CN111436113B

CN111436113B - Method for supporting clock synchronization and communication equipment

Info

Publication number: CN111436113B
Application number: CN201910116658.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 柯小婉; 张艳霞; 吴昱民
Original assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Co Ltd
Current assignee: Vivo Mobile Communication Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-02-14
Filing date: 2019-02-14
Publication date: 2022-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 2039-02-14
Also published as: CN111436113A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for supporting clock synchronization and communication equipment. The method comprises the following steps: determining information of the first time difference and/or determining second time domain information; and sending the information of the first time difference and/or the second time domain information. By the embodiment of the invention, the operation of time calibration of the terminal can be supported by sending the time error and/or the second time domain information between the End Station and the first communication equipment, thereby supporting the synchronization and the data transmission of the time sensitive network.

Description

Method for supporting clock synchronization and communication equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a method and communication equipment for supporting clock synchronization.

Background

Many vertical industries have time-sensitive communication needs. In the industrial internet, there is time sensitive data, such as robot instructions, that need to be executed in order within a specified time. However, network transmission resources are shared, and data transmission has time delay and jitter, and cannot support time-sensitive data. Therefore, a time sensitive network is proposed to support the transfer of time sensitive data.

Currently, a mechanism for clock synchronization is that a terminal can obtain a clock from a Radio Access Network (RAN) Network element. However, in order to support time sensitive data transmission, the RAN network element needs to compensate for the terminal clock. Therefore, how to perform time calibration on the terminal is an urgent problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for supporting clock synchronization and communication equipment, which solve the problem of terminal time calibration.

According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a method for supporting clock synchronization, which is applied to a first communication device, and includes:

determining information of a first time difference and/or determining information of a second time domain, the information of the first time difference comprising at least one of: a time error between the first communication device and an End Station, first time domain information, a hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, a time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first communication device, frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and a phase deviation of the End Station compared with the first communication device;

and sending the information of the first time difference and/or the second time domain information.

According to the first aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is also provided a method for supporting clock synchronization, applied to a second communication device, including:

acquiring information of a time difference, wherein the information of the time difference comprises at least one of the following items: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference and the information of the time difference between the End Station and the first clock source;

determining information of a third time difference according to the information of the time difference, wherein the information of the third time difference comprises at least one of the following items: a time error budget between the first communication device and a radio access network, RAN, network element, first time domain information.

According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is further provided a method for supporting clock synchronization, applied to a third communication device, including:

acquiring information of a third time difference and/or second time domain information, wherein the information of the third time difference comprises at least one of the following items: a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element, first time domain information;

and executing time synchronization operation according to the information of the third time difference and/or the second time domain information.

According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is also provided a first communication apparatus, including:

a first determining module, configured to determine information of a first time difference and/or determine second time domain information, where the information of the first time difference includes at least one of: time error between the first communication device and an End Station, first time domain information, hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first communication device, frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and phase deviation of the End Station compared with the first communication device;

and the first sending module is used for the information of the first time difference and/or the second time domain information.

According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is also provided a second communication apparatus, including:

a first obtaining module, configured to obtain information of a time difference, where the information of the time difference includes at least one of: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference and the information of the time difference between the End Station and the first clock source;

a second determining module, configured to determine information of a third time difference according to the information of the time difference, where the information of the third time difference includes at least one of: a time error budget between the first communication device and a RAN network element, first time domain information.

According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is also provided a third communication apparatus, including:

a second obtaining module, configured to obtain information of a third time difference and/or second time domain information, where the information of the third time difference includes at least one of the following: a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element, first time domain information;

and the execution module is used for executing the time synchronization operation according to the information of the third time difference and/or the second time domain information.

According to a seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is also provided a communication apparatus, including: a processor, a memory and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which program, when executed by the processor, carries out the steps of the method of supporting clock synchronization as described above.

According to an eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is further provided a computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium has stored thereon a computer program, which when executed by a processor implements the steps of the method for supporting clock synchronization as described above.

By the embodiment of the invention, the operation of time calibration of the terminal can be supported by sending the time error and/or the second time domain information between the End Station and the first communication equipment, so that the synchronization and the data transmission of the time sensitive network are supported.

Drawings

Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Also, like reference numerals are used to refer to like parts throughout the drawings. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2a and 2b are schematic diagrams of bridge time difference construction;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of supporting clock synchronization according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustration of a method of supporting clock synchronization according to another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustration of a method of supporting clock synchronization according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustration of a method of supporting clock synchronization for application scenario 1 of an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of supporting clock synchronization of application scenario 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a first communication device of an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a second communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a third communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The basis for time sensitive data transmission is that the bridge is tightly synchronized with the clocks of the End Station. However, the local clocks of different entities (bridge or End Station) may be different, and a time difference may occur after a period of operation. The maximum acceptable time error difference between the End Station and the End Station or between the End Station and the clock source is 1 microsecond at present. Generally, resynchronization is required before the maximum acceptable time difference finger is exceeded.

