may be, for example, the terminal device 120 in fig. 1 or the terminal side electronic device 400 in fig. 4.

In step 601, the base station side electronic device may transmit a reference signal for measuring communication quality of a plurality of beams to the terminal device side electronic device. This step may occur in response to determining that a transmission failure has occurred in the link between the base station side electronic device and the terminal device side electronic device, or may occur periodically.

In step 602, the base station side electronic device may send signaling indicating to report a plurality of available beams to the terminal device side electronic device. It should be understood that steps 601 and 602 do not necessarily occur in the order shown, but may be interchanged or concurrently.

In step 603, the terminal device side electronic device may transmit the beam quality measurement result obtained based on the reference signal received in step 601 to the base station side electronic device. As described above, the beam quality measurements may include a list of available beams and a list of interfering beams for the terminal device side electronics.

In step 604, the base station side electronic device may send a new link configuration determined based on the available beams and interference beams of the terminal device to the terminal device side electronic device. The terminal device side electronic device can correspondingly adjust its own receiver configuration to establish a new link with the base station side electronic device.

In step 605, the base station side electronic device may transmit communication data to the terminal device side electronic device using the new link.

The definition of the available beams and the interference beams will be further described below in connection with fig. 7A-7B and 8.

Fig. 7A illustrates a schematic diagram of a scenario in which communication is performed through an intermediary device auxiliary link in a wireless communication system 700A according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Wireless communication system 700A may include a base station 710, terminal devices 701-704, and intermediate devices 720 and 730. Intermediate device 720 may communicate with terminal devices using beams 721-726 and intermediate device 730 may communicate with terminal devices using beams 731-736. Although six beams are shown in fig. 7A for each intermediate device, it should be understood that the intermediate devices may have any suitable number of beams. For example, a reflective antenna array may adjust the number and width of its beams by dividing the reflective array elements. Intermediate devices 720 and 730 may receive communication data via the base station 710 and the beam between them and transmit it to the terminal devices. For clarity, the beams between the base station 710 and the intermediate device are not shown in fig. 7A.

As described above, since different intermediate devices may share the same resources (e.g., frequency, time slots, etc.) to serve different terminal devices, there may be one or more interfering beams for each terminal device. The available beams for the terminal device may be defined as beams having a communication quality (e.g., RSRP) above a first threshold (e.g., a valid signal threshold), and the interfering beams for the terminal device may be defined as beams having a communication quality (e.g., RSRP) above a second threshold (e.g., an interfering signal threshold), wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold. For example, if terminal device 703 is receiving communication data from intermediate device 720 via beam 726 and terminal device 704 is receiving communication data from intermediate device 730 via beam 731, beam 731 may cause interference to terminal device 703 because beam 731 between intermediate device 730 and terminal device 704 and beam 726 between intermediate device 720 and terminal device 703 share the same resources. Beam 731 is an interfering beam of terminal device 703. Meanwhile, beam 731 is also the available beam of terminal device 703 with respect to receiving data from intermediate device 730. If the interference beam of other terminal equipment is switched when the transmission failure occurs, the communication of other terminal equipment is affected. Accordingly, the terminal device may determine the available beam and the interference beam according to the beam measurement result based on the reference signal. Alternatively, the terminal device may also transmit beam measurements to the base station and the base station determines the available beams and the interfering beams.

As described above, in a system in which the intermediate device is opaque, the terminal device knows the presence of the intermediate device and can determine whether the available beam and the interference beam are the beam of the base station or the beam of the intermediate device and the corresponding intermediate device ID and beam ID.

Fig. 7B illustrates an exemplary available beam list and interference beam list 700B according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The list of available beams and the list of interfering beams 700B may be obtained by the terminal device based on the communication scenario shown in fig. 7A, for example.

As shown in fig. 7B, for terminal device 701, the available beams from intermediate device 730 are 734 and 733, no available beams from intermediate device 720, and the interference beams from intermediate device 730 are 734, 733, and 735, no interference beams from intermediate device 720.

For terminal device 702, the available beam from intermediate device 730 is 736, no beam is available from intermediate device 720, and the interference beams from intermediate device 730 are 736 and 735, no interference beam from intermediate device 720.

For terminal device 703, the available beams from intermediate device 730 are 731, 732, the available beam from intermediate device 720 is 726, and the interference beams from intermediate device 730 are 731 and 732, and the interference beams from intermediate device 720 are 726 and 725.

For terminal device 704, the available beams from intermediate device 730 are 731, 732, no beam is available from intermediate device 720, and the interference beams from intermediate device 730 are 731, 732, and 733, and the interference beam from intermediate device 720 is 725.

As described above, in a system in which the intermediate device is transparent, the terminal device does not know the existence of the intermediate device, it knows only the beam ID named by the base station, and cannot determine whether the beam is from the base station or some intermediate device in particular. In this case, the base station may determine the source and specific information of the beam from the beam ID received from the terminal device. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the available beam list may include IDs of available beams, and the base station may be configured to: determining whether each available beam is a beam between the base station and the terminal device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device based on the ID of the available beam; and in response to determining that the available beam is a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device, determining an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the available beam based on the ID of the available beam.

Fig. 8 is a list 800 illustrating correspondence between IDs of available beams and IDs of devices and device beams according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The base station may determine the source and specific information of the beam based on the available beam IDs received from the terminal device according to the list 800.

As shown in fig. 8, the available beam IDs may include 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, and 101. The device ID may include 0, 1, 2, where device ID 0 represents a base station, device ID 1 represents an intermediate device a, and device ID 2 represents an intermediate device B. Thus, if the received available beam ID is 000, it can be determined that the available beam is beam 1 of the base station; if the received available beam ID is 011, it can be determined that the available beam is beam 2 of intermediate device a.

It will be appreciated that the correspondence between the ID of the interfering beam and the ID of the intermediate device beam may be achieved in a similar manner. The ID encoding method and the correspondence relation shown in fig. 8 are only examples, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and the base station may analyze the ID of the device and the ID of the device beam by any other suitable method (e.g., by a predefined logical operation or the like).

Fig. 9 shows a flow chart of a method 900 for establishing a new link when a transmission failure of the link occurs, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Method 900 may be performed, for example, by base station 110 of fig. 1. The method of fig. 9 will be described below in connection with fig. 1.

In step S901, the base station 110 may determine that transmission failure occurs in the link between the base station 110 and the terminal device 120.

In step S902, the base station 110 may determine whether the link utilizes a beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120. That is, the base station 110 may determine whether an intermediate device is engaged in transmission when a transmission loss occurs in the link.

If the link does not utilize the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120, the flow proceeds to step S903. At S903, a new link may be established using the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130 or 140) and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120.

If the link utilizes a beam between the base station 110 and an intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130) and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120, the flow proceeds to step S904. At S904, the base station 110 may determine whether a transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station 110 and an intermediate device. Alternatively, at S904, the base station 110 may also not make this determination, but rather establish a new link directly with the beam between the base station 110 and the second intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 140) and the beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device 120. How step S904 is implemented will be further described below in conjunction with fig. 10A, 10B, 11A, and 11B.

If a transmission failure occurs on the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130), the flow proceeds to step S905. At S905, a new link is established using the beam between the base station 110 and the second intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 140) and the beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device 120.

If the transmission failure does not occur on the beam (e.g., beam 131) between the base station 110 and the intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device 130), but on the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120, the flow proceeds to step S906. At S906, a new link is established using the beam between the base station 110 and the intermediate device (e.g., the intermediate device 130) and the alternate beam (e.g., the other beam of the intermediate device 130 than the beam 131) between the intermediate device and the terminal device 120.

