Beam measurement in a wireless communication network for identifying candidate beams for a handover

An apparatus for use in a user equipment (UE) of a wireless telecommunications network having at least one NodeB, the apparatus comprising:

• beam measurement circuitry to:
• receive at the UE, from the network, beam measurement configuration data requesting a selection of a non-zero integer number, N, beams by the UE;
• and
• measure, in response to a measurement request from the network, signal qualities for a plurality of received beams originating from a beam source of the network, to select N beams to evaluate a serving cell and one or more neigbouring cells of the UE, the selection of the N beams depending upon the signal quality measurements;
• and
• feedback circuitry to transmit, to one or more devices of the wireless telecommunication network, a measurement report based on the measured signal qualities

Circuitry for use in a NodeB of a wireless telecommunications network, the circuitry comprising:

• processing circuitry to prepare a beam measurement configuration message specifying a sequence of beam measurements to be performed by a user equipment (UE) to select at least one preferred beam from a plurality of beams received by the UE, the measurement configuration data message specifying a non-zero integer number, N, of preferred beams to be determined for an active cell of the UE;
• and
• transmission circuitry to:
• transmit the beam measurement configuration message to the UE;
• and
• transmit a measurement request to the UE to trigger the UE to perform measurements of beam parameters according to the beam measurement configuration data to identify the N preferred beams and to map the N preferred beams to the active cell.

Machine-readable instructions provided on at least one non-transient machine-readable medium, the machine-readable instructions, when executed by a UE of a wireless telecommunications network, to cause processing hardware of the UE to:

• receive from the network, a beam measurement configuration message requesting a selection of a non-zero integer number, N, of best beams by the UE;
• measure, in response to a measurement request from the network, parameters corresponding a plurality of received beams detectable at the UE;
• and
• choose N best beams to characterize an active cell of the UE, the choice of the N beams depending upon the measured beam parameters.