Time synchronization method and device

Abstract

The invention provides a time synchronization method and device. In the method, a second communication device may indicate a synchronization precision configuration to a first communication device for time synchronization. Thus, the second communication device can determine more reasonable synchronization precision configuration meeting the self synchronization precision requirement as the time-served device, and notify the first communication device of the more reasonable synchronization precision configuration. Through the method, the time service device performs time synchronization by using the synchronization precision configuration meeting the synchronization precision requirement of the time-served device, and finally, the reliability of supporting TSN / TSC between the time service device and the time-served device is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a time synchronization method and device. Background Art

[0002] In a communication system, in order to support time sensitive networking (TSN) or time sensitive communications (TSC), the time between the devices that need to communicate and interact is synchronized. Therefore, there needs to be a timing device and a timed device in the communication system. The timing device is responsible for sending reference time information to the timed device to achieve time synchronization between devices in the system. The reference time information is used to indicate the reference time specified by the timing device.

[0003] However, since the device being timed passively receives the reference time information specified by the timing device, the above-mentioned traditional time synchronization scheme may result in the synchronization accuracy of the reference time specified by the timing device not meeting the requirements of the device being timed, which may lead to low reliability of the device being timed in supporting TSN / TSC. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides a time synchronization method and apparatus, so that a timing device can perform time synchronization using a synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of a timing device.

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, which is applied to a first communication device. The following is an example of the first communication device executing the method. The method includes:

[0006] A first communication device receives a first message from a second communication device; wherein the first message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a first synchronization accuracy configuration; the first communication device sends a second message to the second communication device; the second message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is used for the second communication device to perform time synchronization with the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0007] In this method, the second communication device can indicate the synchronization accuracy configuration to the first communication device for time synchronization. In this way, the second communication device, as the time-served device, can determine a more reasonable synchronization accuracy configuration that meets its own synchronization accuracy requirements, thereby ensuring the TSN / TSC characteristics of the system. In short, this method can enable the timing device to use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the time-served device for time synchronization, ultimately improving the reliability of TSN / TSC support between the timing device and the time-served device.

[0008] In one possible design, the first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement; based on this, the first indication is an index value of the first synchronization accuracy configuration; or the first indication includes a time information type element, and the time information type element is used to indicate the first clock type; or the first indication includes an uncertainty element, and the uncertainty element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0009] In one possible design, the first reference time information includes position information of the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

[0010] In one possible design, the first message is used to request the first communication device to use the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization; based on this, the first communication device may also send a third message to the second communication device, and the third message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device allows the use of the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0011] In one possible design, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0012] Through this design, the method can be applied to mobile communication scenarios or sidelink scenarios.

[0013] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, which is applied to a second communication device. The second communication device and the first communication device in the first aspect constitute a communication system. The following is an example of the second communication device executing the method. The method includes:

[0014] The second communication device sends a first message to the first communication device; wherein the first message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a first synchronization accuracy configuration; the second communication device receives a second message from the first communication device; wherein the second message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration; the second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time information.

[0015] In one possible design, the second communication device can determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration based on first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operating status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device.

[0016] Through this design, the second communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration in real time according to its own operating conditions and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so that the synchronization accuracy configuration indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device is consistent with the operating conditions of the second communication device, and the available resources of the first communication device can support the use of the synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0017] In one possible design, the second communication device may obtain the first indication or determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration based on a configuration message sent by a network device to which it is connected.

[0018] In one possible design, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device.

[0019] In a possible design, the location information of the first communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located;

[0020] The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

[0021] In a possible design, when the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device is multiple, the second communication device may determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information through the following steps:

[0022] Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information, select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the first synchronization accuracy configuration; or select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0023] In a possible design, the target service information has the highest priority among the multiple service information, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0024] In one possible design, the first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement; the first indication is an index value of the first synchronization accuracy configuration; or the first indication includes a time information type element, and the time information type element is used to indicate the first clock type; or the first indication includes an uncertainty element, and the uncertainty element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0025] In one possible design, the first reference time information includes position information of the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

[0026] In one possible design, the first message is used to request the first communication device to use the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization; based on this, the second communication device can also receive a third message from the first communication device, and the third message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device allows the use of the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0027] In one possible design, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0028] The technical effects that can be achieved in the second aspect can refer to the description of the technical effects that can be achieved in the first aspect mentioned above.

[0029] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, which is applied to a first communication device. The following is an example of the first communication device executing the method. The method includes:

[0030] The first communication device determines a first synchronization accuracy configuration based on first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device; the first communication device sends a first message to the second communication device; the first message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is used for the second communication device to perform time synchronization with the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0031] In this method, the first communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration according to the operating conditions of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so as to perform time synchronization with the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device, as a timing device, can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the operating conditions of the second communication device and can be supported by the available resources of the first communication device, that is, the first communication device can determine a more reasonable synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the second communication device, thereby ensuring the TSN / TSC characteristics of the system. In short, this method can enable the timing device to use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the timed device for time synchronization, and ultimately improve the reliability of TSN / TSC support between the timing device and the timed device.

[0032] In one possible design, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device.

[0033] Through this design, the first communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration in real time according to the operating status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so that the synchronization accuracy configuration determined by the first communication device is consistent with the operating status of the second communication device, and the available resources of the first communication device can support the use of the synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0034] In a possible design, the location information of the first communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located;

[0035] The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

[0036] In a possible design, when the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device includes multiple services, the first communication device may determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information through the following steps:

[0037] Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information, select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the first synchronization accuracy configuration; or select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0038] In a possible design, the target service information has the highest priority among the multiple service information, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0039] In one possible design, the first reference time information includes position information of the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

[0040] In one possible design, the first communication device may also send a second message to the second communication device; wherein the second message includes a first indication, the first indication is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and the second message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device uses the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0041] In one possible design, the first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement; the first indication is an index value of the first synchronization accuracy configuration; or the first indication includes a time information type element, and the time information type element is used to indicate the first clock type; or the first indication includes an uncertainty element, and the uncertainty element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0042] In one possible design, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0043] Through this design, the method can be applied to mobile communication scenarios or sidelink scenarios.

[0044] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, which is applied to a first communication device. The following is an example of the first communication device executing the method. The method includes:

[0045] A first communication device sends a first message to a second communication device; wherein the first message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is used for the second communication device to perform time synchronization with the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration; the first communication device receives a second message from the second communication device; wherein the second message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a second synchronization accuracy configuration; finally, the first communication device sends a third message to the second communication device; the third message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0046] In this method, the second communication device can indicate the synchronization accuracy configuration to the first communication device for time synchronization. In this way, the second communication device, as the time-served device, can determine a more reasonable synchronization accuracy configuration that meets its own synchronization accuracy requirements, thereby ensuring the TSN / TSC characteristics of the system. This method can enable the timing device to use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the time-served device for time synchronization, ultimately improving the reliability of TSN / TSC support between the timing device and the time-served device.

[0047] In addition, in this method, when the first communication device switches to a new synchronization accuracy configuration, it can send time offset information to the second communication device, so that the second communication device can determine the reference time information corresponding to the new synchronization accuracy configuration based on the time offset information and the reference time information corresponding to the old synchronization accuracy configuration, and then perform time synchronization with the first communication device. The time offset information is used to indicate the time offset between the reference time corresponding to the new synchronization accuracy configuration and the reference time corresponding to the old synchronization accuracy configuration. Compared with the reference time information, the time offset information contains less data. Therefore, this method can reduce the signaling overhead between the first communication device and the second communication device, and can also reduce the processing complexity on the first communication device side. In a scenario where the first communication device needs to perform time synchronization with multiple second communication devices, the processing complexity and signaling overhead of the first communication device can be significantly reduced.

[0048] In one possible design, the second synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a second clock type, a second synchronization accuracy requirement; the first indication is an index value of the second synchronization accuracy configuration; or the first indication includes a time information type element, and the time information type element is used to indicate the second clock type; or the first indication includes an uncertainty element, and the uncertainty element is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0049] In one possible design, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset.

[0050] In one possible design, the first communications device may determine the first time offset by following steps:

[0051] The offset between the second synchronization accuracy configuration and the first synchronization accuracy configuration is used as the first time offset; or the second reference time information is determined according to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; the first time offset is determined according to the second reference time information and the first reference time information.

[0052] In one possible design, the third message also includes clock crystal oscillator information or clock crystal oscillator offset information; wherein, the clock crystal oscillator information includes the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; the clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: the offset between the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and / or, the offset between the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0053] Through this design, the second communication device can determine more accurate second reference time information based on the first reference time information, time offset information, and clock crystal information or clock crystal offset information, thereby achieving more accurate time synchronization with the first communication device.

[0054] In one possible design, the second message is used to request the first communication device to use the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization; based on this, the first communication device may also send a fourth message to the second communication device, and the fourth message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device allows the use of the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0055] In one possible design, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0056] Through this design, the method can be applied to mobile communication scenarios or sidelink scenarios.

[0057] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, which is applied to a second communication device. The following is an example of the second communication device executing the method. The method includes:

[0058] A second communication device receives a first message from a first communication device; wherein the first message includes first reference time information; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration; the second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time information; the second communication device sends a second message to the first communication device; the second message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy configuration; the second communication device receives a third message from the first communication device; wherein the third message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration; the second communication device determines the second reference time information according to the first reference time information and the time offset information; the second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to the second reference time information.