Fig. 10A and 10B illustrate diagrams of scenarios 1000A and 1000B in which a beam in which transmission failure occurs is determined by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As described above, it is possible for the base station to determine whether transmission failure occurs on the beam between the base station and the intermediate device or the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device based on the communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the same intermediate device. This may occur, for example, when the intermediate device is passive (e.g., a passive reflective antenna array having only the ability to reflect electromagnetic waves without the ability to logically determine and actively transmit signals). Of course, when the intermediate device is active, it is also possible for the base station to determine whether the transmission failure occurs on the beam between the base station and the intermediate device or the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

As shown in fig. 10A, the base station 1010 transmits communication data to four terminal devices 1020, 1022, 1024, 1026 through an intermediate device 1030. Beams between base station 1010 and intermediate device 1030 are omitted from the figure for clarity. At this time, the transmission of the base station 1010 to the terminal device 1020 fails, for example, the base station 1010 does not receive an ACK signal from the terminal device 1020 for a certain time. During the period of time when the channel is flat, the base station 1010 receives an ACK signal from all of the terminal devices 1022, 1024, 1026, or from at least some of the terminal devices 1022, 1024, 1026. This means that the communication quality of at least a portion of the terminal devices served by the intermediate device 1030 is good, so that the base station 1010 can determine that a transmission failure occurred on the beam (e.g., beam 1031) between the intermediate device 1030 and the terminal device 1020.

If the base station 1010 does not receive an ACK signal from any of the terminal devices 1022, 1024, 1026 for a period of time when the channel is flat, as shown in fig. 10B, the base station 1010 may determine that a transmission failure occurred on a beam (e.g., beam 1012) between the base station 1010 and the intermediate device 1030.

If the base station 1010 does not have communication quality feedback information from the terminal devices 1022, 1024, 1026 available at the current time, the base station 1010 may send reference signals to the terminal devices 1022, 1024, 1026, respectively, to measure the current communication quality of these terminal devices. The subsequent determination of beam failure is similar and will not be described in detail herein.

Fig. 11A and 11B illustrate schematic diagrams of scenarios 1100A and 1100B in which a beam in which transmission failure occurs is determined by an intermediary device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As described above, in the case where the intermediate device is an active type, for example, the intermediate device is an active type reflection antenna array, the intermediate device may have not only the capability of reflecting electromagnetic waves but also the capability of logic judgment (for example, the capability of judging whether or not the signal power is lower than a threshold value) and the capability of actively transmitting signals. At this point, the intermediary device may compare the received signal quality (e.g., received signal power) from the base station to an effective signal threshold. If the signal quality is below the valid signal threshold, the intermediate device may send feedback information to the base station indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below the valid signal threshold; if the signal quality is greater than or equal to the valid signal threshold, the intermediate device may send feedback information to the base station indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is greater than or equal to the valid signal threshold or not send any feedback information to the base station. Thus, the base station can determine the beam where the transmission failure occurs based on the feedback information from the intermediate device.

As shown in fig. 11A, the base station 1110 transmits communication data to the terminal device 1120 through the intermediate device 1130. At this time, the transmission of the base station 1110 to the terminal device 1120 fails, for example, the base station 1110 does not receive an ACK signal from the terminal device 1120 for a certain time, and the base station 1110 receives feedback information 1114 from the intermediate device 1130 indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device 1130 is below a valid signal threshold. Thus, base station 1110 can determine that a transmission failure occurred on a beam (e.g., beam 1112) between base station 1110 and intermediate device 1130.

If, as shown in fig. 11B, base station 1110 receives feedback information from intermediate device 1130 indicating that the signal quality received by intermediate device 1130 is greater than or equal to the valid signal threshold or does not receive any feedback information from intermediate device 1130, base station 1110 may determine that the transmission failure did not occur on the beam between base station 1110 and intermediate device 1130, but rather on the beam (e.g., beam 1131) between intermediate device 1130 and terminal device 1120.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic signaling diagram 1200 of a communication process for determining, by an intermediary, a beam where transmission failure occurred, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated that the intermediary 1230 is an active intermediary as described above.

In step 1201, the base station 1210 may transmit communication data to the intermediate device 1230 through a beam between the base station 1210 and the intermediate device 1230.

In step 1202, the intermediate device 1230 may transmit communication data received from the base station 1210 to the terminal device 1220 through a beam between the intermediate device 1230 and the terminal device 1220.

In step 1203, the intermediary 1230 may determine whether the received signal quality is below a valid signal threshold. It is noted that steps 1203 and 1202 do not necessarily occur in the order shown, but may occur in the reverse order.

In step 1204, the intermediate device 1230 may transmit feedback information to the base station 1210 indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device 1230 is below the effective signal threshold or feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device 1230 is greater than or equal to the effective signal threshold. Alternatively, the intermediate device 1230 may not send feedback information to the base station 1210 when the signal quality received by the intermediate device 1230 is greater than or equal to the effective signal threshold.

In step 1205, the base station 1210 may determine the specific beam where transmission failure occurred based on the feedback information received from the intermediate device 1230 in step 1204 (or based on the lack of receipt of the feedback information). Examples of specific judging modes have been described above, and are not described in detail herein.

Fig. 13 shows a schematic diagram of a scenario 1300 of cell reselection by a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, if retransmission with a new link is successful, the terminal device successfully receives communication data, communication can be continued with the new link. And if retransmission with a new link fails, it can be determined whether the criteria for cell reselection (e.g., whether the number of retransmission failures exceeds a threshold) is met. If the criteria for cell reselection are met, the base station may instruct the terminal device to perform cell reselection, or the terminal device may autonomously perform cell reselection.

As shown in fig. 13, the wireless communication system includes a terminal device 1320, two base stations 1310, 1312, and intermediate devices 1330 and 1340. Intermediate device 1330 is in cell 1351 of base station 1310 and intermediate device 1340 is in cell 1352 of base station 1312. Thus, the signal transmission paths in both cells include not only the direct path of the base station to the terminal device 1320, but also the intermediate device auxiliary transmission path. Assume that terminal device 1320 begins to communicate with base station 1310 and encounters a transmission failure.

As described above, in some cases, for example, when the receiver of the terminal device does not have the capability of synchronously receiving the transmission signals from the two paths, the communication quality of the direct path and the intermediate device auxiliary transmission path may be separately measured at the time of cell reselection. According to one embodiment of the present invention, terminal device 1320 may first measure the quality of communication transmitted over a beam between base station 1310 and terminal device 1320. Terminal device 1320 may also measure the quality of communication transmitted over the beam between base station 1312 and terminal device 1320. In response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between base station 1310 and terminal device 1320 is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, terminal device 1320 may not perform a cell handover. In response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between base station 1310 and terminal device 1320 is less than the cell access threshold, terminal device 1320 may further measure the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between base station 1310 and intermediate device 1330 and the beam between intermediate device 1330 and terminal device 1320. According to one embodiment, terminal device 1320 may not perform a cell handoff in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted over the beam between base station 1310 and intermediate device 1330 and the beam between intermediate device 1330 and terminal device 1320 is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold.

