Impacted User Equipment Timing Reports During Primary Source Failures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network synchronization technologies face challenges in maintaining synchronous timing when primary time sources, such as GNSS, fail or degrade, leading to network connection errors and application functionality issues.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for determining user equipment impacted by timing synchronization status updates, providing time synchronization reports to user equipment, and updating configurations to maintain synchronous timing through secondary sources or holdover capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the network relies on a primary time source (e.g., GNSS) for synchronization, then timing accuracy is improved, but the network becomes vulnerable to connection errors and functionality issues when the primary source fails or degrades
Solution Approach 1:
The network entity proactively determines which user equipment may be impacted by timing synchronization status before actually providing the timing information. This preliminary identification of affected UEs allows the system to prepare and deliver targeted synchronization reports, ensuring that devices can maintain accurate timing even when primary sources fail or degrade
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where timing synchronization status is continuously monitored and reported back to affected user equipment. The network entity receives timing synchronization status, determines impacted UEs, and provides updates to them, creating a closed-loop system that maintains timing accuracy despite primary source failures
2Measurement precision
If timing synchronization status updates are provided to all user equipment, then timing accuracy is maintained, but network signaling overhead and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of providing timing synchronization updates to all user equipment uniformly, the network entity determines and provides updates only to specific UEs that are locally identified as being impacted by the timing synchronization status. This targeted approach reduces unnecessary signaling overhead while maintaining timing accuracy for affected devices
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the user equipment population into affected and unaffected groups based on their timing synchronization needs. By dividing UEs into these distinct categories and providing updates only to the affected segment, the network reduces overall signaling complexity while maintaining precision for those who need it
Data Source
AI summary
Method, apparatuses, and computer program products provide means for determining user equipment impacted by a network timing synchronization status and providing timing resiliency solutions. An example method includes: receiving, at a network entity, a network timing synchronization status request, wherein the network timing synchronization status request includes an indication of one or more user equipment (UE) to provide a time synchronization report to; determining, for each UE, one or more network entities to request a time synchronization status from; in response to receiving an indication of a primary source event, generating a time synchronization report indicative of the primary source event; and causing the time synchronization report to be provided to one or more impacted UEs.