TIME SYNCHRONIZATION FUNCTION ROLLOVER SOLUTION

• US 20150189614A1
• Filed: 12/23/2014
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: TIAN, Bin, ASTERJADHI, Alfred, JAFARIAN, Amin, ABRAHAM, Santosh Paul, MERLIN, Simone
• Granted Patent: US 9,681,407 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2681 Synchronisation of a mobile station with one base station
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer program products for time synchronization function (TSF) rollover solutions for short beacons. Aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications. The apparatus generally includes a processing system configured to generate a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter and generate a frame including a first field with the time stamp and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter, and an interface configured to output the frame for transmission to a receiving device.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a processing system configured to;

generate a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter; and

generate a frame including a first field with the time stamp and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

an interface configured to output the frame for transmission to a receiving device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the frame comprises a Short Beacon frame, S1G Beacon frame, a Beacon frame, or a Short Probe Response frame.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the counter comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) counter.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the first portion of the counter comprises a least significant portion of the counter; and

the one or more bits comprise;

one or more most significant bits of the least significant portion of the counter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second field comprises a field or a subfield in an element carried in the frame.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the element carried in the frame carries a most significant portion of the counter.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

the element carried in the frame comprises a Short Beacon Compatibility element; and

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Completion field of the Short Beacon Compatibility element.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover flag of a TSF Completion field of the element carried in the frame; and

the element carried in the frame carries a most significant portion of the TSF counter.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

the element carried in the frame comprises a Short Beacon Compatibility element; and

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover flag included in a Capability Information field of the Short Beacon Compatibility element.

10. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

an interface configured to receive a frame; and

a processing system configured to;

obtain, from the frame, a first field with a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

determine, based on the time stamp and the one or more bits, whether the first value of the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

the first portion of the counter comprises a least significant portion of a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) counter; and

the one or more bits comprise one or more most significant bits of the least significant portion of the TSF counter.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing system is configured to adjust the first value to account for a processing delay.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more bits comprise a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover Flag.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing system is further configured to compare the first value to the second value.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

the second field further has a third value of a most significant portion of the counter; and

the processing system is further configured to increase the third value if the second value is different than the first value.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

the second field further has a third value of a most significant portion of the counter;

the processing system is further configured to set a value of one or more bits of a most significant portion of a local version of the counter equal to the third value if the second value is the same as the first value.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing system is configured to determine the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained if the first value is different than the second value.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing system is further configured to synchronize timing between the apparatus and a transmitting device by updating a local version of the counter based on the time stamp if it determines that the first value of the first portion of the counter has not changed since the time stamp was obtained.

19. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing system is configured to synchronize timing between the apparatus and a transmitting device by updating a local version of the counter based on the second value if it determines that the first value of the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained.

20. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

generating a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter;

generating a frame including a first field with the time stamp and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

outputting the frame for transmission to a receiving device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the frame comprises a Short Beacon frame, S1G Beacon frame, a Beacon frame, or a Short Probe Response frame.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the counter comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) counter.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein:

the first portion of the counter comprises a least significant portion of the counter; and

the one or more bits comprise;

one or more most significant bits of the least significant portion of the counter.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the second field comprises a field or a subfield in an element carried in the frame.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the element carried in the frame carries a most significant portion of the counter.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein:

the element carried in the frame comprises a Short Beacon Compatibility element; and

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Completion field of the Short Beacon Compatibility element.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein:

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover flag of a TSF Completion field of the element carried in the frame; and

the element carried in the frame carries a most significant portion of the TSF counter.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein:

the element carried in the frame comprises a Short Beacon Compatibility element; and

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover flag included in a Capability Information field of the Short Beacon Compatibility element.

29. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

receiving a frame;

obtaining, from the frame, a first field with a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

determining, based on the time stamp and the one or more bits, whether the first value of the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein:

the first portion of the counter comprises a least significant portion of a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) counter; and

the one or more bits comprise one or more most significant bits of the least significant portion of the TSF counter.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising adjusting the first value to account for a processing delay.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more bits comprise a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover Flag.