According to one embodiment, in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted via the beam between base station 1310 and intermediate device 1330 and the beam between intermediate device 1330 and terminal device 1320 is less than the cell access threshold and the quality of communication transmitted via the beam between base station 1312 and terminal device 1320 is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, terminal device 1320 may handover to the cell accessing base station 1312. If the communication quality of the transmission of the beam between the base station 1312 and the terminal device 1320 is also less than the cell access threshold, the terminal device 1320 may measure the communication quality of the transmission of the beam between the base station 1312 and the intermediate device 1340 and the beam between the intermediate device 1340 and the terminal device 1320. If the quality of communication transmitted via the beam between base station 1312 and intermediate device 1340 and the beam between intermediate device 1340 and terminal device 1320 is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, terminal device 1320 may switch to the cell accessing base station 1312 for communication using the link assisted by intermediate device 1340.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the cells can be not switched as much as possible. And switching the cells only when the direct path and the auxiliary path of the intermediate equipment do not meet the communication requirement, thereby reducing signaling loss and time delay caused by cell switching as much as possible.

In some cases, for example when the receiver of terminal device 1320 has the ability to synchronously receive transmission signals from both paths, the communication quality of the direct path and the intermediate device auxiliary transmission path may be synchronously measured when cell reselection is performed. At this point, the signal power received by terminal device 1320 will be the sum of the signal power of the direct path and the auxiliary transmission path of the intermediate device. According to one embodiment of the present invention, first, the terminal device 1320 may measure the communication quality transmitted through the beam between the base station 1310 and the intermediate device 1330 and the beam between the intermediate device 1330 and the terminal device 1320 and through the beam synchronization between the base station 1310 and the terminal device 1320. According to one embodiment, in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between base station 1310 and intermediate device 1330 and the beam between intermediate device 1330 and terminal device 1320 and through the beam synchronization between base station 1310 and terminal device 1320 is less than the cell access threshold, terminal device 1320 may measure the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between base station 1312 and terminal device 1320 (e.g., using one or both of the direct path between base station 1312 and terminal device 1320 and the intermediate device auxiliary transmission path). Terminal device 1320 may switch to the cell of base station 1312 if the quality of communication transmitted via the beam between base station 1312 and terminal device 1320 (e.g., using one or both of the direct path between base station 1312 and terminal device 1320 and the auxiliary transmission path of the intermediate device or synchronously). According to one embodiment, terminal device 1320 may not perform a cell handover in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between base station 1310 and intermediate device 1330 and the beam between intermediate device 1330 and terminal device 1320 and through the beam synchronization between base station 1310 and terminal device 1320 is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold.

The foregoing describes embodiments of an electronic device and method for resuming communication when a transmission failure occurs for a link in a wireless communication system according to the present disclosure. In the embodiment of the disclosure, by maintaining a plurality of available beams, the standby beam can be switched in time under the condition that the link failure occurs, so that the time delay can be reduced, and the user experience is ensured. In addition, by detecting an interference beam in the case of the intermediate device auxiliary communication and avoiding the use of the interference beam when reestablishing the link, the communication quality of the intermediate device auxiliary link can be ensured. In addition, signaling loss and time delay caused by cell switching can be reduced as much as possible by preferentially selecting the auxiliary path of the intermediate device or synchronously transmitting by utilizing the direct path and the auxiliary path of the intermediate device.

It should be noted that the above description is merely exemplary. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in any other suitable manner, while still achieving the advantageous effects obtained by embodiments of the present disclosure. Moreover, embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other similar application examples, and still achieve the advantageous effects obtained by the embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that machine-executable instructions in a machine-readable storage medium or program product according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured to perform operations corresponding to the above-described apparatus and method embodiments. Embodiments of a machine-readable storage medium or program product will be apparent to those skilled in the art when referring to the above-described apparatus and method embodiments, and thus the description will not be repeated. Machine-readable storage media and program products for carrying or comprising the machine-executable instructions described above are also within the scope of the present disclosure. Such a storage medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, memory cards, memory sticks, and the like.

In addition, it should be understood that the series of processes and devices described above may also be implemented in software and/or firmware. In the case of implementation by software and/or firmware, a program constituting the software is installed from a storage medium or a network to a computer having a dedicated hardware structure, such as a general-purpose personal computer 1400 shown in fig. 14, which is capable of executing various functions and the like when various programs are installed. Fig. 14 is a block diagram showing an example structure of a personal computer of an information processing apparatus employable in an embodiment of the present disclosure. In one example, the personal computer may correspond to the above-described exemplary transmitting device or terminal-side electronic device according to the present disclosure.

In fig. 14, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1401 executes various processes according to a program stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1402 or a program loaded from a storage section 1408 to a Random Access Memory (RAM) 1403. In the RAM 1403, data required when the CPU 1401 executes various processes and the like is also stored as needed.

The CPU 1401, ROM 1402, and RAM 1403 are connected to each other via a bus 1404. An input/output interface 1405 is also connected to the bus 1404.

The following components are connected to the input/output interface 1405: an input section 1406 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like; an output section 1407 including a display such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and the like, and a speaker, and the like; a storage section 1408 including a hard disk or the like; and a communication section 1409 including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, and the like. The communication section 1409 performs communication processing via a network such as the internet.

The driver 1410 is also connected to the input/output interface 1405 as needed. A removable medium 1411 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like is installed on the drive 1410 as needed, so that a computer program read out therefrom is installed into the storage portion 1408 as needed.

In the case of implementing the above-described series of processes by software, a program constituting the software is installed from a network such as the internet or a storage medium such as the removable medium 1411.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that such a storage medium is not limited to the removable medium 1411 shown in fig. 14, in which the program is stored, and which is distributed separately from the apparatus to provide the program to the user. Examples of the removable medium 1411 include a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk (registered trademark)), an optical disk (including a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) and a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)), a magneto-optical disk (including a Mini Disk (MD) (registered trademark)), and a semiconductor memory. Alternatively, the storage medium may be a ROM 1402, a hard disk contained in the storage section 1408, or the like, in which a program is stored, and distributed to the user together with a device containing them.

The techniques of this disclosure can be applied to a variety of products.

For example, the control-side electronic device according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented as or incorporated in various control devices/base stations. For example, the transmitting apparatus and the terminal apparatus according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented as or included in various terminal apparatuses.

For example, the control devices/base stations mentioned in this disclosure may be implemented as any type of base station, e.g., enbs, such as macro enbs and small enbs. The small enbs may be enbs that cover cells smaller than the macro cell, such as pico enbs, micro enbs, and home (femto) enbs. Also for example, it may be implemented as a gNB, such as a macro gNB and a small gNB. The small gnbs may be gnbs that cover cells smaller than the macro cell, such as pico gnbs, micro gnbs, and home (femto) gnbs. Instead, the base station may be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a NodeB and a base transceiver station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS). The base station may include: a main body (also referred to as a base station apparatus) configured to control wireless communication; and one or more remote radio heads (Remote Radio Head, RRH) disposed at a different location than the main body. In addition, various types of terminals, which will be described below, may operate as a base station by temporarily or semi-permanently performing a base station function.

For example, the terminal devices mentioned in this disclosure may be implemented in some embodiments as mobile terminals (such as smartphones, tablet Personal Computers (PCs), notebook PCs, portable gaming terminals, portable/dongle-type mobile routers and digital cameras) or vehicle-mounted terminals (such as car navigation devices). Terminal devices may also be implemented as terminals performing machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (also referred to as Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminals). Further, the terminal device may be a wireless communication module (such as an integrated circuit module including a single wafer) mounted on each of the above terminals.