Currently, one mechanism for clock synchronization is that the RAN network element performs clock synchronization with a master clock. The terminal is a boundary clock, and the terminal and the RAN network element perform clock synchronization. And the End Station performs clock synchronization with the terminal. The terminals synchronized by different End stations may be different.

In one embodiment, the clock synchronization between the terminal and the RAN network element is performed by broadcasting or sending clock information to the terminal by the RAN network element. The terminal generates a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) message and sends the PTP message to the synchronization port. And after receiving the End Station, synchronizing. In another embodiment, the clock synchronization between the terminal and the RAN network element is performed in a manner that the RAN network element sends a PTP message to the terminal, and the terminal forwards the PTP message.

To support Time Sensitive (TS) data transmission, the following problem also needs to be solved.

Problem 1: the RAN network element needs to compensate or time adjust the terminal clock. But the RAN network element does not yet know what the time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element is, how much time error can be tolerated.

Problem 2: the number of terminals covered under one RAN network element is large. The time domain to which each terminal belongs may be different. And the RAN network element synchronizes with the master clocks of all time domains and broadcasts the clock information. But if the terminal of the time domain does not reside under the RAN network element, useless signaling overhead will be caused.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, in the description and claims of this application, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the use of "and/or" in the specification and claims means that at least one of the connected objects, such as a and/or B, means that three cases, a alone, B alone, and both a and B, exist.

In one embodiment of the invention, the words "exemplary" or "such as" are used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "e.g.," an embodiment of the present invention is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

The embodiment of the invention is suitable for a time-sensitive network to support the transmission of time-sensitive data. The time sensitive network divides time into intervals (intervals), which may be referred to as sliding windows. A traffic standard (traffic specification) for the time-sensitive data stream is defined at each sliding window, and the transmission resources are reserved in advance. Thus, when a sliding window of transmitted data arrives, network resources cannot be occupied by other data streams even without time sensitive data streams. When the time sensitive data stream arrives, the dedicated resources are occupied for transmission.

Referring to fig. 1, the terminal and the wireless communication network constitute a Bridge (Bridge). For downstream data, the end point is the bridge egress, and the User Plane Function (UPF) is the bridge ingress. For upstream data, the termination is the bridge ingress and the UPF is the bridge egress.

In the figure, amf (access Management function) is an access Management function, smf (session Management function) is a session Management function, pcf (policy Control function) is a policy Control function, tsn (time Sensitive network) is a time Sensitive network, af (application function) is an application function, ue (user equipment) is a terminal, nef (network Exposure function) is a network open function, and udm (unified Data manager) is a unified Data Management platform.

The sender of the time sensitive data stream is called talker and the receiver of the time sensitive data stream is called listener. Data is forwarded between talker and listener through one or more bridges. The End Station (End Station) may be a talker or a listener. Bridge is responsible for data transfer between talker and listener.

The UE, the time-sensitive adapter and/or the wireless communication network constitute a Bridge, and for downstream data the first adapter and the UE are Bridge (Bridge) exits and the UPF and the second adapter are Bridge entrances. For upstream data, the first adapter and the UE are a bridge ingress, and the User Plane Function (UPF) and the second adapter are a bridge egress.

The first adapter is an adapter of a time-sensitive network, and is used for terminating a port on the UE side of a fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5G) bridge or for connecting the bridge or an End Station. The second adapter is an adapter of the time-sensitive network, and is used for terminating a port on the network side of the 5G bridge or connecting the bridge or the End Station. .

The first adapter, and/or the second adapter may be an adapter of a time sensitive network. An adapter for a time-sensitive network may also be referred to as a TRANSLATOR (TSN (time Sensing network) TRANSLATOR) for a time-sensitive network

The UE may be co-located with the first adapter, and at this time, the UE may be considered to be connected to a bridge or an End Station. The anchor gateway may be co-located with the second adapter, and at this time, the anchor gateway may be considered to be connected to the bridge or the End Station. It should be noted that the terminal may be integrated with the End Station, or the terminal may be integrated with the bridge. The terminal can be connected with the bridge or the terminal can be connected with the End Station.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the bridge of terminals, time-sensitive network adapters and/or wireless communication networks may be referred to simply as a bridge of terminals, time-sensitive network adapters and/or networks.

It will be appreciated that the basis for time-sensitive data transmission is the strict synchronization of the clocks of the bridge (bridge) and the End Station (End Station). However, the local clocks of different entities (bridges or end stations) may be different, and a time difference may occur when the clocks are operated for a period of time, see fig. 2a and 2 b. To support time sensitive data transmission, the RAN network element needs to compensate for the terminal clock.

In one embodiment of the present invention, Time sensitive may also be referred to as Periodic deterministic (Periodic deterministic). Time-sensitive communications may also be referred to as Periodic deterministic communications (Periodic deterministic communications). A time-sensitive data stream may also be referred to as a periodic deterministic data stream. A Time sensitive Network technology such as IEEE TSN (Time Sensing Network). The periodic deterministic communication is data transfer with a transfer interval as a period. In one embodiment of the invention, the transmission interval may be referred to as a transmission period.

