Wireless communication enhancements for transparent and boundary clocks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11228994-B2
Application number	US-202016792133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2020
Priority date	Feb 18, 2019
Publication date	Jan 18, 2022
Grant date	Jan 18, 2022

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. In an example, a method includes a first node receiving a precision time protocol (PTP) message, identifying one or more timing domains to be supported by the first node based at least in part on the PTP message, and sending, to a second node of the wireless communication network, an indicator of the one or more timing domains to be supported by the first node. Another example at a node includes receiving, from additional nodes of the wireless communication network, indicators of one or more timing domains supported by the additional nodes, receiving a PTP message associated with a timing domain, and sending the PTP message to a subset of the additional nodes based at least in a part on the indicators of one or more timing domains supported by the additional nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method at a first node of a wireless communication network, comprising:
receiving a packet comprising a precision time protocol (PTP) message;
identifying one or more timing domains for which the first node is to operate as a boundary clock based at least in part on one or more timing domain identifiers associated with the PTP message included in the packet;
sending the packet to a second node of the wireless communication network associated with a destination of the packet, wherein the second node is one of a user plane function (UPF), an adaptor connected to a UPF, or a translator connected to a UPF; and
sending, to the second node, a second packet comprising an indicator of the one or more timing domains for which the first node is to operate as a boundary clock, wherein the indicator of the one or more timing domains indicates one or more packet data unit sessions for which the first node is to operate as the boundary clock.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more timing domains further comprises:
identifying a virtual local area network tag in a frame associated with the PTP message.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more timing domains further comprises:
determining the one or more timing domains from a field in a header of the PTP message.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the field in the header is a domain Number field that includes a time domain identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PTP message is a multicast PTP message.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing time domain information associated with the indicator of the one or more timing domains.

7. An apparatus at a first node of a wireless communication network, comprising:
a processor,
memory coupled to the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
receive a packet comprising a precision time protocol (PTP) message;
identify one or more timing domains for which the first node is to operate as a boundary clock based at least in part on one or more timing domain identifiers associated with the PTP message included in the packet;
send the packet to a second node of the wireless communication network associated with a destination of the packet, wherein the second node is one of a user plane function (UPF), an adaptor connected to a UPF, or a translator connected to a UPF; and
send, to the second node, a second packet comprising an indicator of the one or more timing domains for which the first node is to operate as a boundary clock, wherein the indicator of the one or more timing domains indicates one or more packet data unit sessions for which the first node is to operate as the boundary clock.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to identify the one or more timing domains further are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
identify a virtual local area network tag in a frame associated with the PTP message.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to identify the one or more timing domains further are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
determine the one or more timing domains from a field in a header of the PTP message.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the PTP message is a multicast PTP message.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
store time domain information associated with the indicator of the one or more timing domains.

12. An apparatus at a first node of a wireless communication network, comprising:
means for receiving a packet comprising a precision time protocol (PTP) message;
means for identifying one or more timing domains for which the first node is to operate as a boundary clock based at least in part on one or more timing domain identifiers associated with the PTP message included in the packet;
means for sending the packet to a second node of the wireless communication network associated with a destination of the packet, wherein the second node is one of a user plane function (UPF), an adaptor connected to a UPF, or a translator connected to a UPF; and
means for sending, to the second node, a second packet comprising an indicator of the one or more timing domains for which the first node is to operate as a boundary clock, wherein the indicator of the one or more timing domains indicates one or more packet data unit sessions for which the first node is to operate as the boundary clock.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the means for identifying the one or more timing domains further comprises:
means for identifying a virtual local area network tag in a frame associated with the PTP message.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the means for identifying the one or more timing domains further comprises:
means for determining the one or more timing domains from a field in a header of the PTP message.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising:
means for storing time domain information associated with the indicator of the one or more timing domains.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for communications at a first node of a wireless communication network, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to:
receive a packet comprising a precision time protocol (PTP) message;
identify one or more timing domains for which the first node is to operate as a boundary clock based at least in part on one or more timing domain identifiers associated with the PTP message included in the packet;
send the packet to a second node of the wireless communication network associated with a destination of the packet, wherein the second node is one of a user plane function (UPF), an adaptor connected to a UPF, or a translator connected to a UPF; and
send, to the second node, a second packet comprising an indicator of the one or more timing domains for which the first node is to operate a boundary clock, wherein the indicator of the one or more timing domains indicates one or more packet data unit sessions for which the first node is to operate as the boundary clock.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions to identify the one or more timing domains further are executable to:
identify a virtual local area network tag in a frame associated with the PTP message.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions to identify the one or more timing domains further are executable to:
determine the one or more timing domains from a field in a header of the PTP message.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions are further executable to:
store time domain information associated with the indicator of the one or more timing domains.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Joseph Vinay
• Prakash Rajat
• Tinnakornsrisuphap Peerapol
• Ulupinar Fatih

Classifications

• H04L69/28

  Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols · CPC title

• H04J3/0673

  using intermediate nodes, e.g. modification of a received timestamp before further transmission to the next packet node, e.g. including internal delay time or residence time into the packet · CPC title

• H04J3/0667

  Bidirectional timestamps, e.g. NTP or PTP for compensation of clock drift and for compensation of propagation delays (arrangements for monitoring round trip delays in packet switching networks H04L43/0864) · CPC title

• H04J3/0641 Primary

  Change of the master or reference, e.g. take-over or failure of the master · CPC title

• H04W56/005

  compensating for timing error by adjustment in the receiver · CPC title