[0059] In one possible design, the second communication device may also determine the second synchronization accuracy configuration based on first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operating status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device.

[0060] Through this design, the second communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration in real time according to its own operating conditions and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so that the synchronization accuracy configuration indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device is consistent with the operating conditions of the second communication device, and the available resources of the first communication device can support the use of the synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0061] In one possible design, the second communication device may obtain the first indication or determine the second synchronization accuracy configuration based on a configuration message sent by a network device to which it is connected.

[0062] In one possible design, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device;

[0063] In a possible design, the location information of the second communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located;

[0064] The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

[0065] In a possible design, when the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device is multiple, the first communication device may determine the second synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information through the following steps, including:

[0066] Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information among the multiple business information; among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information, select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the second synchronization accuracy configuration; or select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0067] In a possible design, the target service information has the highest priority among the multiple service information, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0068] In one possible design, the second synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a second clock type, a second synchronization accuracy requirement; the first indication is an index value of the second synchronization accuracy configuration; or the first indication includes a time information type element, and the time information type element is used to indicate the second clock type; or the first indication includes an uncertainty element, and the uncertainty element is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0069] In one possible design, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset.

[0070] In one possible design, the third message also includes clock crystal oscillator information or clock crystal oscillator offset information; wherein the clock crystal oscillator information includes the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; the clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: the offset between the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and / or, the offset between the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; based on this, the second communication device can also perform the following steps: according to the clock crystal oscillator information or the clock crystal oscillator offset information, correct the second reference time information; or according to the clock crystal oscillator information or the clock crystal oscillator offset information, correct the time offset information.

[0071] In one possible design, the second message is used to request the first communication device to use the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization; based on this, the second communication device can also receive a fourth message from the first communication device, and the fourth message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device allows the use of the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0072] In one possible design, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0073] The technical effects that can be achieved in the fifth aspect can refer to the description of the technical effects that can be achieved in the fourth aspect mentioned above.

[0074] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, which is applied to a first communication device. The following is an example of the first communication device executing the method. The method includes:

[0075] A first communication device sends a first message to a second communication device; wherein the first message includes first reference time information; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration; the first communication device determines a second synchronization accuracy configuration based on the first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operating status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device; the first communication device sends a second message to the second communication device; the second message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0076] In this method, the first communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration according to the operating conditions of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so as to perform time synchronization with the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device, as a timing device, can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the operating conditions of the second communication device and can be supported by the available resources of the first communication device, that is, the first communication device can determine a more reasonable synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the second communication device, thereby ensuring the TSN / TSC characteristics of the system. In short, this method can enable the timing device to use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the device being timed for time synchronization, and ultimately improve the reliability of TSN / TSC support between the timing device and the device being timed.

[0077] In addition, in this method, when the first communication device switches to a new synchronization accuracy configuration, it can send time offset information to the second communication device, so that the second communication device can determine the reference time information corresponding to the new synchronization accuracy configuration based on the time offset information and the reference time information corresponding to the old synchronization accuracy configuration, and then perform time synchronization with the first communication device. The time offset information is used to indicate the time offset between the reference time corresponding to the new synchronization accuracy configuration and the reference time corresponding to the old synchronization accuracy configuration. Compared with the reference time information, the time offset information contains less data. Therefore, this method can reduce the signaling overhead between the first communication device and the second communication device, and can also reduce the processing complexity on the first communication device side. In a scenario where the first communication device needs to perform time synchronization with multiple second communication devices, the processing complexity and signaling overhead of the first communication device can be significantly reduced.

[0078] In one possible design, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device;

[0079] Through this design, the first communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration in real time according to the operating status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so that the synchronization accuracy configuration determined by the first communication device is consistent with the operating status of the second communication device, and the available resources of the first communication device can support the use of the synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0080] In a possible design, the location information of the second communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located;

[0081] The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

[0082] In a possible design, when the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device includes multiple information, the first communication device may determine the second synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information through the following steps:

[0083] Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information among the multiple business information; among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information, select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the second synchronization accuracy configuration; or select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0084] In a possible design, the target service information has the highest priority among the multiple service information, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0085] In one possible design, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset.

[0086] In one possible design, the first communications device may determine the first time offset by following steps:

[0087] The offset between the second synchronization accuracy configuration and the first synchronization accuracy configuration is used as the first time offset; or the second reference time information is determined according to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; the first time offset is determined according to the second reference time information and the first reference time information.

[0088] In one possible design, the second message also includes clock crystal oscillator information or clock crystal oscillator offset information; wherein the clock crystal oscillator information includes the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; the clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: the offset between the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and / or, the offset between the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0089] Through this design, the second communication device can determine more accurate second reference time information based on the first reference time information, time offset information, and clock crystal information or clock crystal offset information, thereby achieving more accurate time synchronization with the first communication device.

[0090] In one possible design, the first communication device may also send a third message to the second communication device; wherein the third message includes a first indication, the first indication is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and the third message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device uses the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0091] In one possible design, the second synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a second clock type, a second synchronization accuracy requirement; the first indication is an index value of the second synchronization accuracy configuration; or the first indication includes a time information type element, and the time information type element is used to indicate the second clock type; or the first indication includes an uncertainty element, and the uncertainty element is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0092] In one possible design, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0093] Through this design, the method can be applied to mobile communication scenarios or sidelink scenarios.

[0094] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, which is applied to a second communication device. The following is an example of the second communication device executing the method. The method includes:

[0095] A second communication device receives a first message from a first communication device; wherein the first message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration; the second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device based on the first reference time information; the second communication device receives a second message from the first communication device; wherein the second message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration; the second communication device determines the second reference time information based on the first reference time information and the time offset information; the second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device based on the first reference time information.

[0096] In one possible design, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset.

[0097] In a possible design, the second message further includes clock crystal oscillator information or clock crystal oscillator offset information; wherein the clock crystal oscillator information includes a clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and a clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; the clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: an offset between a clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and a clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and / or an offset between a clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and a clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; the second communication device may further perform the following steps:

[0098] The second reference time information is corrected according to the clock crystal oscillator information or the clock crystal oscillator offset information; or the time offset information is corrected according to the clock crystal oscillator information or the clock crystal oscillator offset information.

[0099] In one possible design, the second communication device can also receive a third message from the first communication device; wherein the third message includes a first indication, the first indication is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and the third message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device uses the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0100] In one possible design, the second synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a second clock type, a second synchronization accuracy requirement; the first indication is an index value of the second synchronization accuracy configuration; or the first indication includes a time information type element, and the time information type element is used to indicate the second clock type; or the first indication includes an uncertainty element, and the uncertainty element is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0101] In one possible design, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0102] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising a unit for executing each step of any one of the first to seventh aspects above. Optionally, the communication device may include a communication unit and a processing unit; the communication unit is used to receive and send data, and the processing unit is used to execute the method provided in any one of the above aspects.

[0103] In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including a transceiver, a memory and a processor; wherein the transceiver is used to receive and send signals; the memory is used to store program instructions; and the processor is used to read the program instructions in the memory to implement the method provided in any of the above aspects.

[0104] In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one processing element and at least one storage element, wherein the at least one storage element is used to store programs and data, and the at least one processing element is used to execute the method provided in any one of the above aspects of the present application.

[0105] In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method provided in any of the above aspects. Optionally, the computer may be a communication device.

[0106] In a twelfth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer executes the method provided in any of the above aspects. Optionally, the computer may be a communication device.

[0107] In the thirteenth aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which is used to read a computer program stored in a memory and execute the method provided in any of the above aspects. Optionally, the chip may include a processor, which is coupled to the memory and is used to read the computer program stored in the memory to implement the method provided in the above embodiment. Optionally, the chip may also include components such as a memory, a communication interface, and a power supply module. The memory is used to store computer programs, the communication interface is used to receive and send data; and the power supply unit is used to power the processor.

[0108] In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting a computer device to implement the method provided in any of the above aspects. In a possible design, the chip system also includes a memory, which is used to store the necessary programs and data of the computer device. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0109] Figure 1A A schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0110] Figure 1B A schematic diagram of a sidelink application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0111] Figure 1C A schematic diagram of another sidelink application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0112] Figure 2A A schematic diagram of a reference time transfer method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0113] Figure 2B A schematic diagram of another reference time transfer method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0114] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0115] Figure 4 A flowchart of a time synchronization method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0116] Figure 5 A flowchart of another time synchronization method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0117] Figure 6 A flowchart of another time synchronization method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0118] Figure 7 A flowchart of another time synchronization method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0119] Figure 8 A structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0120] Fig. 9 A structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0121] The present application provides a time synchronization method and device, so that a timing device can use a synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the timing device for time synchronization. The method and the device are based on the same technical concept. Since the method and the device solve the problem in a similar way, the implementation of the device and the method can refer to each other, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0122] Some terms in this application are explained below to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0123] 1) Communication equipment: equipment with communication function and capable of connecting with other equipment for communication. The present application does not limit the implementation form of the communication equipment, and the communication equipment may be a terminal equipment, a network equipment, etc.

[0124] 2) Terminal equipment is a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to users. Terminal equipment can also be called user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), user unit, user station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent, or user device, etc.