33. The method of claim 29, further comprising comparing the first value to the second value.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein:

the second field further has a third value of a most significant portion of the counter;

further comprising;

increasing the third value if the second value is different than the first value.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein:

the second field further has a third value of a most significant portion of the counter;

further comprising;

setting a value of one or more bits of a most significant portion of a local version of the counter equal to the third value if the second value is the same as the first value.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising determining the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained if the first value is different than the second value.

37. The method of claim 29, further comprising synchronizing timing between the apparatus and a transmitting device by updating a local version of the counter based on the time stamp if it determines that the value of the first portion of the counter has not changed since the time stamp was obtained.

38. The method of claim 29, further comprising synchronizing timing between the apparatus and a transmitting device by updating a local version of the counter based on the second value if it determines that the first value of the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained.

39. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for generating a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter;

means for generating a frame including a first field with the time stamp and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

means for outputting the frame for transmission to a receiving device.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the frame comprises a Short Beacon frame, S1G Beacon frame, a Beacon frame, or a Short Probe Response frame.

41. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the counter comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) counter.

42. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein:

the first portion of the counter comprises a least significant portion of the counter; and

the one or more bits comprise;

one or more most significant bits of the least significant portion of the counter.

43. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the second field comprises a field or a subfield in an element carried in the frame.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the element carried in the frame carries a most significant portion of the counter.

45. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein:

the element carried in the frame comprises a Short Beacon Compatibility element; and

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Completion field of the Short Beacon Compatibility element.

46. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein:

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover flag of a TSF Completion field of the element carried in the frame; and

the element carried in the frame carries a most significant portion of the TSF counter.

47. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein:

the element carried in the frame comprises a Short Beacon Compatibility element; and

the second field comprises a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover flag included in a Capability Information field of the Short Beacon Compatibility element.

48. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for receiving a frame;

means for obtaining, from the frame, a first field with a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

means for determining, based on the time stamp and the one or more bits, whether the first value of the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein:

the first portion of the counter comprises a least significant portion of a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) counter; and

the one or more bits comprise one or more most significant bits of the least significant portion of the TSF counter.

50. The apparatus of claim 49, further comprising a means for adjusting the first value to account for a processing delay.

51. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the one or more bits comprise a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) Rollover Flag.

52. The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising means for comparing the first value to the second value.

53. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein:

the second field further has a third value of a most significant portion of the counter;

further comprising;

means for increasing the third value if the second value is different than the first value.

54. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein:

the second field further has a third value of a most significant portion of the counter;

further comprising;

means for setting a value of one or more bits of a most significant portion of a local version of the counter equal to the third value if the second value is the same as the first value.

55. The apparatus of claim 52, further comprising determining the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained if the first value is different than the second value.

56. The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising means for synchronizing timing between the apparatus and a transmitting device by updating a local version of the counter based on the time stamp if it determines that the first value of the first portion of the counter has not changed since the time stamp was obtained.

57. The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising means for synchronizing timing between the apparatus and a transmitting device by updating a local version of the counter based on the second value if it determines that the first value of the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained.

58. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for:

generating a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter;

generating a frame including a first field with the time stamp and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

outputting the frame for transmission to a receiving device.

59. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for:

receiving a frame;

obtaining, from the frame, a first field with a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

determining, based on the time stamp and the one or more bits, whether the first value of the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained.

60. An access point (AP), comprising:

at least one antenna;

a processing system configured to generate a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter and generate a frame including a first field with the time stamp and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the frame, via the at least one antenna, to a receiving device.

61. A station, comprising:

at least one antenna;

a receiver configured to receive a frame via the at least one antenna; and

a processing system configured to obtain, from the frame, a first field with a time stamp with a first value of a first portion of a counter and a second field having one or more bits with a second value of the first portion of the counter and determine, based on the time stamp and the one or more bits, whether the first value of the first portion of the counter has changed since the time stamp was obtained.