An application example according to the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[ example about base station ]

It should be understood that the term base station in this disclosure has its full breadth of ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is used to facilitate communication as part of a wireless communication system or radio system. Examples of base stations may be, for example, but are not limited to, the following: a base station may be one or both of a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and a Base Station Controller (BSC) in a GSM system, one or both of a Radio Network Controller (RNC) and a Node B in a WCDMA system, an eNB in an LTE and LTE-Advanced system, or a corresponding network Node in a future communication system (e.g., a gNB, an LTE eNB, etc. that may occur in a 5G communication system). Some of the functions in the base station of the present disclosure may also be implemented as entities having a control function for communication in D2D, M M and V2V communication scenarios, or as entities playing a role in spectrum coordination in cognitive radio communication scenarios.

First example

Fig. 15 is a block diagram showing a first example of a schematic configuration of a gNB to which the techniques of the present disclosure may be applied. The gNB 1500 includes a plurality of antennas 1510 and a base station device 1520. The base station apparatus 1520 and each antenna 1510 may be connected to each other via an RF cable. In one implementation, the gNB 1500 (or base station device 1520) herein may correspond to the control side electronics described above.

Each of the antennas 1510 includes a single or multiple antenna elements, such as multiple antenna elements included in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna, and is used for the base station device 1520 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As shown in fig. 15, the gNB 1500 may include a plurality of antennas 1510. For example, multiple antennas 1510 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by gNB 1500.

Base station device 1520 includes a controller 1521, memory 1522, network interface 1517, and wireless communication interface 1525.

The controller 1521 may be, for example, a CPU or DSP, and operates various functions of higher layers of the base station apparatus 1520. For example, the controller 1521 determines the location information of the target terminal device among the at least one terminal device based on the location information of the at least one terminal device on the terminal side and the specific location configuration information of the at least one terminal device in the wireless communication system acquired by the wireless communication interface 1525. The controller 1521 may have a logic function to perform the following control: such as radio resource control, radio bearer control, mobility management, access control and scheduling. The control may be performed in conjunction with a nearby gNB or core network node. The memory 1522 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores programs executed by the controller 1521 and various types of control data (such as a terminal list, transmission power data, and scheduling data).

The network interface 1523 is a communication interface for connecting the base station apparatus 1520 to the core network 1524. The controller 1521 may communicate with a core network node or another gNB via a network interface 1517. In this case, the gNB 1500 and the core network node or other gnbs may be connected to each other through logical interfaces (such as an S1 interface and an X2 interface). The network interface 1523 may also be a wired communication interface or a wireless communication interface for a wireless backhaul. If the network interface 1523 is a wireless communication interface, the network interface 1523 may use a higher frequency band for wireless communication than the frequency band used by the wireless communication interface 1525.

Wireless communication interface 1525 supports any cellular communication schemes, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced, and provides wireless connectivity to terminals located in cells of the gNB 1500 via antenna 1510. The wireless communication interface 1525 may generally include, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 1526 and RF circuitry 1527. The BB processor 1526 may perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing of layers such as L1, medium Access Control (MAC), radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP). Instead of the controller 1521, the bb processor 1526 may have some or all of the above-described logic functions. The BB processor 1526 may be a memory storing a communication control program, or a module including a processor configured to execute a program and related circuits. The update program may cause the functionality of the BB processor 1526 to change. The module may be a card or blade that is inserted into a slot of the base station apparatus 1520. Alternatively, the module may be a chip mounted on a card or blade. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1527 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via the antenna 1510. Although fig. 15 shows an example in which one RF circuit 1527 is connected to one antenna 1510, the present disclosure is not limited to this illustration, but one RF circuit 1527 may be connected to a plurality of antennas 1510 at the same time.

As shown in fig. 15, the wireless communication interface 1525 may include a plurality of BB processors 1526. For example, the plurality of BB processors 1526 may be compatible with the plurality of frequency bands used by the gNB 1500. As shown in fig. 15, the wireless communication interface 1525 may include a plurality of RF circuits 1527. For example, the plurality of RF circuits 1527 may be compatible with a plurality of antenna elements. Although fig. 15 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 1525 includes a plurality of BB processors 1526 and a plurality of RF circuits 1527, the wireless communication interface 1525 may also include a single BB processor 1526 or a single RF circuit 1527.

Second example

Fig. 16 is a block diagram showing a second example of a schematic configuration of a gNB to which the techniques of the present disclosure may be applied. The gNB 1600 includes multiple antennas 1610, RRHs 1620, and base station devices 1630. The RRH 1620 and each antenna 1610 can be connected to each other via RF cables. The base station apparatus 1630 and RRH 1620 can be connected to each other via a high-speed line such as an optical fiber cable. In one implementation, the gNB 1600 (or base station device 1630) herein may correspond to the control side electronic device described above.

Each of the antennas 1610 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for the RRH 1620 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As shown in fig. 16, the gNB 1600 may include multiple antennas 1610. For example, multiple antennas 1610 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1600.

The base station apparatus 1630 includes a controller 1631, a memory 1632, a network interface 1633, a wireless communication interface 1634, and a connection interface 1636. The controller 1631, memory 1632, and network interface 1633 are the same as the controller 1521, memory 1522, and network interface 1523 described with reference to fig. 15.

The wireless communication interface 1634 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and provides wireless communication via the RRH 1620 and antenna 1610 to terminals located in the sector corresponding to the RRH 1620. The wireless communication interface 1634 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 1635. The BB processor 1635 is identical to the BB processor 1526 described with reference to fig. 15, except that the BB processor 1635 is connected to the RF circuitry 1622 of the RRH 1620 via a connection interface 1636. As shown in fig. 16, the wireless communication interface 1634 may include a plurality of BB processors 1635. For example, the plurality of BB processors 1635 may be compatible with the plurality of frequency bands used by the gNB 1600. Although fig. 16 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 1634 includes a plurality of BB processors 1635, the wireless communication interface 1634 may also include a single BB processor 1635.

The connection interface 1636 is an interface for connecting the base station device 1630 (wireless communication interface 1634) to the RRH 1620. The connection interface 1636 may also be a communication module for connecting the base station device 1630 (wireless communication interface 1634) to communication in the above-described high-speed line of the RRH 1620.

RRH 1620 includes a connection interface 1623 and a wireless communication interface 1621.

The connection interface 1623 is an interface for connecting the RRH 1620 (wireless communication interface 1621) to the base station apparatus 1630. Connection interface 1623 may also be a communication module for communication in the high-speed lines described above.

Wireless communication interface 1621 transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 1610. The wireless communication interface 1621 may generally include, for example, RF circuitry 1622.RF circuitry 1622 may include, for example, mixers, filters, and amplifiers, and transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 1610. Although fig. 16 shows an example in which one RF circuit 1622 is connected to one antenna 1610, the present disclosure is not limited to this illustration, but one RF circuit 1622 may be connected to a plurality of antennas 1610 at the same time.

As shown in fig. 16, the wireless communication interface 1621 may include a plurality of RF circuits 1622. For example, multiple RF circuits 1622 may support multiple antenna elements. Although fig. 16 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 1621 includes a plurality of RF circuits 1622, the wireless communication interface 1621 may also include a single RF circuit 1622.

[ examples of user Equipment/terminal Equipment ]

First example

Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a communication device 1700 (e.g., a smart phone, a contactor, etc.) to which the techniques of the present disclosure can be applied. The communication apparatus 1700 includes a processor 1701, a memory 1702, a storage device 1703, an external connection interface 1704, an imaging device 1706, a sensor 1707, a microphone 1708, an input device 1709, a display device 1710, a speaker 1711, a wireless communication interface 1712, one or more antenna switches 1715, one or more antennas 1716, a bus 1717, a battery 1718, and an auxiliary controller 1719. In one implementation, the communication device 1700 (or processor 1701) herein may correspond to a transmitting device or terminal-side electronic device as described above.