[0125] For example, the terminal device may be a handheld device with wireless connection function, various vehicle-mounted devices, a roadside unit, etc. At present, some examples of terminal devices are: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MID), smart point of sale (POS), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, head mount displays (HMD), wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, various smart meters (smart water meters, smart electricity meters, smart gas meters), eLTE-DSA UE, devices with integrated access and backhaul (IAB) capabilities, vehicle-mounted electronic control units (ECU), vehicle-mounted computers, vehicle-mounted cruise systems, telematics processors (telematics processors), etc. box, T-BOX) etc.

[0126] 3) Network equipment, equipment located in the communication network. Network equipment can provide network services for terminal equipment. This application does not limit the implementation form of network equipment. Optionally, network equipment can include access network equipment such as base stations and access points (APs), and can also include core network equipment located in the core network.

[0127] 4) Base station is a device in a mobile communication system that connects terminal devices to a wireless network. As a node in a wireless access network, a base station can also be called a (radio) access network (R)AN) node (or device).

[0128] At present, some examples of base stations are: next-generation node B (generated node B, gNB), transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home base station (for example, home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), or base band unit (BBU), enterprise LTE discrete narrowband aggregation (Enterprise LTE Discrete Spectrum Aggregation, eLTE-DSA) base station, etc.

[0129] In addition, in a network structure, the base station may include a centralized unit (CU) node and a distributed unit (DU) node. This structure splits the protocol layer of the base station, with some of the protocol layer functions being centrally controlled by the CU, and the remaining part or all of the protocol layer functions being distributed in the DU, which is centrally controlled by the CU.

[0130] 5) Accurate reference timing is used to achieve accurate time synchronization between two devices. The specific process includes: one device (or called the timing device) can send reference time information to another device (or called the timing device). The reference time information is used to indicate the time corresponding to the reference time point. For example, the reference time point can be a frame boundary or a time position. The reference time point can be indicated by the reference time information or determined according to predefined rules.

[0131] 6) Synchronization accuracy configuration, used to achieve time synchronization of set accuracy between two devices. Optionally, the synchronization accuracy configuration can be embodied in the following two ways, but is not limited to: clock type, synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0132] According to different specific application scenarios, there are currently multiple clock types in the communication field. For different clock types, the synchronization accuracy is also different. Therefore, the clock type can be used as a way to implement the synchronization accuracy configuration. Exemplarily, in this application, the clock type may include but is not limited to the following categories: the 5th generation system (5GS) clock, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) clock, the time sensitive networking (TSN) clock, the device internal clock (internal clock), and the local clock (local clock). Among them, the GNSS clock can be further divided into: global positioning system (GPS) clock, BeiDou navigationsatellite system (BDS) clock, Galileo satellite navigation system (Galileo satellite navigationsystem) clock, etc. TSN clocks can also be further divided into a variety of different clock types.

[0133] The synchronization accuracy requirement may be the time granularity used to determine the reference time point for time synchronization. Different synchronization accuracy requirements may correspond to different time granularity values, for example, 1ns, 10ns, 100ns, etc.

[0134] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "plurality" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0135] In the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", "if" and "if" all mean that the executing subject will take corresponding measures under certain objective circumstances. They are not limited to time, and do not require the executing subject to make judgments when implementing them, nor do they mean that there are other limitations.

[0136] It should be noted that in this application, "used for indication" can include being used for direct indication and being used for indirect indication. When describing that a certain information is used to indicate A, it can include that the information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, but it does not mean that the information must carry A. Taking the first information used to indicate the first content as an example, the first information can include the first content, and can also include a part of the first content or an identifier or index of the first content, and can also include an algorithm for determining the first content, a calculation parameter, etc. This application does not limit the method of "indication".

[0137] In the present application, "including / comprising A" may be equivalent to "including / comprising A information". A information is used to indicate A.

[0138] “Corresponding” can be replaced by “associated with”, “including”, etc. “Using” can be replaced by “switching”, “replacing”, “updating”, “adopting”, etc. “Synchronization accuracy” can be replaced by “time synchronization accuracy”.

[0139] In addition, it should be understood that, in the description of this application, words such as "first" and "second" are only used for the purpose of distinguishing the description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance, nor can they be understood as indicating or implying an order.

[0140] The "timing" involved in this application can be understood as "transmitting time information", or transmitting a certain standard time information (or reference time signal) to users who need time information, so as to synchronize the time of the entire system.

[0141] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0142] Figure 1A The structure of a possible communication system to which the time synchronization method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applicable is shown. Figure 1A As shown, the communication system includes: a base station, and a terminal device (such as Figure 1A Terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 in it).

[0143] A base station is an entity on the network side that can receive and transmit wireless signals. It is responsible for providing wireless access services to terminal devices in the cell it manages, and implementing physical layer functions, resource scheduling and wireless resource management, quality of service (QoS) management, wireless access control, and mobility management functions. Terminal devices access the mobile communication system through the wireless access service of the base station, and finally connect to the data network through the services provided by various network elements in the core network to realize the services of the terminal devices.

[0144] Terminal equipment is an entity on the user side that can receive and transmit wireless signals and needs to access the network through a base station. Terminal equipment can be any device that provides voice and / or data connectivity for users.

[0145] exist Figure 1A In the communication system shown, the terminal device can support sidelink (SL) communication technology. Sidelink communication technology is a near-field communication technology that can directly connect terminal devices, also known as proximity services (ProSe) communication technology, or device to device (D2D) communication technology. In this communication system, multiple terminal devices that are geographically close and support sidelink communication can form a sidelink communication system (also known as a sidelink communication subsystem, sidelink system, etc.). In this sidelink communication system, two terminal devices can perform sidelink communication through a direct link.

[0146] Sidelink communication technology supports unicast, multicast and broadcast transmission. In addition, the terminal devices performing sidelink communication can use the following resource allocation mode to determine the transmission resources (referred to as SL resources):

[0147] Mode 1: The base station can schedule SL resources for the terminal device. For example, when the terminal device is in the RRC connected state, the base station can schedule SL resources for the terminal device through downlink control indication (DCI), or configure SL configuration grant for the terminal device through RRC message.

[0148] Mode 2 (mode2): The terminal device can select SL resources in the SL resource pool. For example, the terminal device can use this mode 2 to determine the transmission resources when it is in the RRC connected state, the RRC inactive state, the RRC idle state, or the out of coverage (OOC) state. Optionally, the SL resource pool can be configured by the base station when the terminal device is executing the current service, or it can be pre-configured by the base station, which is not limited in this application.

[0149] Based on the sidelink communication technology, network expansion can also be achieved. For example, a terminal device that supports sidelink communication can be used as a relay device to achieve communication between two communication devices (including at least one terminal device) that are far away or have poor signal transmission quality, such as Figure 1B and Figure 1C shown.

[0150] exist Figure 1B In the application scenario shown, a remote terminal device (remote UE) can access a base station through a relay terminal device (relay UE), thereby realizing the service of the remote terminal device. Figure 1B The application scenario shown can be called a sidelink UE-to-network relay scenario.

[0151] exist Figure 1C In the application scenario shown, a source terminal device (source UE) can communicate with a target terminal device (target UE) through a relay terminal device (relay UE). Figure 1C The scenario shown may be referred to as a sidelink UE-to-UE relay scenario.

[0152] In the above communication systems and application scenarios, the base station and the terminal device can be connected through an air interface (i.e., Uu interface) to achieve communication between the terminal device and the base station (this communication can be referred to as Uu communication, or cellular network communication). Supporting sidelink communication and adjacent terminal devices can establish a direct link for sidelink data transmission through the ProSecommunication 5 (PC5) interface.

[0153] It should also be pointed out that if Figure 1A-Figure 1C The communication system and application scenario shown are used as an example, and do not limit the communication system and application scenario to which the method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applicable. The embodiment of the present application can also be applied to communication systems of various types and standards, such as: the fifth generation (5G) communication system, the long-term evolution (LTE) communication system, vehicle to everything (V2X), long-term evolution-vehicle network (LTE-vehicle, LTE-V), vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle network, machine type communication (MTC), Internet of things (IoT), long-term evolution-machine to machine (LTE-machine to machine, LTE-M), machine to machine (machine to machine, M2M), wireless local area network system, etc., which are not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

[0154] Currently, in mobile communication systems that support TSN / time sensitive communications (TSC) features, accurate synchronization is required between the base station and the terminal device. For example, the base station can send reference time information to the terminal device based on the 5GS clock. Optionally, the base station can perform accurate reference time delivery in the following two ways:

[0155] Method 1: Broadcast method

[0156] Optionally, the base station can transmit accurate reference time through system information block (SIB) 9. In this way, the reference time (or reference time point) is located at the end boundary of the system information (SI) window (i.e. SI widow) transmitted by SIB9 or the system frame (SF) boundary after the end boundary, such as Figure 2A As shown in (a) and (b) in .

[0157] Method 2: Unicast

[0158] Optionally, the base station may transmit the precise reference time via a downlink information transmission message (eg, DL Information Transfer). Figure 2B As shown in (a) and (b) in the figure, in this method, the reference time (or reference time point) is located at the end time of the reference SF (i.e. SFN x in the figure) of the primary cell of the terminal device. Among them, the downlink information transmission message may include the system frame number (SFN) of the reference SF.

