Wireless communication enhancements for transparent and boundary clocks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11653317-B2
Application number	US-202117160342-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2021
Priority date	Feb 18, 2019
Publication date	May 16, 2023
Grant date	May 16, 2023

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 node of a wireless communication network, comprising:
establishing, with one or more user equipments (UEs) of the wireless communication network, a packet data unit (PDU) session for communication of messages for one or more protocols including precision time protocol (PTP) messages associated with one or more timing domains;
receiving, at the node from a time sensitive network node, a downstream PTP message associated with a timing domain;
adjusting, by the node, a field of the downstream PTP message based at least in part on a link delay between the time sensitive network node and the node, wherein the node comprises a user plane function (UPF); and
sending, from the node, the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs including an indication of the one or more timing domains associated with the established PDU session.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the node, one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs, wherein the established PDU session supports PTP messages for the one or more timing domains.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs comprises:
determining that the one or more UEs support the timing domain associated with the downstream PTP message based at least in part on one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs indicating the timing domain, wherein sending the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs is based at least in part on the determining.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an upstream PTP packet including one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication network comprises a time sensitive network (TSN).

6. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
establish, with one or more user equipments (UEs) of a wireless communication network, a packet data unit (PDU) session for communication of messages for one or more protocols including precision time protocol (PTP) messages associated with one or more timing domains;
receive, at the apparatus from a time sensitive network node, a downstream PTP message associated with a timing domain;
adjust, by the apparatus, a field of the downstream PTP message based at least in part on a link delay between the time sensitive network node and the apparatus, wherein the apparatus comprises a user plane function (UPF); and
send, from the apparatus, the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs including an indication of the one or more timing domains associated with the established PDU session.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
receive, at the apparatus, one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs, wherein the established PDU session supports PTP messages for the one or more timing domains.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the instructions to send the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
determine that the one or more UEs support the timing domain associated with the downstream PTP message based at least in part on one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs indicating the timing domain, wherein sending the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs is based at least in part on the determining.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
receive an upstream PTP packet including one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the wireless communication network comprises a time sensitive network (TSN).

11. An apparatus, comprising:
means for establishing, with one or more user equipments (UEs) of a wireless communication network, a packet data unit (PDU) session for communication of messages for one or more protocols including precision time protocol (PTP) messages associated with one or more timing domains;
means for receiving, at the apparatus from a time sensitive network node, a downstream PTP message associated with a timing domain;
means for adjusting, by the apparatus, a field of the downstream PTP message based at least in part on a link delay between the time sensitive network node and the apparatus, wherein the apparatus comprises a user plane function (UPF); and
means for sending, from the apparatus, the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs including an indication of the one or more timing domains associated with the established PDU session.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for receiving, at the apparatus, one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs, wherein the established PDU session supports PTP messages for the one or more timing domains.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the means for sending the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs comprise:
means for determining that the one or more UEs support the timing domain associated with the downstream PTP message based at least in part on one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs indicating the timing domain, wherein sending the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs is based at least in part on the determining.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for receiving an upstream PTP packet including one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to:
establish with one or more user equipments (UEs) of a wireless communication network, a packet data unit (PDU) session for communication of messages for one or more protocols including precision time protocol (PTP) messages associated with one or more timing domains;
receive, from a time sensitive network node, a downstream PTP message associated with a timing domain;
adjust, by a node, a field of the downstream PTP message based at least in part on a link delay between the time sensitive network node and the node, wherein the node comprises a user plane function (UPF); and
send the downstream PTP message to the one or more UEs including an indication of the one or more timing domains associated with the established PDU session.

16. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs comprise a virtual local area network tag associated with the upstream PTP packet.

17. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs comprise a domain number included in a header associated with the upstream PTP packet.

18. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the one or more indicators of the one or more timing domains supported by the one or more UEs comprise a virtual local area network tag associated with the upstream PTP packet.

19. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the one or more indicators of the one or more t

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