Time synchronization enhancement for a group of UE

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12294961-B2
Application number	US-201917263292-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2019
Priority date	Aug 8, 2018
Publication date	May 6, 2025
Grant date	May 6, 2025

Abstract

In accordance with example embodiments of the invention there is at least a method and apparatus to perform determining, by a network node, context information of a group of more than one user equipment, wherein the context information is based on at least service related information associated with the more than one user equipment; sending information comprising the context information towards at least one base station of a communication network; and based on the context information, negotiating with the at least one base station timing synchronization requirements for distribution to each user equipment of the group. Further, there is at least a method and an apparatus to perform receiving from a network node, by a network device of a communication network, information comprising context information associated with a group of more than one user equipment, wherein the context information is based on at least service related information associated with the more than one user equipment; based on the information, negotiating with the network node timing synchronization requirements for distribution to each user equipment of the group; and in response to the negotiating, selecting at least one network device of the communication network for the distribution by the at least one network device of the timing synchronization requirements to each user equipment of the group of more than one user equipment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory comprising computer program code,
the at least one memory and computer program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to
receive from a network node, by the apparatus of a communication network, information comprising context information associated with a group of more than one user equipment, wherein the context information is based on at least service related information associated with the more than one user equipment;
based on the context information, negotiate with the network node timing synchronization requirements for time information distribution to each user equipment of the group;
in response to the negotiating, select multiple network devices of the communication network for the distribution of time information (timeInfo) to each user equipment of the group of more than one user equipment; and
configure time information usage for at least one user equipment of the group of more than one user equipment, wherein the time information is to minimize the timing error across the group of more than one user equipment,
wherein the selecting of the multiple network devices is based on the network devices sharing a common master clock,
wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to
generate timeInfo, by at least one network device, using knowledge of maximum time interval error (MTIE) characteristics of its clock to decide on a frequency of timeInfo signalling needed to meet synchronization requirements of the user equipment group;
wherein the at least one network device that generates timeInfo uses the knowledge of MTIE characteristics of the clock of a timeInfo-generating unit and MTIE characteristics of the clock of the air interface unit from which timeInfo is transmitted to decide on the frequency of timeInfo signalling needed to meet the synchronization requirements of the user equipment group.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when negotiating, the at least one memory and computer program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to use serving context information associated with the communication network comprising information of a radio resource control state, at least one serving base station, and timing advance information associated with each user equipment of the group, and, wherein the serving context information comprises a list of network devices providing service to each of the more than one user equipment.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the negotiating comprises providing performance indicator to the network node and is based on a synchronization performance offered by the communication network.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the timeInfo signalling uses a combination of SIB broadcast and RRC unicast signalling optimized to meet a minimum required signalling frequency with a minimum use of resources; and
a timing of timeInfo signalling is optimized to ensure high timing advance accuracy based on which user equipment may compensate the timeInfo for propagation delay.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration of time information usage causes at least one user equipment of the group of more than one user equipment to not apply a propagation delay compensation based on a timing advance average.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration of time information usage causes: a first subset of at least one user equipment of the group of more than one user equipment to not apply a time compensation based on a timing advance average; and a second subset of at least one user equipment of the group of more than one user equipment to apply a time compensation based on a timing advance average.

7. A method, comprising:
receiving from a network device, by a user equipment of a group of more than one user equipment of a communication network, first information comprising configuration of time information (timeInfo) usage;
receiving further information comprising a timeInfo associated with at least one network device of the communication network; and
based on the configuration of the timeInfo usage and timeInfo from the communication network, deriving synchronized timing by the user equipment, wherein the time information is to minimize the timing error across the group of more than one user equipment,
wherein the at least one network device comprises more than one network device that share a common master clock with the user equipment,
wherein the timeInfo was generated, by at least one network device, using knowledge of maximum time interval error (MTIE) characteristics of its clock to decide on a frequency of timeInfo signalling needed to meet synchronization requirements of the user equipment group,
wherein the at least one network device that generates timeInfo used the knowledge of MTIE characteristics of the clock of a timeInfo-generating unit and MTIE characteristics of the clock of the air interface unit from which timeInfo is transmitted to decide on the frequency of timeInfo signalling needed to meet the synchronization requirements of the user equipment group.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one network device comprises more than one network device that belong to a same timing advance group.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the deriving synchronized timing is based on whether or not the configuration of time information usage from the network device is to cause the user equipment to apply a propagation delay compensation.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the deriving synchronized timing is based on the configuration of time information usage from the network device related to whether or not the user equipment is configured to derive the synchronized timing if the user equipment receives the timing information from more than one network devices.

11. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the deriving synchronized timing is based on the configuration of time information usage from the network device related to the derivation of synchronized timing if the user equipment receives the time information from more than one network device.

12. The method according to claim 7 , comprising:
determining a time error associated with a difference between the derived synchronized timing and the timing of the network device of the communication network from which the time information was received; and
based on the determining, signaling the network device information regarding the time error,
wherein the time error is signaled if the difference exceeds a configured threshold.

13. The method according to claim 12 , comprising:
the user equipment receiving timeInfos from multiple network devices that share a common master clock, the user equipment being configured to use only timeInfo from a network device that configures the user equipment not to apply timing advance based propagation delay compensation;
the user equipment deriving its clock from both received timeInfos using the configured operation by averaging them;
wherein the user equipment is configured to report the time error to a network node if the difference between the derived clock from multiple received timeInfos is larger than the configured threshold.

14. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory comprising computer program code,
the at least one memory and computer program code configured, wit

Assignees

• Nokia Technologies Oy

Inventors

• Van Phan Vinh
• Yu Ling
• Li Zexian
• Niemela Kari J
• Vukadinovic Vladimir

Classifications

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04W56/0055

  determining timing error of reception due to propagation delay · CPC title

• H04W56/004

  compensating for timing error of reception due to propagation delay · CPC title

• H04W56/001 Primary

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title