[0159] Optionally, reference time information (eg, ReferenceTimeInfo) may be included in SIB9 or a downlink information transmission message, which is used to carry the reference time information, that is, to indicate the time information corresponding to the reference time point.

[0160] Exemplarily, according to a specific application scenario, the reference time information may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following information elements:

[0161] Time information element: used to indicate the reference time (for example, based on a time granularity of 10 ns).

[0162] Time Information Type (timeInfoType) cell: If this cell does not exist, the reference time indicated by the time cell is the GPS clock; if this cell exists and is set to the local clock, it means that the source of the reference time indicated by the time cell is undefined.

[0163] Uncertainty information element: used to support the uncertainty of reference time information, for example, the time granularity of the uncertainty is 25ns.

[0164] Reference time point information is used to indicate a reference time point. Exemplarily, the reference time point information may include a reference SFN (referenceSFN) information element or a reference direct frame number (DFN) information element. Reference SFN (referenceSFN) information element: may be used to indicate a reference SFN corresponding to the reference time information. Reference DFN information element is used to indicate a reference DFN corresponding to the reference time information.

[0165] It should be noted that part or all of the above reference time information can be configured based on the information provided by the core network device, and this application does not limit this.

[0166] From the description of the above traditional solution, it can be seen that the base station configures the reference time for the terminal device to perform time synchronization through the reference time information. Therefore, this solution may result in the synchronization accuracy of the reference time configured by the base station not meeting the requirements of the terminal device, which in turn leads to low reliability of the system's TSN / TSC. In addition, in the SL scenario, the terminal device, as a timing device, may not be able to obtain auxiliary information from the network device to determine the reference time information. Therefore, the SL scenario also needs to study a reasonable time synchronization solution to meet the synchronization accuracy requirements of the timing device, thereby ensuring the reliability of the system's TSN / TSC.

[0167] Based on this, in order to solve the above problem, so that the timing device can use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the timing device for time synchronization, the present application provides the following embodiments. The embodiments of the present application can be applied to a communication system including a first communication device and a second communication device, such as Figure 3 As shown, a wireless communication connection can be established between two communication devices. It should be noted that this application does not limit Figure 3 The communication system shown in the figure is applicable to application scenarios. For example, two communication devices in the communication system may be as follows: Figure 1A , Figure 1B or Figure 1CIn the application scenario shown, the two communication devices, i.e., the first communication device as a timing device, can be a network device or a terminal device; the second communication device as a timing device, can also be a network device or a terminal device. For example, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; for another example, the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device; for another example, the first communication device is a first network device, and the second communication device is a second network device.

[0168] Embodiment 1: Figure 4 This is a flow chart of the time synchronization method provided in this embodiment. Figure 4 , the time synchronization method provided in this embodiment is specifically described.

[0169] S401: A second communication device sends a first message to a first communication device. The first communication device receives the first message from the second communication device. The first message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0170] It can be understood that the first synchronization accuracy configuration may be the synchronization accuracy configuration requested to be used by the second communication device.

[0171] In some application scenarios, before S401, for example, when the first communication device establishes a connection with the second communication device, the first communication device may use the second synchronization accuracy configuration to perform time synchronization with the second communication device; wherein, the second synchronization accuracy configuration may be specified by the communication protocol, or determined or defaulted by the first communication device, or set by the user of the first communication device, or configured by the network device, or configured by the user device, and this application does not limit this.

[0172] In other application scenarios, when the first communication device establishes a connection with the second communication device, the time synchronization method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be executed, that is, the second communication device can specify the synchronization accuracy configuration required by itself to the second communication device through S401.

[0173] Referring to the description of synchronization accuracy configuration in point 6) above, in the embodiment of the present application, the first synchronization accuracy configuration may include at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement. Exemplarily, the first clock type may be any one of a 5GS clock, a GNSS clock, a TSN clock, a device internal clock, and a local clock.

[0174] Based on this, optionally, the first indication can be implemented in at least one of the following ways:

[0175] Method 1: The first indication is the index value of the first synchronization accuracy configuration. Optionally, the first communication device and the second communication device both store multiple synchronization accuracy configurations and the index value corresponding to each synchronization accuracy configuration, so that the second communication device can indicate the first synchronization accuracy configuration through the index value of the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and the first communication device can also determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration from multiple synchronization accuracy configurations according to the index value of the first synchronization accuracy.

[0176] Exemplarily, the first communication device and the second communication device may pre-exchange multiple synchronization accuracy configurations (e.g., multiple clock types) and the index value of each synchronization accuracy configuration; or, the multiple synchronization accuracy configurations and the index value of each synchronization accuracy configuration in the first communication device and the second communication device are predefined, or set by the user, or specified by the protocol, or configured by the network device, or configured by the user device. In short, the embodiments of the present application do not limit how the two communication devices obtain multiple synchronization accuracy configurations, and the specific implementation method of the index value corresponding to each synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0177] Mode 2: The first indication includes a time information type information element, and the time information type information element is used to indicate the first clock type.

[0178] Mode three: the first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0179] It should be noted that in the second or third method, the information element included in the first indication can reuse the information element in the existing reference time information information element to indicate the first synchronization accuracy configuration. For example, the time information type information element or the uncertainty information element can be the corresponding time (time) information element and uncertainty (uncertainty) information element in the reference time information (such as ReferenceTimeInfo) in the traditional scheme of the reference time transmission method from the above base station to the terminal device. Optionally, the information element included in the first indication in the second or third method can also be a dedicated new information element, which is not limited in this application.

[0180] In the embodiment of the present application, before executing S401, the second communication device may also determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration through S400, or obtain the first indication from the network device to which the second communication device is connected. The process of the second communication device determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration is described below.

[0181] S400: The second communication device determines a first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0182] Through S400, the second communication device can determine a synchronization accuracy configuration that meets its own synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0183] Optionally, the second communication device may determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information, wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources status of the first communication device.

[0184] In one implementation, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device.

[0185] In the above process, the second communication device can determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information by setting rules. The setting rules can be generated by the second communication device, set by the user, specified by the protocol, agreed upon by the first communication device and the second communication device, configured by the network device, or configured by the user device, and this application does not limit this.

[0186] Optionally, when the first information includes available resource information of the first communication device, the setting rule includes the correspondence between the available resource information of the first communication device and the synchronization accuracy configuration; when the first information includes available resource information of the second communication device, the setting rule includes the correspondence between the available resource information of the second communication device and the synchronization accuracy configuration; when the first information includes the location information of the second communication device, the setting rule includes the correspondence between the location information of the second communication device and the synchronization accuracy configuration; when the first information includes the service information of the second communication device, the setting rule includes the correspondence between the service information of the second communication device and the synchronization accuracy configuration. In this way, the second communication device can determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the contents of the first information and the corresponding setting rules.

[0187] Since the available resources of the first communication device may affect the determination and transmission of reference time information by the first communication device, and the available resources of the second communication device may also affect the process of the second communication device receiving reference time information and performing time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time information. Therefore, the second communication device may take these factors into consideration in the process of determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration. Exemplarily, the available resources of the first communication device or the second communication device may include, but are not limited to, available communication resources and / or available computing resources, and the available resource information may include information such as the type and amount of available resources. Exemplarily, available communication resources may refer to resources that can be used for transmission, such as bandwidth frequency domain resources, or time domain resources, or time-frequency domain resources. Exemplarily, available computing resources may refer to one or more of storage resources, hardware resources, and software resources that can be used for computing.

[0188] Optionally, the location information of the second communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a service cell (one or more service cells) of the second communication device, and zone information where the second communication device is located.

[0189] Optionally, the service information of the second communication device includes: service type or quality of service (QoS) flow information. It should be noted that the service information of the second communication device may include service information between the second communication device and the first communication device, or service information between the second communication device and the third communication device, and this application does not limit this. It can be understood that the correspondence between the QoS flow and the synchronization accuracy configuration can be the correspondence between the QoS parameters associated with the QoS flow and the synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0190] It should be noted that the above is only an example and does not constitute any limitation on the content of the first information. For example, the first information may also include the load parameters of the second communication device, the relative position information between the first communication device and the second communication device, the position information of the first communication device, etc.

[0191] It should be noted that the second communication device can obtain some content in the first information from the first communication device. For example, the second communication device can obtain the available resource information of the first communication device from the first communication device; when the first communication device has a positioning function (for example, the first communication device is a base station), the second communication device can also obtain the location information of the second communication device from the first communication device. Optionally, the second communication device can also obtain the service information of the second communication device from other communication devices (the first communication device or the third communication device) that have communication services with it.

[0192] In one implementation, when the first information includes service information of the first communication device, and the service information of the first communication device is multiple, the first communication device may determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information in, but not limited to, any of the following ways:

[0193] Mode 1: The second communication device determines the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information, selects the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0194] Mode 2: The second communication device selects target business information from multiple business information; and uses the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the first synchronization accuracy configuration. Optionally, the target business information can be selected by the first communication device according to certain principles, or can be randomly selected, and this application does not limit this. Exemplarily, among multiple business information, the target business information has the highest priority, or the target business information has the smallest delay requirement (such as packet delay budget (PDB)), or the target business information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0195] In one implementation, when the first information includes multiple types of information among the above-mentioned various information, the second communication device can determine the corresponding synchronization accuracy configuration for each type of information, and then select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy configuration as the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0196] In one implementation, the second communication device may perform S400 and S401 in the following implementation manner, but is not limited to:

[0197] Mode a1: The upper layer in the second communication device executes S400 to determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration (the specific process can refer to the above description), and indicates the first synchronization accuracy configuration to the access stratum (AS), and the AS executes S401 to send the first message to the first communication device. Exemplarily, the upper layer may include but is not limited to any of the following items of the second communication device: application layer, V2X layer, PC5-S layer, ProSe layer.