The processor 1701 may be, for example, a CPU or a system on a chip (SoC) and controls functions of an application layer and another layer of the communication device 1700. The memory 1702 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 1701. The storage 1703 may include a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory and a hard disk. The external connection interface 1704 is an interface for connecting external devices such as a memory card and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device to the communication apparatus 1700.

The image pickup device 1706 includes an image sensor such as a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) and a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), and generates a captured image. The sensor 1707 may include a set of sensors such as a measurement sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an acceleration sensor. The microphone 1708 converts sound input to the communication device 1700 into an audio signal. The input device 1709 includes, for example, a touch sensor, a keypad, a keyboard, buttons, or switches configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 1710, and receives an operation or information input from a user. The display device 1710 includes a screen such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display, and displays an output image of the communication apparatus 1700. The speaker 1711 converts audio signals output from the communication device 1700 into sound.

The wireless communication interface 1712 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 1712 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 1713 and RF circuitry 1714. The BB processor 1713 can perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1714 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 1716. The wireless communication interface 1712 may be one chip module with the BB processor 1713 and the RF circuitry 1714 integrated thereon. As shown in fig. 17, the wireless communication interface 1712 may include a plurality of BB processors 1713 and a plurality of RF circuits 1714. Although fig. 17 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 1712 includes a plurality of BB processors 1713 and a plurality of RF circuits 1714, the wireless communication interface 1712 may also include a single BB processor 1713 or a single RF circuit 1714.

Further, the wireless communication interface 1712 may support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near-field communication scheme, and a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) scheme, in addition to the cellular communication scheme. In this case, the wireless communication interface 1712 may include the BB processor 1713 and the RF circuitry 1714 for each wireless communication scheme.

Each of the antenna switches 1715 switches the connection destination of the antenna 1716 between a plurality of circuits (e.g., circuits for different wireless communication schemes) included in the wireless communication interface 1712.

Each of the antennas 1716 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for transmitting and receiving wireless signals by the wireless communication interface 1712. As shown in fig. 17, the communication device 1700 may include a plurality of antennas 1716. Although fig. 17 shows an example in which the communication device 1700 includes a plurality of antennas 1716, the communication device 1700 may also include a single antenna 1716.

Further, the communication device 1700 may include an antenna 1716 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 1715 may be omitted from the configuration of the communication device 1700.

The bus 1717 connects the processor 1701, the memory 1702, the storage device 1703, the external connection interface 1704, the imaging device 1706, the sensor 1707, the microphone 1708, the input device 1709, the display device 1710, the speaker 1711, the wireless communication interface 1712, and the sub-controller 1719 to each other. The battery 1718 provides power to the various blocks of the communication device 1700 shown in fig. 17 via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a dashed line. The auxiliary controller 1719 operates minimal essential functions of the communication device 1700, for example, in a sleep mode.

Second example

Fig. 18 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device 1800 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The car navigation device 1800 includes a processor 1801, memory 1802, a Global Positioning System (GPS) module 1804, a sensor 1805, a data interface 1806, a content player 1807, a storage medium interface 1808, an input device 1809, a display device 1810, a speaker 1811, a wireless communication interface 1813, one or more antenna switches 1816, one or more antennas 1817, and a battery 1818. In one implementation, the car navigation device 1800 (or processor 1801) herein can correspond to a transmitting device or a terminal-side electronic device.

The processor 1801 may be, for example, a CPU or SoC, and controls the navigation functions and additional functions of the car navigation device 1800. The memory 1802 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 1801.

The GPS module 1804 uses GPS signals received from GPS satellites to measure the position (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) of the car navigation device 1800. The sensor 1805 may include a set of sensors such as a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor. The data interface 1806 is connected to, for example, an in-vehicle network 1821 via a terminal not shown, and acquires data generated by the vehicle (such as vehicle speed data).

The content player 1807 reproduces content stored in a storage medium (such as a CD and DVD) inserted into the storage medium interface 1808. The input device 1809 includes, for example, a touch sensor, button, or switch configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 1810, and receives an operation or information input from a user. The display device 1810 includes a screen such as an LCD or OLED display, and displays images of navigation functions or reproduced content. The speaker 1811 outputs sound of a navigation function or reproduced content.

The wireless communication interface 1813 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 1813 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 1814 and RF circuitry 1815. The BB processor 1814 may perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1815 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via the antenna 1817. The wireless communication interface 1813 may also be one chip module with the BB processor 1814 and the RF circuitry 1815 integrated thereon. As shown in fig. 18, the wireless communication interface 1813 may include a plurality of BB processors 1814 and a plurality of RF circuits 1815. Although fig. 18 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 1813 includes a plurality of BB processors 1814 and a plurality of RF circuits 1815, the wireless communication interface 1813 may also include a single BB processor 1814 or a single RF circuit 1815.

Further, the wireless communication interface 1813 may support another type of wireless communication scheme, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near-field communication scheme, and a wireless LAN scheme, in addition to a cellular communication scheme. In this case, the wireless communication interface 1813 may include a BB processor 1814 and an RF circuit 1815 for each wireless communication scheme.

Each of the antenna switches 1816 switches the connection destination of the antenna 1817 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 1813 (such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes).

Each of the antennas 1817 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for transmitting and receiving wireless signals by the wireless communication interface 1813. As shown in fig. 18, car navigation device 1800 may include a plurality of antennas 1817. Although fig. 18 shows an example in which the car navigation device 1800 includes a plurality of antennas 1817, the car navigation device 1800 may also include a single antenna 1817.

Further, car navigation device 1800 can include antenna 1817 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 1816 may be omitted from the configuration of the car navigation device 1800.

The battery 1818 provides power to the various blocks of the car navigation device 1800 shown in fig. 18 via a feeder, which is partially shown as a dashed line in the figure. The battery 1818 accumulates electric power supplied from the vehicle.

The techniques of this disclosure may also be implemented as an in-vehicle system (or vehicle) 1820 that includes one or more of the car navigation device 1800, the in-vehicle network 1821, and the vehicle module 1822. The vehicle module 1822 generates vehicle data (such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fault information), and outputs the generated data to the on-board network 1821.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described above with reference to the drawings, but the present disclosure is of course not limited to the above examples. Various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art within the scope of the appended claims, and it is understood that such changes and modifications will naturally fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure.

In addition, it should be understood that the series of processes and devices described above may also be implemented in software and/or firmware. In the case of implementation by software and/or firmware, a corresponding program constituting the corresponding software is stored in a storage medium of the relevant device, and when the program is executed, various functions can be performed.

For example, a plurality of functions included in one unit in the above embodiments may be implemented by separate devices. Alternatively, the functions realized by the plurality of units in the above embodiments may be realized by separate devices, respectively. In addition, one of the above functions may be implemented by a plurality of units. Needless to say, such a configuration is included in the technical scope of the present disclosure.

In this specification, the steps described in the flowcharts include not only processes performed in time series in the order described, but also processes performed in parallel or individually, not necessarily in time series. Further, even in the steps of time-series processing, needless to say, the order may be appropriately changed.

