Techniques for controlling timing of wireless communications devices in non-terrestrial networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12389353-B2
Application number	US-202217823002-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2022
Priority date	Nov 3, 2021
Publication date	Aug 12, 2025
Grant date	Aug 12, 2025

Abstract

Aspects described herein relate to receiving an update value for a timing advance of a satellite link between the UE and a base station, computing, based on the update value for the timing advance, a portion of a timing difference between the update value and a previous value for the timing advance of the satellite link that is corrected by closed loop timing advance control from the base station, computing, based at least in part on computing the portion, a total value for the timing advance of the satellite link, and applying, at the UE and based at least in part on the total value for the timing advance of the satellite link and the closed loop timing advance control, an applied timing advance for communicating with the base station.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
a processor,
memory coupled with the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
acquire location information for the apparatus from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) fix to determine a location of the apparatus;
receive an update value for a timing advance of a satellite link between the apparatus and a base station, wherein the update value for the timing advance includes a new UE-specific timing advance value that is based on the acquired location information;
compute, based on the update value for the timing advance, a portion of a timing difference between the update value and a previous value for the timing advance of the satellite link that is corrected by closed loop timing advance control from the base station, wherein the previous value for the timing advance includes a previous UE-specific timing advance value that is based on previously acquired location information for the apparatus from a previous GNSS fix;
compute, based at least in part on computing the portion, a total value for the timing advance of the satellite link by one of:
adding, to the previous UE-specific timing advance value, the timing difference between the update value and the previous value multiplied by a remaining portion of the timing difference that is not corrected by the closed loop timing advance control;
subtracting, from the new UE-specific timing advance value, the timing difference between the update value and the previous value multiplied by the portion of the timing difference that is corrected by the closed loop timing advance control; or
setting the total value as the new UE-specific timing advance value and adjusting a closed loop timing advanced value from the closed loop timing advance control by the timing difference between the update value and the previous value multiplied by the portion of the timing difference that is corrected by the closed loop timing advance control; and

apply, at the apparatus and based at least in part on the total value for the timing advance of the satellite link and the closed loop timing advance control, an applied timing advance for communicating with the base station.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the new UE-specific timing advance value and the previous UE-specific timing advance value are associated with a same satellite position and different apparatus locations.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
compute the new UE-specific timing advance value as a distance between a satellite position at a time when the location of the apparatus is acquired and a current apparatus location at the time when the location of the apparatus is acquired divided by the speed of light; and
compute the previous UE-specific timing advance value as a distance between the satellite position at the time when the location of the apparatus is acquired and a previous apparatus location at the time when the previously acquired location information is acquired divided by the speed of light.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the update value for the timing advance includes a new common timing advance value that is based on a position of a satellite relative to a reference point location of a reference point associated with the base station, and wherein the previous value for the timing advance includes a previous common timing advance value that is based on previous position of the satellite relative to the reference point location.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to compute the portion of the timing difference that is corrected by closed loop timing advance control from the base station at least in part by dividing a closed loop timing advanced value from the closed loop timing advance control by the timing difference between the update value and a previous value for the timing advance of the satellite link.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein when there are no timing advance commands received by the closed loop timing advance control from the base station between receiving the update value and receiving a previous update value, the portion is zero.

7. A method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
acquiring location information for the UE from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) fix to determine a location of the UE;
receiving an update value for a timing advance of a satellite link between the UE and a base station, wherein the update value for the timing advance includes a new UE-specific timing advance value that is based on the acquired location information;
computing, based on the update value for the timing advance, a portion of a timing difference between the update value and a previous value for the timing advance of the satellite link that is corrected by closed loop timing advance control from the base station, wherein the previous value for the timing advance includes a previous UE-specific timing advance value that is based on previously acquired location information for the UE from a previous GNSS fix;
computing, based at least in part on computing the portion, a total value for the timing advance of the satellite link by one of:
adding, to the previous UE-specific timing advance value, the timing difference between the update value and the previous value multiplied by a remaining portion of the timing difference that is not corrected by the closed loop timing advance control;
subtracting, from the new UE-specific timing advance value, the timing difference between the update value and the previous value multiplied by the portion of the timing difference that is corrected by the closed loop timing advance control; or
setting the total value as the new UE-specific timing advance value and adjusting a closed loop timing advanced value from the closed loop timing advance control by the timing difference between the update value and the previous value multiplied by the portion of the timing difference that is corrected by the closed loop timing advance control; and

applying, at the UE and based at least in part on the total value for the timing advance of the satellite link and the closed loop timing advance control, an applied timing advance for communicating with the base station.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the new UE-specific timing advance value and the previous UE-specific timing advance value are associated with a same satellite position and different UE locations.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
computing the new UE-specific timing advance value as a distance between a satellite position at a time when the location of the UE is acquired and a current UE location at the time when the location of the UE is acquired divided by the speed of light; and
computing the previous UE-specific timing advance value as a distance between the satellite position at the time when the location of the UE is acquired and a previous UE location at the time when the previously acquired location information is acquired divided by the speed of light.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the update value for the timing advance includes a new common timing advance value that is based on a position of a satellite relative to a reference point location of a reference point associated with the base station, and wherein the previous value for the timing advance includes a previous common timing advance value that is based on previous position of the satellite relative to the reference point location.

11. Th

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Ma Liangping
• Krishnamurthy Harikumar
• Wang Xiao Feng
• Phuyal Umesh
• Gaal Peter
• Shrestha Bharat
• Rico Alvarino Alberto
• Sengupta Ayan

Classifications

• H04B7/18513 Primary

  Transmission in a satellite or space-based system · CPC title

• H04W56/0015

  one node acting as a reference for the others · CPC title

• H04W56/0045 Primary

  compensating for timing error by altering transmission time · CPC title