[0198] Mode a2: The AS in the second communication device executes S400-S401, that is, the AS determines the first synchronization accuracy configuration (the specific process can refer to the above description), and sends the first message to the first communication device. Optionally, the setting rule used by the AS to determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration can be configured to the AS by the upper layer of the second communication device.

[0199] In some other embodiments, the second communication device can also determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration in the following manner: the network device to which the second communication device is connected can determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration for the second communication device based on the current operating status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device (the specific process can refer to the above description), and notify the second communication device of the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0200] S402: The first communication device sends a second message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the second message from the first communication device. The second message includes first reference time information, which is used for time synchronization between the second communication device and the first communication device, and is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0201] In S402, after receiving the first message through S401, the first communication device can determine the first synchronization accuracy configuration indicated by the first indication in the first message, and then determine the first reference time information based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration; finally, the first communication device sends a second message carrying the first reference time information to the second communication device.

[0202] In one embodiment, the first reference time information is used to indicate the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration. Optionally, the first reference time information may include the position information of the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration (i.e., the reference time point information corresponding to the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration), or the index value of the first reference time.

[0203] Optionally, in one implementation, the first communication device and the second communication device interact in advance and agree on multiple reference times and an index value corresponding to each reference time; or the multiple reference times in the first communication device and the second communication device and the index value of each reference time are predefined, or set by the user, or specified by the protocol, which is not limited in this application. The second communication device can determine the first reference time based on the index value of the first reference time.

[0204] Optionally, before executing S402, the first communication device and the second communication device may further execute S401a to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows time synchronization using the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0205] S401a: This step is optional. Before executing S402, the first communication device may also send a third message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the third message from the first communication device. The third message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows the first synchronization accuracy configuration to be used for time synchronization.

[0206] Optionally, when the first message is used to request the first communication device to use the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization, the third message may serve as a response message to the first message.

[0207] S403: The second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time information.

[0208] In this step, the second communication device may perform time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time indicated by the first reference time information. The specific process may refer to the time synchronization process in the prior art, and this application will not elaborate on it.

[0209] In summary, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, in which the second communication device can indicate the synchronization accuracy configuration to the first communication device for time synchronization. In this way, the second communication device, as the time-served device, can determine a more reasonable synchronization accuracy configuration that meets its own synchronization accuracy requirements, thereby ensuring the TSN / TSC characteristics of the system. Furthermore, the second communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration in real time based on its own operating conditions and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so that the synchronization accuracy configuration indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device meets the operating conditions of the first communication device, and the available resources of the first communication device can support the use of the synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization. In short, this method can enable the timing device to use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the time-served device for time synchronization, ultimately improving the reliability of supporting TSN / TSC between the timing device and the time-served device.

[0210] Embodiment 2: Figure 5 This is a flowchart of the time synchronization method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 , the method provided in the second embodiment is described in detail.

[0211] S500: The first communication device determines a first synchronization accuracy configuration according to first information, wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources status of the first communication device.

[0212] It can be understood that the first synchronization accuracy configuration may be a synchronization accuracy configuration used by the first communication device to determine time synchronization with the second communication device.

[0213] In some application scenarios, before S500, for example, when the first communication device establishes a connection with the second communication device, the first communication device may use a second synchronization accuracy configuration to perform time synchronization with the second communication device; wherein the second synchronization accuracy configuration may be specified by the communication protocol, or determined or defaulted by the first communication device, or set by the user of the first communication device, or configured by the network device, or configured by the user device, and this application does not limit this.

[0214] In other application scenarios, when the first communication device establishes a connection with the second communication device, the time synchronization method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be executed, that is, the first communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration used for time synchronization with the second communication device through S500.

[0215] In the embodiment of the present application, the first information, and the process of the first communication device determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information, can refer to the description in step S400 in the first embodiment, and will not be repeated here. It should be noted that some contents in the first information can be obtained by the first communication device from the second communication device, the network device connected to the second communication device, or the network device connected to the first communication device, for example, the available resource information of the second communication device, the location information of the second communication device, or the service information of the second communication device.

[0216] In some other embodiments, the network device to which the first communication device is connected can determine a first synchronization accuracy configuration for the second communication device based on the first information (the specific process can also refer to the description of S400 in Example 1), and notify the first communication device of the first synchronization accuracy.

[0217] S501: A first communication device sends a first message to a second communication device. The second communication device receives the first message from the first communication device. The first message includes first reference time information, which is used for time synchronization between the second communication device and the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0218] In S501, the first communication device may determine first reference time information according to the first synchronization accuracy configuration determined in S500, and then send a first message carrying the first reference time information to the second communication device.

[0219] S502: The second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time information.

[0220] Regarding the process of S501-S502 and the description of the first reference time information, reference may be made to the corresponding descriptions in S402 and S403 in the first embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

[0221] Optionally, before executing S501, the first communication device and the second communication device may further execute S500a to notify the second communication device that the first communication device uses the first synchronization accuracy configuration to perform time synchronization.

[0222] S500a: This step is an optional step. Before executing S501, the first communication device may also send a second message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the second message from the first communication device. The second message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device uses the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization. The second message may include a first indication, which is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy configuration. For the specific implementation method of the first indication, please refer to the description of the first indication in Example 1 (including Method 1 to Method 3), which will not be repeated here.

[0223] In summary, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, in which the first communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration according to the operating conditions of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so as to perform time synchronization with the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device, as a timing device, can determine a synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the operating conditions of the second communication device and can be supported by the available resources of the first communication device, that is, the first communication device can determine a more reasonable synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the second communication device, thereby ensuring the TSN / TSC characteristics of the system. In short, this method can enable the timing device to use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the device being timed for time synchronization, and ultimately improve the reliability of TSN / TSC support between the timing device and the device being timed.

[0224] Embodiment three: Figure 6 This is a flowchart of the time synchronization method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 , the method provided in Example 3 is specifically described.

[0225] S600: The first communication device sends a first message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the first message from the first communication device. The first message includes first reference time information, which is used for the second communication device to synchronize time with the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0226] It can be understood that the first synchronization accuracy configuration is the synchronization accuracy configuration used before the first communication device switches to the synchronization accuracy configuration used for time synchronization with the second communication device, and the second synchronization accuracy configuration involved subsequently is the synchronization accuracy configuration that needs to be used after switching the synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0227] In S600, the first communication device may determine the first reference time information according to the first synchronization accuracy configuration. The first synchronization accuracy configuration may be determined by the first communication device, the second communication device or the network device according to the operation of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device before S600. The specific process may refer to the process of determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration in Embodiment 1 or Embodiment 2.

[0228] Optionally, the first synchronization accuracy configuration may also be specified by the communication protocol, or determined or defaulted by the first communication device, or set by the user of the first communication device, or configured by the network device, or configured by the user device, and this application does not limit this. For example, when the first communication device establishes a connection with the second communication device, the first communication device may use the default or first synchronization accuracy configuration specified by the communication protocol to synchronize time with the second communication device.

[0229] S601: The second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to first reference time information.

[0230] S602: During the operation after S601, the second communication device sends a second message to the first communication device. The first communication device receives the second message from the second communication device. The second message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0231] In the embodiment of the present application, before executing S602, the second communication device may also determine the second synchronization accuracy configuration through S602a, or obtain the first indication from a network device to which the second communication device is connected.

[0232] S602a: The second communication device determines a second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0233] Through S602a, the second communication device can determine a synchronization accuracy configuration that meets its own synchronization accuracy requirements.

[0234] Optionally, the second communication device may determine the second synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information, wherein the first information is used to characterize the current operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources status of the first communication device.

[0235] The process of the second communication device determining the second synchronization accuracy configuration and sending the second message can refer to the process of the second communication device determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration and sending the first message in Example 1, and will not be repeated here.

[0236] In one embodiment, after the second communication device determines the second synchronization accuracy configuration, it can send a second message to the first communication device if it is determined that the second synchronization accuracy configuration is different from the first synchronization accuracy configuration originally used; if the second synchronization accuracy configuration is the same as the first synchronization accuracy configuration, the second communication device continues to operate until the next determined synchronization accuracy configuration is different from the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and then notifies the first communication device of the latest synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0237] S603: The first communication device sends a third message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the third message from the first communication device. The third message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0238] It should be noted that the embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution time of S603. For example, this step can be executed after S602, before S600, or at any time before S604.

[0239] Optionally, in S603, after determining the second synchronization accuracy configuration indicated by the first indication, the first communications device may determine the first time offset in, but is not limited to, any of the following ways:

[0240] Mode b1: The first communication device uses the offset between the second synchronization accuracy configuration and the first synchronization accuracy configuration as the first time offset.

[0241] Mode b2: Determine the second reference time information according to the second synchronization accuracy configuration; determine the first time offset according to the second reference time information and the first reference time information.

