Inter-Base-Station Synchronization Using User Terminal Forwarding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing inter-base-station synchronization technologies face challenges in achieving high precision synchronization, particularly due to dependence on accurate counter frequency and high performance requirements of base stations, as well as limitations in user terminal availability for handover requests.
Innovation Solution
The method involves a user terminal in a specific area forwarding a particular sequence, allowing synchronized base stations to detect this sequence and perform inter-base-station time synchronization. This approach simplifies the determination of a user terminal, shortens the synchronization period, and enhances synchronization precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If built-in GPS, BeiDou, or IEEE 1588v2 is used for synchronization, then high-precision time synchronization is achieved, but implementation difficulty increases due to high performance requirements on base stations and network
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a user terminal as an intermediary to establish timing relationships between base stations. Instead of requiring direct high-precision synchronization between base stations using complex infrastructure like GPS or IEEE 1588v2, the user terminal acts as a mediator that both base stations can reference, thereby achieving synchronization with reduced implementation complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses random access information (such as random access preambles) that are already present in the uplink communication as a timing reference. By copying and utilizing these existing signals for synchronization purposes, the system avoids the need for separate dedicated synchronization signals or infrastructure, reducing implementation difficulty while maintaining precision.
2Ease of operation
If user terminal handover requests are used for synchronization, then implementation is simplified, but synchronization precision is affected due to lack of available user terminals for handover
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs synchronization operations during periods when user terminals are available for handover, rather than waiting for natural handover events. By proactively initiating synchronization measurements when conditions are favorable, the system ensures both the availability of user terminals for precise measurement and the ability to implement synchronization without delay.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic synchronization measurements using available user terminals. Instead of relying on sporadic handover events, the system periodically attempts to use user terminals for synchronization measurements, ensuring that synchronization is updated regularly whenever suitable terminals are available, thereby maintaining both precision and implementation simplicity.
3Measurement precision
If user terminal sends data to both source and target base stations with sending time, then synchronization can be achieved, but protocol modification is required increasing implementation difficulty
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes random access information serve multiple functions: it is used both for normal uplink communication (random access procedure) and for synchronization measurements. By giving this existing signal a dual purpose, the system achieves synchronization precision without requiring separate dedicated signals or protocol modifications, as the random access preamble already carries the necessary timing information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the random access information to serve its own dual purposes without external intervention. The same uplink signal that the user terminal sends for random access purposes automatically provides the timing reference needed for synchronization, eliminating the need for separate synchronization signaling or protocol changes. The system uses what is already there rather than adding new requirements.
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AI summary
An inter-base-station synchronization method and a device are provided. The method includes the following steps: sending, by a source base station, a request for time synchronization to a target base station, so that the target base station feeds back an acknowledgment message for the request for time synchronization; receiving, by the source base station, the acknowledgment message fed back by the target base station; sending, by the source base station, a particular sequence to a target user terminal located in a particular area, so that the target user terminal sends the particular sequence; and detecting, by the source base station, the particular sequence, and performing time synchronization between the source base station and the target base station. According to the present invention, the user terminal located in the particular area forwards the particular sequence, so that to-be-synchronized base stations detect the particular sequence to implement inter-base-station time synchronization. Because it is simple and convenient to determine a user terminal, an inter-base-station synchronization period can be shortened, thereby increasing synchronization precision.