WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND TIME SYNCHRONIZATION METHOD THEREOF

• US 20130154877A1
• Filed: 12/13/2012
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: HWANG, Sungwook
• Granted Patent: US 9,060,333 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.22
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/396 Determining accuracy or reliability of position or pseudorange measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0025 synchronizing potentially movable access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/006 using known positions of transmitter and receiver

Abstract

A method for acquiring and maintaining Global Positioning System (GPS) synchronization is provided for use in the wireless communication system. The method includes receiving, by at least one Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, GPS absolute time information and GPS information from at least one GPS satellite; transmitting, from the at least one GPS receiver, to a base station, reference time information generated based on the GPS absolute time information; and generating, by the base station, base station absolute time information based on the reference time information.

Claims

1. A time synchronization method of a wireless communication system, comprising:

receiving, by at least one Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, GPS absolute time information and GPS information from at least one GPS satellite;

transmitting, from the at least one GPS receiver, to a base station, reference time information generated based on the GPS absolute time information; and

generating, by the base station, base station absolute time information based on the reference time information.

2. The time synchronization method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the reference time information comprises generating the reference time information by synchronizing previous base station absolute time information received from the base station with the GPS absolute time information.

3. The time synchronization method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) link between at least one remote radio header including the GPS receiver and the base station.

4. The time synchronization method of claim 3, wherein transmitting the reference time information comprises transmitting the reference time information and the GPS information in a vendor specific region of a CPRI frame, the vendor specific region being configurable by a user.

5. The time synchronization method of claim 1, wherein generating the base station absolute time information comprises:

receiving, by the base station, the GPS information from at least one radio remote header that includes the at least one GPS receiver;

checking, by the base station, the received GPS information; and

checking, by the base station, reference time information received along with the GPS information having an optimal value as a result of a comparison with the checked GPS information.

6. The time synchronization method of claim 1, wherein the GPS information includes at least one of GPS time information (Time of Day (TOD) and GPS receiver status information.

7. A wireless communication system comprising:

at least one Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for receiving GPS absolute time information and GPS information from at least one GPS satellite, generating reference time information based on the GPS absolute time information, and transmitting the reference time information to a base station; and

the base station for generating base station absolute time information based on the reference time information received from the at least one GPS receiver.

8. The wireless communication system of claim 7, wherein the GPS receiver generates the reference time information by synchronizing the base station absolute time information with the GPS absolute time information in phase.

9. The wireless communication system of claim 7, wherein the GPS receiver and the base station are connected to each other through a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) link.

10. The wireless communication system of claim 9, wherein the GPS receiver transmits the reference time information and the GPS information in a vendor specific region of a CPRI frame, the region being configurable by a user.

11. The wireless communication system of claim 7, wherein the base station receives the GPS information from at least one remote radio header that includes the at least one GPS receiver, checks the received GPS information, and checks reference time information sent along with the GPS information having an optimal value as a result of a comparison with the checked GPS information.

12. The wireless communication system of claim 7, wherein the GPS information includes at least one of GPS time information (Time of Day (TOD) and GPS receiver status information.