[0242] In one implementation, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset. In the case where the first communication device and the second communication device both store multiple time offsets and the index value corresponding to each time offset, after the first communication device obtains the first time offset according to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, it can determine the index value of the first time offset and notify the second communication device of the index value through a third message.

[0243] Exemplarily, the first communication device and the second communication device may pre-exchange multiple time offsets and the index value of each time offset; or, the multiple time offsets and the index value of each time offset in the first communication device and the second communication device are predefined, or set by the user, or specified by the protocol, or configured by the network device, or configured by the user device, and this application does not limit this. In short, the embodiment of this application does not limit the specific implementation method of how the two communication devices save the multiple time offsets and the index value of each time offset.

[0244] In one embodiment, the third message may also include clock crystal information or clock crystal offset information, so that the second communication device can determine more accurate second reference time information based on the first reference time information, time offset information, and clock crystal information or clock crystal offset information.

[0245] The clock crystal oscillator information includes the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration (e.g., the first clock type), and the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration (e.g., the second clock type). The clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: the offset between the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration (e.g., the first clock type) and the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration (e.g., the second clock type), and / or the offset between the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration (e.g., the first clock type) and the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration (e.g., the second clock type).

[0246] In one implementation, before executing S603, the first communication device and the second communication device may further execute S603a to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows the use of the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0247] S603a: This step is optional. Before executing S402, the first communication device may also send a fourth message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the fourth message from the first communication device. The fourth message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows the second synchronization accuracy configuration to be used for time synchronization.

[0248] Optionally, when the second message is used to request the first communication device to use the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization, the fourth message may serve as a response message to the second message.

[0249] S604: The second communication device may determine second reference time information according to the first reference time information and the time offset information.

[0250] Exemplarily, in S604, the second communication device may add or subtract the first time offset indicated by the time offset information from the first reference time indicated by the first reference time information, thereby obtaining the second reference time.

[0251] In the case where the third message also includes the clock crystal information or the clock crystal offset information, the second communication device corrects the time offset information according to the clock crystal information or the clock crystal offset information before determining the second reference time information; or the second communication device corrects the second reference time information according to the clock crystal information or the clock crystal offset information after determining the second reference time information. In this way, more accurate second reference time information can be obtained.

[0252] S605: The second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to the second reference time information.

[0253] In an embodiment of the present application, the second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time information or the second reference time information. The specific process can refer to the time synchronization process in the prior art, and this application will not elaborate on it.

[0254] In summary, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, in which the second communication device can indicate the synchronization accuracy configuration to the first communication device for time synchronization. In this way, the second communication device, as the time-served device, can determine a more reasonable synchronization accuracy configuration that meets its own synchronization accuracy requirements, thereby ensuring the TSN / TSC characteristics of the system. Furthermore, the second communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration in real time based on its own operating conditions and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so that the synchronization accuracy configuration indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device meets the operating conditions of the first communication device, and the available resources of the first communication device can support the use of the synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization. In short, this method can enable the timing device to use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the time-served device for time synchronization, ultimately improving the reliability of supporting TSN / TSC between the timing device and the time-served device.

[0255] In addition, in this method, when the first communication device switches to a new synchronization accuracy configuration, it can send time offset information to the second communication device, so that the second communication device can determine the reference time information corresponding to the new synchronization accuracy configuration based on the time offset information and the reference time information corresponding to the old synchronization accuracy configuration, and then perform time synchronization with the first communication device. The time offset information is used to indicate the time offset between the reference time corresponding to the new synchronization accuracy configuration and the reference time corresponding to the old synchronization accuracy configuration. Compared with the reference time information, the time offset information contains less data. Therefore, this method can reduce the signaling overhead between the first communication device and the second communication device, and can also reduce the processing complexity on the first communication device side. In a scenario where the first communication device needs to perform time synchronization with multiple second communication devices, the processing complexity and signaling overhead of the first communication device can be significantly reduced.

[0256] Embodiment 4: Figure 7 This is a flowchart of the time synchronization method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 7 , the method provided in Example 4 is specifically described.

[0257] S700: The first communication device sends a first message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the first message from the first communication device. The first message includes first reference time information, which is used for the second communication device to synchronize time with the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0258] S701: The second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to first reference time information.

[0259] S700-S701 in this embodiment are the same as S600-S601 in the third embodiment. The similarities can be referenced to each other and will not be repeated here.

[0260] S702: The first communication device determines a second synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information during the operation process after S701, wherein the first information is used for the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resource status of the first communication device.

[0261] In the embodiment of the present application, the process of the first communication device determining the second synchronization accuracy configuration based on the first information can refer to the process of the first communication device determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration in S500 in Example 2, and will not be repeated here.

[0262] S703: The first communication device sends a second message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the second message from the first communication device. The second message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0263] Optionally, in S703, after determining the second synchronization accuracy configuration in S702, the first communication device may determine the first time offset by, but is not limited to, the method b1 or the method b2 in S603 in Embodiment 3.

[0264] In the embodiment of the present application, the time offset information is the same as that in the third embodiment. In the present embodiment, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset. For details, please refer to the corresponding description in the third embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0265] In one implementation, the second message may also include clock crystal information or clock crystal offset information, so that the second communication device can determine more accurate second reference time information based on the first reference time information, the time offset information, and the clock crystal information or the clock crystal offset information. The description of the clock crystal information or the clock crystal offset information can also refer to the corresponding description in Example 3, which will not be repeated here.

[0266] Optionally, before executing S703, the first communication device and the second communication device may further execute S703a to notify the second communication device that the first communication device uses the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization (or the first communication device switches the synchronization accuracy configuration to the second synchronization accuracy configuration).

[0267] S703a: This step is an optional step. Before executing S703, the first communication device may also send a third message to the second communication device. The second communication device receives the third message from the first communication device. The third message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device uses the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization (or the first communication device switches the synchronization accuracy configuration to the second synchronization accuracy configuration).

[0268] Optionally, the third message may include a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy configuration. For the specific implementation of the first indication, reference may be made to the description of the first indication in Embodiment 1 (including Modes 1 to 3), which will not be repeated here.

[0269] It should be noted that the embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution time of S703. For example, this step can be executed after S702, or before S700, or at any time before S704.

[0270] S704: The second communication device may determine second reference time information according to the first reference time information and the time offset information.

[0271] Optionally, when S703 is not executed after S702, the second communication device may determine the second synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first indication in the third message after executing S703a and receiving the third message, and then determine the time offset information, and finally execute S704.

[0272] S705: The second communication device performs time synchronization with the first communication device according to the second reference time information.

[0273] S704-S705 in this embodiment are the same as S604-S605 in the third embodiment. The same steps can be referenced to each other and will not be repeated here.

[0274] In summary, an embodiment of the present application provides a time synchronization method, in which the first communication device can determine the synchronization accuracy configuration according to the operating conditions of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device, so as to perform time synchronization with the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device, as a timing device, can determine a synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the operating conditions of the second communication device and can be supported by the available resources of the first communication device, that is, the first communication device can determine a more reasonable synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the second communication device, thereby ensuring the TSN / TSC characteristics of the system. In short, this method can enable the timing device to use the synchronization accuracy configuration that meets the synchronization accuracy requirements of the device being timed for time synchronization, and ultimately improve the reliability of TSN / TSC support between the timing device and the device being timed.

[0275] In addition, in this method, when the first communication device switches to a new synchronization accuracy configuration, it can send time offset information to the second communication device, so that the second communication device can determine the reference time information corresponding to the new synchronization accuracy configuration based on the time offset information and the reference time information corresponding to the old synchronization accuracy configuration, and then perform time synchronization with the first communication device. The time offset information is used to indicate the time offset between the reference time corresponding to the new synchronization accuracy configuration and the reference time corresponding to the old synchronization accuracy configuration. Compared with the reference time information, the time offset information contains less data. Therefore, this method can reduce the signaling overhead between the first communication device and the second communication device, and can also reduce the processing complexity on the first communication device side. In a scenario where the first communication device needs to perform time synchronization with multiple second communication devices, the processing complexity and signaling overhead of the first communication device can be significantly reduced.

[0276] It should also be noted that each step involved in the above embodiments or examples can be performed by a corresponding device, or by a chip, processor, or chip system in the device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit them. The above embodiments are only described by taking the execution by the corresponding device as an example. In addition, the specific implementation methods or examples in the above embodiments do not limit the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0277] It should be noted that in the above embodiments, some steps can be selected for implementation, and the order of the steps in the diagram can be adjusted for implementation, and this application does not limit this. It should be understood that executing some steps in the diagram, adjusting the order of the steps, or combining them for specific implementation all fall within the scope of protection of this application.

[0278] It is understandable that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the various devices involved in the above embodiments include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of the various functions. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0279] It can be understood that the above-mentioned network architecture and application scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new services, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0280] It should be noted that the "steps" in the embodiments of the present application are only for illustration, and are a method of expression used to better understand the embodiments, and do not constitute a substantial limitation on the execution of the scheme of the present application. For example, the "steps" can also be understood as "features". In addition, the steps do not constitute any limitation on the execution order of the scheme of the present application. Any changes in the order of steps, step merging, or step splitting made on this basis that do not affect the implementation of the overall scheme, and the resulting new technical solutions are also within the scope of the disclosure of the present application.