Exemplary embodiment implementations of the present disclosure

Various exemplary implementations implementing the concepts of the present disclosure are contemplated in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, including, but not limited to:

Example embodiment 1, an electronic device for a base station side, the electronic device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

determining that a link between a base station and terminal equipment fails to transmit;

in response to a transmission failure of a link between a base station and a terminal device, a new link is established for retransmission from available beams and interfering beams for the terminal device, wherein the new link utilizes one of:

a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

a beam between the base station and an intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or alternatively

A beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.

Example embodiment 2 the electronic device of example embodiment 1, wherein the intermediate device, the second intermediate device, comprises a reflective antenna array.

Example embodiment 3, the electronic device according to example embodiment 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

transmitting a reference signal for measuring communication quality of a beam to the terminal device; and

And receiving a beam quality measurement result from the terminal equipment.

Example embodiment 4, the electronic device according to example embodiment 3, wherein the beam quality measurement result comprises a list of available beams and a list of interfering beams for the terminal device.

Example embodiment 5, the electronic device according to example embodiment 4, wherein the list of available beams includes IDs of available beams, and the processing circuit is further configured to:

determining whether each available beam is a beam between the base station and the terminal device or a beam between an intermediate device and the terminal device based on the ID of the available beam; and

in response to determining that the available beam is a beam between an intermediate device and the terminal device, an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the available beam are determined based on the ID of the available beam.

Example embodiment 6, the electronic device of example embodiment 4, wherein the list of interference beams includes IDs of interference beams, and the processing circuit is further configured to:

an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the interference beam are determined based on the ID of the interference beam.

Example embodiment 7 the electronic device of example embodiment 4, wherein the list of available beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device, and the list of interfering beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 8 the electronic device of example embodiment 4, wherein the list of available beams includes IDs of a plurality of available beams.

Example embodiment 9 the electronic device of example embodiment 8, the processing circuit further configured to send signaling to the terminal device, the signaling including information indicating that the terminal device reported a plurality of available beams.

Exemplary embodiment 10 the electronic device of exemplary embodiment 8, the processing circuit is further configured to send signaling to the terminal device at a predetermined time slot, the predetermined time slot corresponding to a mode in which the terminal device reports a plurality of available beams.

Example embodiment 11, the electronic device according to example embodiment 1, wherein the available beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a first threshold and the interfering beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

Example embodiment 12, the electronic device according to example embodiment 1, wherein the new link is established with a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing in transmission.

Example embodiment 13 the electronic device according to example embodiment 1, wherein the new link is established with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing to transmit.

Example embodiment 14, the electronic device of example embodiment 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

in response to a transmission failure occurring on the link between the base station and the terminal device, the link determines whether the transmission failure occurs on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device using a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

Example embodiment 15 the electronic device according to example embodiment 14,

wherein in response to determining that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device, establishing the new link with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device; and

in response to determining that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device, the new link is established with a beam between the base station and the intermediate device and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

Example embodiment 16, the electronic device according to example embodiment 14, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurs on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 17 the electronic device of example embodiment 16, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is fed back by the other terminal device during a period of channel flattening.

Example embodiment 18 the electronic device of example embodiment 16, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is measured based on a reference signal sent by the base station to the other terminal device.

Example embodiment 19 the electronic device of example embodiment 16,

wherein the transmission failure is determined to occur on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to a communication quality of at least some of the other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device being above a threshold; and

wherein the transmission failure is determined to occur on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device in response to the communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device being below a threshold.

Example embodiment 20, the electronic device according to example embodiment 14, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurs on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on feedback information received from the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 21 the electronic device according to example embodiment 20,

Wherein the transmission failure is determined to occur on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold; and

wherein the transmission failure is determined to occur on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is equal to or above a valid signal threshold or no feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold is received.

Example embodiment 22 the electronic device according to example embodiment 1, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is a beam with the best quality of communication among available beams between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

Example embodiment 23, the electronic device according to example embodiment 1, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is not an interference beam for other terminal devices.

Example embodiment 24, the electronic device of example embodiment 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

And in response to the number of retransmission failures with the new link exceeding a threshold, instructing the terminal device to perform cell reselection.

Example embodiment 25, the electronic device according to example embodiment 24, wherein the terminal device performs cell reselection by:

measuring a communication quality of transmission through a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold, measuring the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and an intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device, wherein:

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, not performing cell handover;

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold and the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the second base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, switching to the cell of the second base station; and

In response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, no cell handover is performed.

Example embodiment 26, the electronic device according to example embodiment 24, wherein the terminal device performs cell reselection by:

measuring communication quality transmitted through a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device;

in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through the beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold, and the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the second base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, switching to the cell of the second base station; and

in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through the beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, cell handover is not performed.

Example embodiment 27, an electronic device for a terminal device side, the electronic device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

after a transmission failure of a link between a base station and a terminal device, a new link is established with the base station for retransmission,

wherein the new link is established by the base station from the available beams and interference beams for the terminal device, and wherein the new link utilizes one of:

a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

Example embodiment 28, the electronic device of example embodiment 27, wherein the intermediate device, the second intermediate device comprise a reflective antenna array.

Example embodiment 29, the electronic device according to example embodiment 27, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

receiving a reference signal for measuring communication quality of a beam from the base station; and

And sending the beam quality measurement result to the base station.

Example embodiment 30, the electronic device according to example embodiment 29, wherein the beam quality measurements include a list of available beams and a list of interfering beams for the terminal device.

Example embodiment 31, the electronic device of example embodiment 30, wherein:

the list of available beams includes IDs of available beams;

the base station determines whether each available beam is a beam between the base station and the terminal device or a beam between an intermediate device and the terminal device based on the ID of the available beam; and

in response to determining that the available beam is a beam between an intermediate device and the terminal device, the base station determines an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the available beam based on the ID of the available beam.

Example embodiment 32, the electronic device of example embodiment 30, wherein:

the interference beam list includes IDs of interference beams; and is also provided with

The base station determines an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the interference beam based on the ID of the interference beam.

Example embodiment 33, the electronic device according to example embodiment 30, wherein the list of available beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device, and the list of interfering beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 34, the electronic device according to example embodiment 30, wherein the list of available beams includes IDs of a plurality of available beams.

Example embodiment 35 the electronic device of example embodiment 34, the processing circuit further configured to receive signaling from the base station, the signaling including information indicating that the terminal device reported a plurality of available beams.

The electronic device of example embodiment 36, the processing circuit further configured to receive signaling from the base station sent in a predetermined time slot corresponding to a mode in which the terminal device reports a plurality of available beams.

Example embodiment 37 the electronic device of example embodiment 27, wherein the available beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a first threshold and the interfering beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

Example embodiment 38, the electronic device according to example embodiment 27, wherein the new link is established with a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing in transmission.

Example embodiment 39, the electronic device according to example embodiment 27, wherein the new link is established with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing to transmit.

Example embodiment 40, the electronic device according to example embodiment 27, wherein in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device utilizing a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device when a transmission failure occurs, the base station determines whether the transmission failure occurs on the beam between the base station and the intermediate device or the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

Exemplary embodiment 41 an electronic device according to exemplary embodiment 40,

Example embodiment 42, the electronic device according to example embodiment 40, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurs on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 43 the electronic device of example embodiment 42, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is fed back by the other terminal device during a period of channel flattening.

Exemplary embodiment 44 the electronic device according to exemplary embodiment 42, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is measured based on a reference signal transmitted by the base station to the other terminal device.

Example embodiment 45 the electronic device of example embodiment 42,

wherein in response to the communication quality of at least some of the other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device being above a threshold, the base station determines that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; and

wherein the base station determines that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device in response to the communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device being below a threshold.

