Patent attributes
Methods of communicating in a wireless telecommunications system comprising a communications device, a master cell group comprising one or more infrastructure equipment of a first type and a secondary cell group comprising one or more infrastructure equipment of a second type, the communications device being in a coverage area of one of the infrastructure equipment of the first type and a coverage area of at least one of the infrastructure equipment of the second type, wherein the communications device is configured to transmit signals to and receive signals from the infrastructure equipment of the first type in accordance with a first communications protocol and to transmit signals to and receive signals from the at least one infrastructure equipment of the second type in accordance with a second communications protocol, the second communications protocol being different to the first communications protocol. A method according to a first example embodiment of the present disclosure comprises establishing a measurement of radio conditions associated with a first communications path between the communications device and the infrastructure equipment of the first type, determining that the first communications path is not appropriate for use by the communications device, transmitting a failure message from the communications device to one of the infrastructure equipment of the second type via a second communications path, the failure message providing information regarding the determination that the first communications path is not appropriate for use by the communications device, receiving at the communications device a signal comprising a reconfiguration message from the one of the infrastructure equipment of the second type via the second communications path, and establishing, using the reconfiguration message, signals to be transmitted by the communications device and signals to be received by the communications device. The determining that the first communications path is not appropriate for use by the communications device comprises detecting, from the measurement of radio conditions, radio link failure on the first communications path. A method according to a second example embodiment of the present disclosure comprising establishing a first measurement of radio conditions associated with a first communications path between the communications device and the infrastructure equipment of the first type, the first measurement of radio conditions comprising a quality of the first communications path, determining that the quality of the first communications path is below a first predetermined threshold, initiating a timer, the timer being configured to expire after a predetermined amount of time, establishing a second measurement of radio conditions associated with a second communications path between the communications device and one of the infrastructure equipment of the second type, the second measurement of radio conditions comprising a quality of the second communications path, determining that the quality of the second communications path is below a second predetermined threshold, terminating the timer before the predetermined amount of time has elapsed, receiving at the communications device a signal comprising a re-establishment command, and establishing that, using the re-establishment command, the communications device should transmit signals to and receive signals from a second infrastructure equipment of the first type via a third communications path.