[0281] Based on the same technical concept, the present application also provides a communication device, which can be applied to Figure 3 The communication device is used to implement the method provided in the above embodiment, and the communication device can be applied to the first communication device or the second communication device involved in the above embodiment. Figure 8 As shown, the communication device 800 includes a communication unit 801 and a processing unit 802 .

[0282] The communication unit 801 is used to receive and send data, and supports the communication device 800 to communicate with other devices.

[0283] The processing unit 802 is used to control and manage the actions of the communication device 800 and execute the steps executed by the network device or the terminal device in the communication method provided in each of the above embodiments or examples.

[0284] Optionally, the communication device 800 further includes a storage unit for storing program code and / or data of the communication device 800 .

[0285] The communication unit 801 may be referred to as an input / output unit, a transceiver unit, etc., and the communication unit 801 may be a transceiver or a communication interface; the processing unit 802 may be a processor. When the communication device 800 is a module (e.g., a chip) in a communication device, the communication unit 801 may be an input / output interface, an input / output circuit, or an input / output pin, etc., and may also be referred to as an interface, a communication interface, or an interface circuit, etc.; the processing unit 802 may be a processor, a processing circuit, or a logic circuit, etc.

[0286] In one implementation, the communication device 800 may be applied to Figure 4 The first communication device in the embodiment 1 shown. The processing unit 802 is used to:

[0287] Receiving a first message from a second communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the first message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0288] A second message is sent to the second communication device through the communication unit 801; the second message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is used for time synchronization between the second communication device and the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0289] Optionally, the first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement;

[0290] The first indication is an index value configured for the first synchronization accuracy; or

[0291] The first indication includes a time information type information element, where the time information type information element is used to indicate the first clock type; or

[0292] The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0293] Optionally, the first reference time information includes position information of the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

[0294] Optionally, the first message is used to request the first communication device to use the first synchronization accuracy configuration to perform time synchronization; the processing unit 802 is further used to:

[0295] A third message is sent to the second communication device through the communication unit 801, where the third message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows time synchronization using the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0296] Optionally, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0297] In one implementation, the communication device 800 may be applied to Figure 4 The second communication device in the embodiment 1 shown. The processing unit 802 is used to:

[0298] Sending a first message to a first communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the first message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0299] Receiving a second message from the first communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the second message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0300] Time synchronization is performed with the first communication device according to the first reference time information.

[0301] Optionally, the processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0302] The first synchronization accuracy configuration is determined according to first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device.

[0303] Optionally, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device.

[0304] Optionally, the location information of the first communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located;

[0305] The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

[0306] Optionally, when the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and there is a plurality of service information of the second communication device, the processing unit 802, when determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information, is specifically configured to:

[0307] Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the first synchronization accuracy configuration among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information; or

[0308] Select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0309] Optionally, the target service information has the highest priority among the multiple service information, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0310] Optionally, the first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement;

[0311] The first indication is an index value configured for the first synchronization accuracy; or

[0312] The first indication includes a time information type information element, where the time information type information element is used to indicate the first clock type; or

[0313] The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0314] Optionally, the first reference time information includes position information of the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

[0315] Optionally, the first message is used to request the first communication device to use the first synchronization accuracy configuration to perform time synchronization; the processing unit 802 is further used to:

[0316] A third message is received from the first communication device through the communication unit 801, where the third message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows time synchronization using the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0317] Optionally, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0318] In one implementation, the communication device 800 may be applied to Figure 5 The first communication device in the second embodiment shown. The processing unit 802 is used to:

[0319] Determine a first synchronization accuracy configuration according to first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device;

[0320] A first message is sent to the second communication device through the communication unit 801; the first message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is used for time synchronization between the second communication device and the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0321] Optionally, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device;

[0322] Optionally, the location information of the first communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located;

[0323] The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

[0324] Optionally, when the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device includes multiple services, the processing unit 802, when determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information, is specifically configured to:

[0325] Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the first synchronization accuracy configuration among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information; or

[0326] Select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0327] Optionally, the target service information has the highest priority among the multiple service information, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0328] Optionally, the first reference time information includes position information of the first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

[0329] Optionally, the processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0330] A second message is sent to the second communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the second message includes a first indication, the first indication is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and the second message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device uses the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0331] Optionally, the first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement;

[0332] The first indication is an index value configured for the first synchronization accuracy; or

[0333] The first indication includes a time information type information element, where the time information type information element is used to indicate the first clock type; or

[0334] The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0335] Optionally, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0336] In one implementation, the communication device 800 may be applied to Figure 6 The first communication device in the third embodiment shown. The processing unit 802 is used to:

[0337] Sending a first message to a second communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the first message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is used for the second communication device to synchronize time with the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0338] Receiving, by the communication unit 801, a second message from the second communication device; wherein the second message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a second synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0339] A third message is sent to the second communication device through the communication unit 801; the third message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0340] Optionally, the second synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a second clock type, a second synchronization accuracy requirement;

[0341] The first indication is an index value configured for the second synchronization accuracy; or

[0342] The first indication includes a time information type information element, and the time information type information element is used to indicate the second clock type; or

[0343] The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0344] Optionally, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset.

[0345] Optionally, the processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0346] Using the offset between the second synchronization accuracy configuration and the first synchronization accuracy configuration as the first time offset; or

[0347] According to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, second reference time information is determined; according to the second reference time information and the first reference time information, the first time offset is determined.

[0348] Optionally, the third message further includes clock crystal oscillator information or clock crystal oscillator offset information;

[0349] The clock crystal oscillator information includes the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0350] The clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: the offset between the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and / or the offset between the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0351] Optionally, the second message is used to request the first communication device to use the second synchronization accuracy configuration to perform time synchronization; the processing unit 802 is further used to:

[0352] A fourth message is sent to the second communication device, where the fourth message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows time synchronization using the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0353] Optionally, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0354] In one implementation, the communication device 800 may be applied to Figure 6 The second communication device in the third embodiment shown. The processing unit 802 is used to:

[0355] Receiving a first message from a first communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the first message includes first reference time information; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0356] Performing time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time information;

[0357] Sending a second message to the first communication device through the communication unit 801; the second message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0358] receiving, by the communication unit 801, a third message from the first communication device; wherein the third message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0359] Determining second reference time information according to the first reference time information and the time offset information;

[0360] Time synchronization is performed with the first communication device according to the second reference time information.

[0361] Optionally, the processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0362] The second synchronization accuracy configuration is determined according to first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device.

[0363] Optionally, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device.

[0364] Optionally, the location information of the second communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located;

[0365] The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

[0366] Optionally, when the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device is multiple, the processing unit 802, when determining the second synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information, is specifically used to:

[0367] Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the second synchronization accuracy configuration among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information; or

[0368] Select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0369] Optionally, the target service information has the highest priority among the multiple service information, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0370] Optionally, the second synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a second clock type, a second synchronization accuracy requirement;

[0371] The first indication is an index value configured for the second synchronization accuracy; or

[0372] The first indication includes a time information type information element, and the time information type information element is used to indicate the second clock type; or

[0373] The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0374] Optionally, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset.

[0375] Optionally, the third message further includes clock crystal oscillator information or clock crystal oscillator offset information;

[0376] The clock crystal oscillator information includes the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0377] The clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: an offset between a clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and a clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and / or an offset between a clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and a clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0378] The processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0379] Correcting the second reference time information according to the clock crystal oscillator information or the clock crystal oscillator offset information; or

[0380] The time offset information is corrected according to the clock crystal oscillator information or the clock crystal oscillator offset information.

[0381] Optionally, the second message is used to request the first communication device to use the second synchronization accuracy configuration to perform time synchronization; the processing unit 802 is further used to:

[0382] A fourth message is received from the first communication device through the communication unit 801, where the fourth message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows time synchronization using the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0383] Optionally, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0384] In one implementation, the communication device 800 may be applied to Figure 7 The first communication device in the fourth embodiment shown. The processing unit 802 is used to:

[0385] Sending a first message to a second communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the first message includes first reference time information; the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0386] Determine a second synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device;

[0387] A second message is sent to the second communication device through the communication unit 801; the second message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0388] Optionally, the first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device;

[0389] Optionally, the location information of the second communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located;

[0390] The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

[0391] Optionally, when the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device includes multiple services, the processing unit 802, when determining the second synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information, is specifically used to:

[0392] Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the second synchronization accuracy configuration among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information; or

[0393] Select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0394] Optionally, the target service information has the highest priority among the multiple service information, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0395] Optionally, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset.

[0396] Optionally, the processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0397] Using the offset between the second synchronization accuracy configuration and the first synchronization accuracy configuration as the first time offset; or

[0398] According to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, second reference time information is determined; according to the second reference time information and the first reference time information, the first time offset is determined.

[0399] Optionally, the second message further includes clock crystal oscillator information or clock crystal oscillator offset information;

[0400] The clock crystal oscillator information includes the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0401] The clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: the offset between the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and / or the offset between the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration.