Example embodiment 46, the electronic device according to example embodiment 40, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurs on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on feedback information received from the intermediate device.

Exemplary embodiment 47 an electronic device according to exemplary embodiment 46,

wherein in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold, the base station determines that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and intermediate device; and

wherein the base station determines that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is equal to or above a valid signal threshold or that no feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold is received.

Example embodiment 48 the electronic device of example embodiment 27, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is a beam with a best quality of communication among available beams between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

Example embodiment 49, the electronic device of example embodiment 27, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is not an interference beam for other terminal devices.

Exemplary embodiment 50 the electronic device according to exemplary embodiment 27, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

cell reselection is performed in response to the number of retransmission failures with the new link exceeding a threshold.

Example embodiment 51, the electronic device of example embodiment 50, wherein performing a cell reselection comprises:

Exemplary embodiment 52 an electronic device according to exemplary embodiment 50, wherein performing a cell reselection comprises:

Example embodiment 53, a method for a base station, comprising:

a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

Example embodiment 54, the method of example embodiment 53, wherein the intermediate device, the second intermediate device, comprise a reflective antenna array.

Exemplary embodiment 55, the method of exemplary embodiment 53, further comprising:

and receiving a beam quality measurement result from the terminal equipment.

Exemplary embodiment 56 the method of exemplary embodiment 55 wherein the beam quality measurements include a list of available beams and a list of interfering beams for the terminal device.

Example embodiment 57, the method according to example embodiment 56, wherein the list of available beams includes IDs of available beams, and the method further comprises:

Exemplary embodiment 58 the method according to exemplary embodiment 56 wherein the list of interference beams includes IDs of interference beams, and the method further comprises:

Example embodiment 59, the method according to example embodiment 56, wherein the list of available beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device, and the list of interfering beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 60, the method according to example embodiment 56, wherein the list of available beams includes IDs of a plurality of available beams.

Example embodiment 61, the method of example embodiment 60, further comprising:

and sending signaling to the terminal equipment, wherein the signaling comprises information for indicating the terminal equipment to report a plurality of available beams.

Exemplary embodiment 62 the method according to exemplary embodiment 60, further comprising:

signaling is sent to the terminal device in a predetermined time slot, the predetermined time slot corresponding to a mode in which the terminal device reports a plurality of available beams.

Example embodiment 63, the method of example embodiment 53, wherein the available beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a first threshold and the interfering beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

Example embodiment 64, the method of example embodiment 53, wherein the new link is established with a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing in transmission.

Example embodiment 65, the method according to example embodiment 53, wherein the new link is established with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing to transmit.

Example embodiment 66, the method of example embodiment 53, further comprising:

Example embodiment 67 a method according to example embodiment 66,

Example embodiment 68, the method of example embodiment 66, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurs on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 69, the method of example embodiment 68, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is fed back by the other terminal device during a period of channel flattening.

Example embodiment 70, the method of example embodiment 68, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is measured based on a reference signal sent by the base station to the other terminal device.

Example embodiment 71 the method of example embodiment 68,

The example embodiment 72, the method of example embodiment 66, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on feedback information received from the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 73 the method of example embodiment 72,

Example embodiment 74, the method of example embodiment 53, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is the best quality communication beam among the available beams between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

Example embodiment 75, the method of example embodiment 53, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is not an interference beam for other terminal devices.

Example embodiment 76, the method of example embodiment 53, further comprising:

Example embodiment 77, the method according to example embodiment 76, wherein the terminal device performs cell reselection by:

Example embodiment 78, the method of example embodiment 76, wherein the terminal device performs cell reselection by:

Example embodiment 79, a method for a terminal device, comprising:

A beam between the base station and the terminal device;

Example embodiment 80, the method of example embodiment 79, wherein the intermediate device, the second intermediate device, comprise a reflective antenna array.

Example embodiment 81, the method of example embodiment 79, further comprising:

and sending the beam quality measurement result to the base station.

Example embodiment 82, the method of example embodiment 81, wherein the beam quality measurement result comprises a list of available beams and a list of interfering beams for the terminal device.

Example embodiment 83, the method according to example embodiment 82, wherein:

the list of available beams includes IDs of available beams;

Example embodiment 84, the method according to example embodiment 82, wherein:

Example embodiment 85, the method of example embodiment 82, wherein the list of available beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device, and the list of interfering beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device.

The method of example embodiment 86, according to example embodiment 82, wherein the list of available beams includes IDs of a plurality of available beams.

Exemplary embodiment 87, the method of exemplary embodiment 86, further comprising:

and receiving signaling from the base station, wherein the signaling comprises information for indicating the terminal equipment to report a plurality of available beams.

Exemplary embodiment 88 the method of exemplary embodiment 86, further comprising:

signaling sent in a predetermined time slot corresponding to a mode in which the terminal device reports a plurality of available beams is received from the base station.

Example embodiment 89 the method of example embodiment 79, wherein the available beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a first threshold and the interfering beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.

Example embodiment 90, the method of example embodiment 79, wherein the new link is established with a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing in transmission.

Example embodiment 91, the method of example embodiment 79, wherein the new link is established with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing to transmit.

Example embodiment 92, the method according to example embodiment 79, wherein in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device utilizing a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device when a transmission failure occurs, the base station determines whether the transmission failure occurs on the beam between the base station and the intermediate device or the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

Example embodiment 93 the method of example embodiment 92,

Example embodiment 94 the method of example embodiment 92, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurs on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 95 the method of example embodiment 94, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is fed back by the other terminal device during a period of channel flattening.

Example embodiment 96, the method of example embodiment 94, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is measured based on a reference signal sent by the base station to the other terminal device.

Example embodiment 97 the method of example embodiment 94,

Example embodiment 98, the method of example embodiment 92, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on feedback information received from the intermediate device.

Example embodiment 99 the method of example embodiment 98,

Example embodiment 100, the method of example embodiment 79, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is a beam with the best quality of communication among available beams between the intermediate device and the terminal device.

Example embodiment 101, the method of example embodiment 79, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is not an interference beam for other terminal devices.

The method of example embodiment 102, in accordance with example embodiment 79, further comprising:

Example embodiment 103, the method of example embodiment 102, wherein performing a cell reselection comprises:

Example embodiment 104, the method of example embodiment 102, wherein performing a cell reselection comprises:

Example embodiment 105, a computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processing circuits of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any of example embodiments 53-78, or perform the method of any of example embodiments 79-104.

Example embodiment 106, a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method according to any of example embodiments 53 to 78, or implements the steps of the method according to any of example embodiments 79 to 104.

