Wireless clock synchronization
First Claim
1. A method for synchronizing internal clocks of a first pair of first and second receiving stations A and B of a system, comprising the steps of:
- transmitting a series of reference data packets from a beacon at a known position proximate to a geographical center point of a first pair of first and second receiving stations A and B;
assuming that the beacon is at the geographical center point;
correlating first arrival times tA, and second arrival times tA, by plotting times tA and tB against each other for the series of reference data packets, a first arrival time tA being a time of reception of a particular reference data packet by receiving station A, a corresponding second arrival time tB being a time of reception of the particular reference data packet by receiving station B;
computing a linear polynomial fit tB=m tA+b, where slope m is function of the difference in the frequencies of the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B and y-intercept b is the offset due to different start times of the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B;
determining a bias for the internal clocks using known difference in distance between the beacon and the receiving stations A and B,synchronizing the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B according to the slope m, the offset b and the bias.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for synchronizing internal clocks of receiving stations of a locating system are described. A beacon transmits reference data packets at a known position. A first arrival time is compared to a second arrival time to determine a correlated arrival time data. The first arrival time is a time of reception of the reference data packets by a first receiving station, and the second arrival time is a time of reception of the reference data packets by a second receiving station. A linear polynomial fit is computed as a function of the correlated arrival time data and the first and second arrival times. Times of arrival of data packets at the first and second receiving stations is synchronized as a function of the linear polynomial fit.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for synchronizing internal clocks of a first pair of first and second receiving stations A and B of a system, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a series of reference data packets from a beacon at a known position proximate to a geographical center point of a first pair of first and second receiving stations A and B; assuming that the beacon is at the geographical center point; correlating first arrival times tA, and second arrival times tA, by plotting times tA and tB against each other for the series of reference data packets, a first arrival time tA being a time of reception of a particular reference data packet by receiving station A, a corresponding second arrival time tB being a time of reception of the particular reference data packet by receiving station B; computing a linear polynomial fit tB=m tA+b, where slope m is function of the difference in the frequencies of the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B and y-intercept b is the offset due to different start times of the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B; determining a bias for the internal clocks using known difference in distance between the beacon and the receiving stations A and B, synchronizing the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B according to the slope m, the offset b and the bias. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for synchronizing internal clocks of a mobile device locating network, comprising:
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receiving stations having the internal clocks; a processor connected to the receiving stations; and a beacon adapted for transmitting to the receiving stations a series of reference data packets, the beacon having a known location proximate to a geographical center point of the receiving stations, wherein each of the receiving stations is adapted to forward arrival times of the series of reference data packets to the processor, wherein the processor is adapted to compute; a linear polynomial fit tB=m tA+b for a pair of receiving stations A and B, where tA and tB are the reception times of the series of reference data packets at receiving stations A and B, respectively, where slope m is function of the difference in the frequencies of the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B, and where y-intercept b is the offset due to different start times of the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B; and a bias for the internal clocks of receiving stations A and B using known difference in distance between the beacon and the receiving stations A and B; and wherein the processor is further adapted to synchronize the internal clocks of the receiving stations A and B according to the slope m, the offset b and the bias. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method of synchronizing internal clocks of receiving stations of a locating system, comprising the steps of:
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for a first pair of receiving stations A and B in the location system, transmitting a series of reference data packets from a beacon at a known position; assuming that the beacon is at the geographical center point between receiving stations A and B; correlating first arrival times tA and second arrival times tA by plotting times tA and tB against each other for the series of reference data packets, where a first arrival time tA is a time of reception of the a particular reference data packet by the receiving station A, and corresponding second arrival time tB is a time of reception of the particular reference data packet by the receiving station B, computing a linear polynomial fit tB=m tA+b, where slope m is function of the difference in the frequencies of the internal clocks of the first and second receiving stations and y-intercept b is the offset due to different start times of the internal clocks of the first and second receiving stations; determining a bias for the internal clocks using known difference in distance between the beacon and the first and second receiving stations, synchronizing the internal clocks for the first pair of receiving stations A and B according to the slope m, the offset b and the bias; and repeating the preceding steps for a second pair of receiving stations in the locating system. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification