Method and associated time manager for managing time relation between system times of different remote systems

• US 9,900,855 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2016
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: Huang, Sheng-Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): Anwar, Mohammad S
• Application Number:
  US15/147,941
• Publication Number:
  US 20170164306A1
• Time in Patent Office: 655 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/00 Beacons or beacon systems transmitting signals having a characteristic or characteristics capable of being detected by non-directional receivers and defining directions, positions, or position lines fixed relatively to the beacon transmitters; Receivers co-operating therewith position fixing by co-ordinating a plurality of determinations of direction or position lines G01S5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/00 Satellite radio beacon positioning systems; Determining position, velocity or attitude using signals transmitted by such systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/00 Synchronisation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and an associated time manager for managing a time relation between system times of different remote systems, including: at a first moment, obtaining a first value of a first system time and accessing a periodically updating reference counter to obtain a first count; at a second moment, updating the time relation by: obtaining a second value of a second system time along with a second count, and calculating a second value of the first system time by summing the first value of the first system time and an extrapolation interval calculated according to a difference between the first count and the second count. Thus, when synchronization with a first remote system ends, a fourth value of the first system time may be calculated according to a fourth value of the second system time and a previously stored time relation.

Claims

1. A method for managing a time relation between system times of different remote systems by a terminal, comprising:

periodically updating a count of a reference counter according to a local clock of the terminal;

synchronizing with a first remote system of the different remote systems;

at a first moment after synchronized with the first remote system, obtaining a first value of a first system time via synchronization with the first remote system, and accessing the reference counter to obtain a first count;

synchronizing with a second remote system of the different remote systems; and

at a second moment after synchronized with the second remote system, updating the time relation by;

obtaining a second value of the second system time via synchronization with the second remote system,

accessing the reference counter to obtain a second count,

calculating an extrapolation interval according to a difference between the first count and the second count,

calculating a second value of the first system time by summing the first value of the first system time and the extrapolation interval,

calculating a first time difference according to a difference between two previous values of the first system time obtained via synchronization with the first remote system respectively at two different previous moments which are not later than the second moment,

calculating a second time difference according to a difference between two prior values of the second system time obtained via synchronization with the second remote system respectively at two different prior moments which are not later than the second moment,

calculating a clock drift according to a ratio of the first time difference and the second time difference, and

storing the second value of the first system time and the second value of the second system time and the clock drift as updated content of the time relation.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

at a fourth moment after synchronization with the first remote system ends, calculating a fourth value of the first system time by;

obtaining a fourth value of the second system time via synchronization with the second remote system,

accessing a time relation updated at a third moment before synchronization with the first remote system ends, so as to obtain a stored value of the first system time and a stored value of the second system time,

calculating an expansion interval according to a difference between the fourth value of the second system time and the stored value of the second system time, and

summing the stored value of the first system time and the expansion interval.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein calculating the expansion interval comprises:

multiplying a unit timing duration with the difference between the fourth value of the second system time and stored value of the second system time;

wherein the unit timing duration is associated with a time span per unit value of the second system time.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein calculating the expansion interval comprises:

calculating a compensation factor according to a stored clock drift obtained by accessing the time relation updated at the third moment, and

multiplying a unit timing duration with the compensation factor and the difference between the fourth value of the second system time and stored value of the second system time;

wherein the unit timing duration is associated with a time span per unit value of the second system time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the extrapolation interval comprises:

multiplying a unit counter duration with the difference between the first count and the second count,

wherein the unit counter duration is associated with a time span per count of the reference counter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the extrapolation interval comprises:

calculating a system time difference according to a difference between two preceding values of the first system time obtained via synchronization with the first remote system respectively at two different preceding moments which are not later than the second moment,

calculating a count difference according to a difference between two preceding counts of the reference counter respectively obtained at the two different preceding moments,

calculating a second compensation factor according to a ratio of the system time difference and the count difference, and

multiplying a unit counter duration with the second compensation factor and the difference between the first count and the second count,

wherein the unit counter duration is associated with a time span per count of the reference counter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing with the first remote system is achieved via a first interface circuit, and the method further comprises:

while obtaining the first value of the first system time and the first count, compensating hardware latencies of the first interface circuit beforehand.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

at a sixth moment after ending synchronization with the second remote system, calculating a sixth value of the second system time by;

obtaining a sixth value of the first system time via synchronization with the first remote system,

accessing a time relation updated at a fifth moment before ending synchronization with the second remote system, so as to obtain a stored value of the first system time and a stored value of the second system time,

calculating a second expansion interval according to a difference between the sixth value of the first system time and stored value of the first system time, and

summing the stored value of the second system time and the second expansion interval.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first remote system with the first system time and the second remote system with the second system time are different two of following:

a GNSS (global navigation satellite positioning system) with a system time valued in terms of TOW (time of week),

a mobile telecommunication system with a system time valued in terms of SFN (system frame number), and

a Wi-Fi network system with a system time valued in terms of symbol timing.