Although the present disclosure and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments are illustrative only and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above-described embodiments can be combined, modified or substituted without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

An electronic device for a base station side, the electronic device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

determining that a link between a base station and terminal equipment fails to transmit;

in response to a transmission failure of a link between a base station and a terminal device, a new link is established for retransmission from available beams and interfering beams for the terminal device, wherein the new link utilizes one of:

a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

a beam between the base station and an intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or alternatively

A beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the intermediate device, the second intermediate device comprise a reflective antenna array.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

transmitting a reference signal for measuring communication quality of a beam to the terminal device; and

and receiving a beam quality measurement result from the terminal equipment.
The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the beam quality measurements comprise a list of available beams and a list of interfering beams for the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the list of available beams includes IDs of available beams, and the processing circuit is further configured to:

determining whether each available beam is a beam between the base station and the terminal device or a beam between an intermediate device and the terminal device based on the ID of the available beam; and

in response to determining that the available beam is a beam between an intermediate device and the terminal device, an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the available beam are determined based on the ID of the available beam.
The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the list of interference beams includes IDs of interference beams, and the processing circuit is further configured to:

An ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the interference beam are determined based on the ID of the interference beam.
The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the list of available beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device, and the list of interfering beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device.
The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the list of available beams includes IDs of a plurality of available beams.
The electronic device of claim 8, the processing circuit further configured to send signaling to the terminal device, the signaling including information indicating that the terminal device reported a plurality of available beams.
The electronic device of claim 8, the processing circuit further configured to send signaling to the terminal device at predetermined time slots corresponding to a pattern in which the terminal device reports a plurality of available beams.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the available beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a first threshold and the interfering beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the link establishes the new link with a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing to transmit.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the link establishes the new link with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing to transmit.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

in response to a transmission failure occurring on the link between the base station and the terminal device, the link determines whether the transmission failure occurs on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device using a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device.
An electronic device according to claim 14,

wherein in response to determining that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device, establishing the new link with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device; and

in response to determining that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device, the new link is established with a beam between the base station and the intermediate device and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 14, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device.
The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is fed back by the other terminal device during a period of channel flattening.
The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is measured based on a reference signal transmitted by the base station to the other terminal device.
An electronic device according to claim 16,

wherein the transmission failure is determined to occur on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to a communication quality of at least some of the other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device being above a threshold; and

wherein the transmission failure is determined to occur on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device in response to the communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device being below a threshold.
The electronic device of claim 14, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on feedback information received from the intermediate device.
An electronic device according to claim 20,

wherein the transmission failure is determined to occur on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold; and

wherein the transmission failure is determined to occur on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is equal to or above a valid signal threshold or no feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold is received.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is the best quality of communication beam among the available beams between the intermediate device and the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is not an interference beam for other terminal devices.
The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

and in response to the number of retransmission failures with the new link exceeding a threshold, instructing the terminal device to perform cell reselection.
The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the terminal device performs cell reselection by:

measuring a communication quality of transmission through a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold, measuring the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and an intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device, wherein:

In response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, not performing cell handover;

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold and the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the second base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, switching to the cell of the second base station; and

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, no cell handover is performed.
The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the terminal device performs cell reselection by:

measuring communication quality transmitted through a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device;

In response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through the beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold, and the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the second base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, switching to the cell of the second base station; and

in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through the beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, cell handover is not performed.
An electronic device for a terminal device side, the electronic device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

after a transmission failure of a link between a base station and a terminal device, a new link is established with the base station for retransmission,

wherein the new link is established by the base station from the available beams and interference beams for the terminal device, and wherein the new link utilizes one of:

A beam between the base station and the terminal device;

a beam between the base station and an intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or alternatively

A beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the intermediate device, the second intermediate device, comprise a reflective antenna array.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

receiving a reference signal for measuring communication quality of a beam from the base station; and

and sending the beam quality measurement result to the base station.
The electronic device of claim 29, wherein the beam quality measurements comprise a list of available beams and a list of interfering beams for the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 30, wherein:

the list of available beams includes IDs of available beams;

the base station determines whether each available beam is a beam between the base station and the terminal device or a beam between an intermediate device and the terminal device based on the ID of the available beam; and

In response to determining that the available beam is a beam between an intermediate device and the terminal device, the base station determines an ID of the intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the available beam based on the ID of the available beam.
The electronic device of claim 30, wherein:

the interference beam list includes IDs of interference beams; and is also provided with

The base station determines an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device corresponding to the interference beam based on the ID of the interference beam.
The electronic device of claim 30, wherein the list of available beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device, and the list of interfering beams includes an ID of an intermediate device and an ID of a beam of the intermediate device.
The electronic device of claim 30, wherein the list of available beams comprises IDs of a plurality of available beams.
The electronic device of claim 34, the processing circuit further configured to receive signaling from the base station, the signaling including information indicating that the terminal device reported a plurality of available beams.
The electronic device of claim 34, the processing circuit further configured to receive signaling from the base station transmitted in a predetermined time slot corresponding to a pattern in which the terminal device reports a plurality of available beams.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the available beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a first threshold and the interfering beam for the terminal device is a beam having a communication quality above a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the link establishes the new link with a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing to transmit.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the link establishes the new link with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link between the base station and the terminal device failing to transmit.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the base station determines whether the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the link utilizing a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device when the transmission failure occurred on the link between the base station and the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 40,

wherein in response to determining that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device, establishing the new link with a beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device; and

in response to determining that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device, the new link is established with a beam between the base station and the intermediate device and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 40, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device.
The electronic device of claim 42, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is fed back by the other terminal device during a period of channel flattening.
The electronic device of claim 42, wherein the communication quality of the other terminal device is measured based on a reference signal transmitted by the base station to the other terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 42,

wherein in response to the communication quality of at least some of the other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device being above a threshold, the base station determines that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; and

wherein the base station determines that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device in response to the communication quality of other terminal devices communicating with the base station through the intermediate device being below a threshold.
The electronic device of claim 40, wherein determining whether the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and an intermediate device or a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is based on feedback information received from the intermediate device.
The electronic device of claim 46,

wherein in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold, the base station determines that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the base station and intermediate device; and

wherein the base station determines that the transmission failure occurred on a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device in response to the feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is equal to or above a valid signal threshold or that no feedback information indicating that the signal quality received by the intermediate device is below a valid signal threshold is received.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the alternate beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is the best quality of communication beam among the available beams between the intermediate device and the terminal device.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is not an interference beam for other terminal devices.
The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

Cell reselection is performed in response to the number of retransmission failures with the new link exceeding a threshold.
The electronic device of claim 50, wherein performing cell reselection comprises:

measuring a communication quality of transmission through a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold, measuring the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and an intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device, wherein:

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, not performing cell handover;

in response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold and the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the second base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, switching to the cell of the second base station; and

In response to determining that the communication quality of transmissions over the beam between the base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, no cell handover is performed.
The electronic device of claim 50, wherein performing cell reselection comprises:

measuring communication quality transmitted through a beam between the base station and an intermediate device and a beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device;

in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through the beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device is less than a cell access threshold, and the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the second base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to the cell access threshold, switching to the cell of the second base station; and

in response to determining that the quality of communication transmitted through the beam between the base station and the intermediate device and the beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device and through the beam synchronization between the base station and the terminal device is greater than or equal to a cell access threshold, cell handover is not performed.
A method for a base station, comprising:

determining that a link between a base station and terminal equipment fails to transmit;

in response to a transmission failure of a link between a base station and a terminal device, a new link is established for retransmission from available beams and interfering beams for the terminal device, wherein the new link utilizes one of:

a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

a beam between the base station and an intermediate device, and a spare beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or alternatively

A beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.
A method for a terminal device, comprising:

after a transmission failure of a link between a base station and a terminal device, a new link is established with the base station for retransmission,

wherein the new link is established by the base station from the available beams and interference beams for the terminal device, and wherein the new link utilizes one of:

a beam between the base station and the terminal device;

a beam between the base station and an intermediate device, and a standby beam between the intermediate device and the terminal device; or alternatively

A beam between the base station and a second intermediate device and a beam between the second intermediate device and the terminal device.
A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processing circuits of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of claim 53 or to perform the method of claim 54.
A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method of claim 53 or implements the steps of the method of claim 54.