Time source health monitoring support for network timing resiliency

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12407437-B2
Application number	US-202217936205-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2022
Priority date	Sep 29, 2021
Publication date	Sep 2, 2025
Grant date	Sep 2, 2025

Abstract

Method, apparatuses, and computer program products provide means for monitoring time sources for nodes of a network and providing timing resiliency solutions. An example method includes: establishing time synchronization within a network comprising a plurality of nodes using a time source; receiving an indication regarding at least one of degradation or failure of the time source for at least one node; receiving an indication regarding at least recovery of the time source for the at least one node; and determining, within the network, an action to be taken to upon failure at the at least one node in response to the at least one of the degradation or the failure of the time source for the at least one node, where the action to be taken comprises instructing the at least one node to leverage either hold over functionality or a backup time source.

First claim

That which is claimed:

1. An apparatus for a core network, the apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code configured to, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
establishing time synchronization within a network, the network comprising at least one node using a time source, and the network comprising the core network;
obtaining an indication regarding a health of the time source, wherein the indication of the health of the time source indicates at least one of a degradation or a failure of the time source monitored by the at least one node, wherein the indication is based on at least one of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) reports or PTP (Packet Transfer Protocol) reports received by the core network of the network from the at least one node;
and
determining, based on the indication, an action to be taken in response to the at least one of the degradation or the failure of the time source for the at least one node, wherein the action to be taken comprises instructing the at least one node to leverage either hold over functionality or a backup time source.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the health of the time source that indicates the at least one of the degradation or the failure of the time source comprises at least one of:
an indication of use of hold over capability, or
an indication of use of backup time source when the time source fails.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining the indication comprises receiving the indication of the at least one of the degradation or the failure of the time source for the at least one node from a Network Data Analytics Function of the core network.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the action to be taken is determined based, at least in part, on an area impacted by the at least one of the degradation or the failure of the time source for the at least one node.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the action to be taken further comprises causing the apparatus to provide instruction to the at least one node to handover any user equipment served by the at least one node to another node of the at least one node having a reliable time source.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the action to be taken further comprises causing the apparatus to provide a list of nodes of the at least one node having a reliable time source.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the computer program code, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the apparatus to perform:
collecting data from the network to determine capabilities for timing resilience, hold over functionality, or access to backup time source, wherein the action to be taken is determined based on the data collected from the network.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the collecting the data from the network comprises causing the apparatus to collect the data from the network to build a time source database.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the computer program code, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the apparatus at least to perform:
receiving a time-synchronization dependent service request from a user equipment (UE) operating on the network; and
determining an area-of-interest for the time-synchronization dependent service request and determining a first plurality of nodes comprised in the network and that support the network in the area-of-interest;
detecting a time-synchronization issue associated with the time source;
determining a time-synchronization issue response for the time-synchronization issue; and
causing, according to the time-synchronization issue response, operation of at least one of the following: the user equipment or the at least one node of the first plurality of nodes.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the causing the operation according to the time-synchronization issue response comprises:
causing respective nodes of the at least one node of the first plurality of nodes to implement the time-synchronization response based on a response plan stored locally at the respective nodes of the at least one node of the first plurality of nodes.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the causing the operation according to the time-synchronization issue response comprises:
providing a command to the at least one node of the first plurality of nodes to update reference time information uncertainty.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the causing the operation according to the time-synchronization issue response comprises:
providing a command to the at least one node of the first plurality of nodes to switch to a new available time source.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the causing the operation according to the time-synchronization issue response comprises:
providing an instruction to the at least one node of the first plurality of nodes to handover user equipment served by the at least one node of the first plurality of nodes to other nodes of the first plurality of nodes, wherein the other nodes of the first plurality of nodes are identified as having correct time-synchronization.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining the indication comprises processing the at least one of the GNSS reports or the PTP reports to determine the indication.

15. An apparatus for a core network, the apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code configured to, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
establishing time synchronization within a network comprising a plurality of nodes using a time source, the network comprising the core network;
obtaining, from a Network Data Analytics Function, an indication regarding at least one of a degradation or a failure of the time source for at least one node;
and
determining, based on the indication, an action to be taken in response to the at least one of the degradation or the failure of the time source for the at least one node, wherein the action to be taken comprises instructing the at least one node to leverage either hold over functionality or a backup time source, wherein the action to be taken is determined based, at least in part, on an area impacted by the at least one of the degradation or the failure of the time source for the at least one node.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the indication is based on at least one of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) reports or PTP (Packet Transfer Protocol) reports fed into the core network.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the action to be taken further comprises providing instruction to the at least one node to handover any user equipment served by the at least one node to another node of the plurality of nodes having a reliable time source.

18. An apparatus for a core network, the apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code configured to, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
establishing time synchronization within a network comprising a plurality of nodes using a time source, the network comprising the core network;
obtaining an indication regarding at least one of a degradation or a failure of the time source for at least one node of the plurality of nodes; and
determining, based on the indication, an action to be taken in response to the at least one of the degradation or the failure of the time

Assignees

• Nokia Technologies Oy

Inventors

• Andres Maldonado Pilar
• Kolding Troels Emil
• Jacobsen Thomas Haaning
• Chandramouli Devaki
• Sivasiva Ganesan Rakash
• Abreu Renato Barbosa

Classifications

• G01S19/256

  relating to timing, e.g. time of week, code phase, timing offset · 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

• H04J3/0652

  Synchronisation among time division multiple access [TDMA] nodes, e.g. time triggered protocol [TTP] (bus network with centralized control in which slots are of a TDMA packet structure H04L12/4035) · CPC title

• H04L41/0663

  Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements · CPC title

• H04L41/0686

  Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data · CPC title