10. A time manager in a terminal for managing a time relation between system times of different remote systems, comprising:

a reference counter periodically updating a count according to a local clock of the terminal,

a memory, and

a processor coupled to the reference counter and the memory;

wherein the terminal comprises;

a first interface circuit for synchronizing with a first remote system of the different remote systems, and, at a first moment after synchronized with the first remote system, obtaining a first value of a first system time via synchronization with the first remote system, and accessing the reference counter to obtain a first count; and

a second interface circuit for synchronizing with a second remote system of the different remote systems, and, at a second moment after synchronized with the second remote system, obtaining a second value of the second system time via synchronization with the second remote system, and accessing the reference counter to obtain a second count,

wherein at the second moment, the processor updates the time relation by;

calculating an extrapolation interval according to a difference between the first count and the second count,

calculating a second value of the first system time by summing the first value of the first system time and the extrapolation interval,

calculating a first time difference according to a difference between two previous values of the first system time obtained via synchronization with the first remote system respectively at two different previous moments which are not later than the second moment,

calculating a second time difference according to a difference between two prior values of the second system time obtained via synchronization with the second remote system respectively at two different prior moments which are not later than the second moment,

calculating a clock drift according to a ratio of the first time difference and the second time difference, and

storing the second value of the first system time and the second value of the second system time and the clock drift in the memory as updated content of the time relation.

11. The time manager of claim 10, wherein at a fourth moment after synchronization with the first remote system ends, the second interface circuit further obtains a fourth value of the second system time via synchronization with the second remote system, and the processor further calculates a fourth value of the first system time by:

accessing a time relation updated at a third moment before synchronization with the first remote system ends, so as to obtain a stored value of the first system time and a stored value of the second system time,

calculating an expansion interval according to a difference between the fourth value of the second system time and the stored value of the second system time, and

summing the stored value of the first system time and the expansion interval.

12. The time manager of claim 11, wherein calculating the expansion interval comprises:

calculating a compensation factor according to a stored clock drift obtained by accessing the time relation updated at the third moment, and

multiplying a unit timing duration with the compensation factor and the difference between the fourth value of the second system time and stored value of the second system time;

wherein the unit timing duration is associated with a time span per unit value of the second system time.

13. The time manager of claim 11, wherein calculating the expansion interval comprises:

multiplying a unit timing duration with the difference between the fourth value of the second system time and stored value of the second system time;

wherein the unit timing duration is associated with a time span per unit value of the second system time.

14. The time manager of claim 10, wherein calculating the extrapolation interval comprises:

multiplying a unit counter duration with the difference between the first count and the second count,

wherein the unit counter duration is associated with a time span per count of the reference counter.

15. The time manager of claim 10, wherein calculating the extrapolation interval comprises:

calculating a system time difference according to a difference between two preceding values of the first system time obtained via synchronization with the first remote system respectively at two different preceding moments which are not later than the second moment,

calculating a count difference according to a difference between two preceding counts of the reference counter respectively obtained at the two different preceding moments,

calculating a second compensation factor according to a ratio of the system time difference and the count difference, and

multiplying a unit counter duration with the second compensation factor and the difference between the first count and the second count,

wherein the unit counter duration is associated with a time span per count of the reference counter.

16. The time manager of claim 10, wherein while obtaining the first value of the first system time and the first count, the first interface circuit further compensates hardware latencies of the first interface circuit beforehand.

17. The time manager of claim 10, wherein at a sixth moment after ending synchronization with the second remote system, the first interface circuit further obtains a sixth value of the first system time via synchronization with the first remote system, and the processor further calculates a sixth value of the second system time by:

accessing a time relation updated at a fifth moment before ending synchronization with the second remote system, so as to obtain a stored value of the first system time and a stored value of the second system time,

calculating a second expansion interval according to a difference between the sixth value of the first system time and stored value of the first system time, and

summing the stored value of the second system time and the second expansion interval.

18. The time manager of claim 10, wherein the first remote system with the first system time and the second remote system with the second system time are different two of following:

a GNSS (global navigation satellite positioning system) with a system time valued in terms of TOW (time of week),

a mobile telecommunication system with a system time valued in terms of SFN (system frame number), and

a Wi-Fi network system with a system time valued in terms of symbol timing.