METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NETWORK SYNCHRONIZATION

• US 20160278030A1
• Filed: 11/20/2014
• Published: 09/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: AHN, Jookui, YI, Yunjung, KIM, Byounghoon, SEO, Hanbyul, YANG, Suckchel
• Granted Patent: US 10,212,678 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/32 Hierarchical cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/00 Synchronisation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1263 Mapping of traffic onto schedule, e.g. scheduled allocation or multiplexing of flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for network synchronization based on network listening are provided. The method comprises receiving signal for synchronization to other cell, performing synchronization to other cell based on a reference signal for synchronization, and receiving and/or transmitting data at a timing based on the synchronization, wherein the reference signal for synchronization is one of CRS, CSI-RS, PSS and/or SSS, DM-RS, and MBSFN-RS.

Claims

1. A method of performing synchronization by a cell based on network listening, the method comprising:

receiving signal for synchronization to other cell;

performing synchronization to other cell based on a reference signal for synchronization and receiving and/or transmitting data at a timing based on the synchronization, wherein the reference signal for synchronization is one of cell-specific common reference signal (CRS), channel-state information reference signal (CSI-RS), and/or synchronization signal (PSS) and/or secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and/or demodulation reference signal (DM-RS), and/or multimedia broadcast single frequency network reference signal (MBSFN-RS), and/or positioning reference signal (PRS).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference signal for synchronization is signaled in a subframe configured for network listening without regarding strate and/or configuration of the cell which needs to synchronize.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cell is a macro cell and the second cell is a small cell.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving signal for synchronization includes receiving signal indicating timing for signaling the reference signal for synchronization;

and receiving the reference signal for synchronization at indicated timing.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the reference signal for synchronization is signaled at the indicated timing regardless cell on/off state if the timing was once indicated.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein in step of receiving signal, signal indicating priorities between cells for synchronization is received, wherein in step of performing synchronization, synchronization to a cell with highest priority is performed at first.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the priorities between cells are indicated by priority list or backhaul signaling among cells.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the priorities between cells are signaled from a macro cell and indicates whether macro cell has a higher priority or small cell has a higher priority.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference signal for synchronization is received at guard period of special subframe.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein in the step of performing synchronization, synchronization is performed based on stratum levels of cells.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the cell performs synchronization using reference signal with lower stratum level than stratum level of the cell.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein how reference signal is frequently repeated is determined based on stratum level of the reference signal.

13. An apparatus of performing synchronization based on network listening, the apparatus comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) unit for transmitting and receiving a radio signal; and

a processor operatively coupled to the RF unit, wherein the processor is configured for transmitting signals via the RF unit based on a scheduling for UL and/or DL, wherein the processor performs synchronization to other cell based on a reference signal for synchronization and, the RF unit receives and/or transmits data at a timing based on the synchronization, wherein the reference signal for synchronization is one of cell-specific common reference signal (CRS), channel-state information reference signal (CSI-RS), synchronization signal (PSS) and/or secondary synchronization signal (SSS), demodulation reference signal (DM-RS), and multimedia broadcast single frequency network reference signal (MBSFN-RS).

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the RF unit receives signal indicating timing for signaling the reference signal for synchronization, and receives the reference signal for synchronization at indicated timing.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the RF unit receives signal indicating priorities between cells for synchronization, and wherein the processor performs synchronization to a cell with highest priority is performed at first.