[0402] Optionally, the processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0403] A third message is sent to the second communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the third message includes a first indication, the first indication is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and the third message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device uses the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0404] Optionally, the second synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a second clock type, a second synchronization accuracy requirement;

[0405] The first indication is an index value configured for the second synchronization accuracy; or

[0406] The first indication includes a time information type information element, and the time information type information element is used to indicate the second clock type; or

[0407] The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0408] Optionally, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0409] In one implementation, the communication device 800 may be applied to Figure 7 The second communication device in the fourth embodiment shown. The processing unit 802 is used to:

[0410] Receiving a first message from a first communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the first message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is determined based on a first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0411] Performing time synchronization with the first communication device according to the first reference time information;

[0412] Receive a second message from the first communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the second message includes time offset information, and the time offset information is used to indicate a first time offset between a second reference time corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration and a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0413] Determining second reference time information according to the first reference time information and the time offset information;

[0414] Time synchronization is performed with the first communication device according to the first reference time information.

[0415] Optionally, the time offset information includes the value of the first time offset, or the index value of the first time offset.

[0416] Optionally, the second message further includes clock crystal oscillator information or clock crystal oscillator offset information;

[0417] The clock crystal oscillator information includes the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and the clock crystal oscillator period or frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0418] The clock crystal oscillator offset information includes: an offset between a clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and a clock crystal oscillator period corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and / or an offset between a clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration and a clock crystal oscillator frequency corresponding to the second synchronization accuracy configuration;

[0419] The processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0420] Correcting the second reference time information according to the clock crystal oscillator information or the clock crystal oscillator offset information; or

[0421] The time offset information is corrected according to the clock crystal oscillator information or the clock crystal oscillator offset information.

[0422] Optionally, the processing unit 802 is further configured to:

[0423] A third message is received from the first communication device through the communication unit 801; wherein the third message includes a first indication, the first indication is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy configuration, and the third message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device uses the second synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

[0424] Optionally, the second synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a second clock type, a second synchronization accuracy requirement;

[0425] The first indication is an index value configured for the second synchronization accuracy; or

[0426] The first indication includes a time information type information element, and the time information type information element is used to indicate the second clock type; or

[0427] The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the second synchronization accuracy requirement.

[0428] Optionally, the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

[0429] It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into a processing unit, or may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0430] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code.

[0431] Based on the above embodiments, the present application also provides a communication device, which can be Figure 3 The first communication device or the second communication device in the communication system shown. The communication device can implement the method in the above embodiment and has the function of the communication device 800. Fig. 9 As shown, the communication device 900 includes: a transceiver 901, a processor 902, and a memory 903. The transceiver 901, the processor 902, and the memory 903 are connected to each other.

[0432] Optionally, the transceiver 901, the processor 902, and the memory 903 are interconnected via a bus 904. The bus 904 may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, Fig. 9 Only one thick line is used in the diagram, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0433] The transceiver 901 is used to receive and send signals to achieve communication with other devices.

[0434] The functions of the processor 902 may refer to the description in the above embodiments and will not be described again here.

[0435] Among them, the processor 902 can be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP) or a combination of a CPU and a NP, etc. The processor 902 can further include a hardware chip. The above-mentioned hardware chip can be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD) or a combination thereof. The above-mentioned PLD can be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL) or any combination thereof. When the processor 902 implements the above-mentioned functions, it can be implemented by hardware, and of course, it can also be implemented by hardware executing the corresponding software. The steps of the method disclosed in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present application can be directly reflected as the execution of the processor 902, or as the execution of the combination of hardware and software modules in the processor 902.

[0436] The memory 903 is used to store program instructions, data, etc. Specifically, the program instructions may include program codes, which include computer operation instructions. The memory 903 may include volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM); it may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk memory, hard disk drive (HDD), or solid state drive (SSD). The memory 903 can also be any other medium that can be used to carry or store program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, and this application does not limit this. The processor 902 executes the program instructions stored in the memory 903 to implement the above functions, thereby realizing the method provided in the above embodiment.

[0437] Based on the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes a first communication device and a second communication device, wherein the first communication device is used to implement the steps performed by the first communication device in the method provided in the above embodiments, and the second communication device is used to implement the steps performed by the second communication device in the method provided in the above embodiments.

[0438] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, which includes a computer program; when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer executes the method provided in the above embodiments.

[0439] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer executes the method provided in the above embodiments.

[0440] Optionally, the above-mentioned computer may include, but is not limited to, communication equipment and the like.

[0441] The storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. For example, but not limited to, a computer-readable medium may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0442] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a chip, which is used to read a computer program stored in a memory to implement the method provided in the above embodiments. Optionally, the chip may include a processor, which is coupled to the memory and is used to read the computer program stored in the memory to implement the method provided in the above embodiments. Optionally, the chip may also include components such as a memory, a communication interface, and a power supply module. The memory is used to store a computer program, the communication interface is used to receive and send data; and the power supply unit is used to power the processor.

[0443] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting a computer device to implement the functions involved in the terminal device in the above embodiments. In a possible design, the chip system also includes a memory, which is used to store the necessary programs and data for the computer device. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0444] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application may adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application may adopt the form of a computer program product implemented in one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that include computer-usable program code.

[0445] The present application is described with reference to the flowchart and / or block diagram of the method, device (system), and computer program product according to the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for implementing the function specified in one process or multiple processes in the flowchart and / or one box or multiple boxes in the block diagram.

[0446] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a manufactured product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0447] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operational steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, whereby the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0448] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A time synchronization method, applied to a first communication device, characterized in that: include: Receiving a first message from a second communication device; wherein the first message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a first synchronization accuracy configuration; A second message is sent to the second communication device; the second message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is used for time synchronization between the second communication device and the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement; The first indication is an index value configured for the first synchronization accuracy; or The first indication includes a time information type information element, where the time information type information element is used to indicate the first clock type; or The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first reference time information includes position information of a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The first message is used to request the first communication device to perform time synchronization using the first synchronization accuracy configuration; The method further comprises: A third message is sent to the second communication device, where the third message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows time synchronization using the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

6. A time synchronization method, applied to a second communication device, characterized in that: include: Sending a first message to a first communication device; wherein the first message includes a first indication, and the first indication is used to indicate a first synchronization accuracy configuration; Receiving a second message from the first communication device; wherein the second message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration; Time synchronization is performed with the first communication device according to the first reference time information.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first synchronization accuracy configuration is determined according to first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources status of the first communication device.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The location information of the first communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located; The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that In the case where the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device is multiple, determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information includes: Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the first synchronization accuracy configuration among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information; or Select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that Among the multiple service information, the target service information has the highest priority, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

12. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 11, characterized in that: The first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement; The first indication is an index value configured for the first synchronization accuracy; or The first indication includes a time information type information element, where the time information type information element is used to indicate the first clock type; or The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

13. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 12, characterized in that: The first reference time information includes position information of a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

14. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 13, characterized in that: The first message is used to request the first communication device to perform time synchronization using the first synchronization accuracy configuration; The method further comprises: A third message is received from the first communication device, where the third message is used to notify the second communication device that the first communication device allows time synchronization using the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

15. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 14, characterized in that: The first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

16. A time synchronization method, applied to a first communication device, characterized in that: include: Determine a first synchronization accuracy configuration according to first information; wherein the first information is used to characterize the operation status of the second communication device and / or the available resources of the first communication device; A first message is sent to the second communication device; the first message includes first reference time information, and the first reference time information is used for time synchronization between the second communication device and the first communication device; the first reference time information is determined based on the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The first information includes at least one of the following: available resource information of the first communication device, available resource information of the second communication device, location information of the second communication device, and service information of the second communication device.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The location information of the first communication device includes at least one of the following: longitude and latitude information of the second communication device, cell information of a serving cell of the second communication device, and area information where the second communication device is located; The service information of the second communication device includes: service type or information of quality of service QoS flow.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that In the case where the first information includes service information of the second communication device, and the service information of the second communication device includes multiple items, determining the first synchronization accuracy configuration according to the first information includes: Determine the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to each business information according to each business information in the multiple business information; select the synchronization accuracy configuration with the highest synchronization accuracy as the first synchronization accuracy configuration among the synchronization accuracy configurations corresponding to the multiple business information; or Select target business information from the multiple business information; and use the synchronization accuracy configuration corresponding to the target business information as the first synchronization accuracy configuration.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein: Among the multiple service information, the target service information has the highest priority, or the target service information has the smallest delay requirement, or the target service information has the highest synchronization accuracy requirement.

21. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that: The first reference time information includes position information of a first reference time corresponding to the first synchronization accuracy configuration, or an index value of the first reference time.

22. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 21, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A second message is sent to the second communication device; wherein the second message includes a first indication, the first indication is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy configuration, and the second message is used to notify the second communication device: the first communication device uses the first synchronization accuracy configuration for time synchronization.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein: The first synchronization accuracy configuration includes at least one of the following: a first clock type, a first synchronization accuracy requirement; The first indication is an index value configured for the first synchronization accuracy; or The first indication includes a time information type information element, where the time information type information element is used to indicate the first clock type; or The first indication includes an uncertainty information element, and the uncertainty information element is used to indicate the first synchronization accuracy requirement.

24. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 23, characterized in that: The first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device; or the first communication device is a first terminal device, and the second communication device is a second terminal device.

25. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A communication unit for receiving and sending data; A processing unit, configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 24.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A memory for storing program instructions; transceiver, used to receive and send signals; A processor is used to read the program instructions in the memory so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 24.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 24.

28. A chip, characterized in that: The chip includes a processor; the processor is coupled to a memory, and the processor is used to read a computer program stored in the memory, so that the chip executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 24.

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