It should be noted that the obtaining in the embodiment of the present invention may be understood as obtaining from configuration, receiving after a request, obtaining by self-learning, deriving from unreceived information, or obtaining after processing received information, and may be determined according to actual needs, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention. For example, when a certain capability indication sent by the device is not received, it can be deduced that the device does not support the capability.

It should be noted that, in an embodiment of the present invention, the sending may include broadcasting, broadcasting in a system message, and returning after responding to the request.

In one embodiment of the invention, the wireless communication network may be at least one of: public network, non-public network.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the non-public network is an abbreviation of non-public network. The non-public network may be referred to as one of the following: a non-public communication network. The non-public network may include at least one of the following deployment modes: physical non-public network, virtual non-public network, non-public network implemented on public network. In one embodiment, the non-public network is a Closed Access Group (CAG). A CAG may consist of a group of terminals.

In one embodiment of the invention, the non-public network may comprise or be referred to as a private network. The private network may be referred to as one of the following: a Private communication Network, a Private Network, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Virtual Private Network (VPN), an isolated communication Network, a Private communication Network, or other nomenclature. It should be noted that, in one embodiment of the present invention, the naming mode is not particularly limited.

In one embodiment of the invention, the public network is short for the public network. The public network may be referred to as one of the following: public communication networks or other nomenclature. It should be noted that the naming method is not particularly limited in one embodiment of the present invention.

In one embodiment of the invention, the communication device may comprise at least one of: a communication network element and a terminal.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the communication network element may include at least one of: a core network element and a radio access network element.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the core network element (CN element) may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: core network equipment, core network nodes, core network functions, core network elements, Mobility Management Entity (MME), Access Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), User Plane Function (UPF), Serving Gateway (GW, SGW), PDN Gateway (PDN Gateway), Policy Control Function (Policy Control Function, PCF), Policy and Charging Rules Function (Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF), GPRS service Support Node (Serving GPRS Support Node, SGSN), Gateway GPRS Support Node (Gateway GPRS Support Node, GGSN), udm universal Data Management (udr), Serving Gateway, hss, Application Function (AF).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the RAN network element may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: radio Access Network equipment, Radio Access Network nodes, Radio Access Network functions, Radio Access Network units, Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) Radio Access Networks, Non-3GPP Radio Access Networks, Centralized Units (CUs), Distributed Units (DUs), base stations, evolved Node bs (enbs), 5G base stations (gnbs), Radio Network controllers (Radio Network controllers, RNCs), base stations (nodebs), Non-3GPP interworking functions (Non-3GPP Inter Working Function, N3IWF), Access control (Access Controller, AC) nodes, Access Point (AP) devices or Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) nodes, N3 IWF).

The Base Station may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a Global System For Mobile Communications (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), a Base Station (NodeB) in WCDMA, an evolved Node B (eNB or e-NodeB) in LTE, and a 5G Base Station (gNB), which is not limited in the embodiments of the present invention.

In one embodiment of the invention, the UE is a terminal. The terminal may include a relay that supports a terminal function and/or a terminal that supports a relay function. The terminal may also be referred to as a terminal Device or a User Equipment (UE), where the terminal may be a Mobile phone, a Tablet Personal Computer (Tablet Personal Computer), a Laptop Computer (Laptop Computer), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a Wearable Device (Wearable Device), or a vehicle-mounted Device, and it should be noted that a specific type of the terminal is not limited in one embodiment of the present invention.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Time difference may be understood as a Time Error (Time Error), or a Time Alignment Error (Time Alignment Error).

In one embodiment of the invention, the time error may be understood as a maximum time error.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the time error budget can be understood as, but is not limited to, one of: maximum time error, maximum tolerated time accuracy, time synchronization accuracy.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the time domain may comprise (g) a PTP domain. (g) The PTP domains may include at least one of: PTP (Precision Time Protocol, also called IEEE1588 Protocol) domain, gPTP (generalized Precision Time Protocol, also called 802.1AS Protocol) domain.

In one embodiment of the invention, the time domain may be referred to as a clock domain. Each time domain contains only one Master clock (Grand Master).

In an embodiment of the present invention, (g) PTP represents PTP (Precision Time Protocol, which may also be referred to AS IEEE1588 Protocol) and/or gPTP (generalized Precision Time Protocol, which may also be referred to AS 802.1AS Protocol).

In one embodiment of the present invention, (g) the PTP message includes a domain identification or a domain sequence number. The RAN network element broadcasts the time and the first domain identity to the UE after receiving (g) the PTP message from the master clock. And the UE generates (g) a PTP message according to the time synchronization, wherein the domain identifier in the (g) PTP is the first domain identifier.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the End Station may comprise a time sensitive End Station.

In one embodiment of the invention, Bridge may include a time-sensitive Bridge.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first adapter is a time-sensitive network adapter; the second adapter is a time sensitive network adapter. A time-sensitive network adapter may be referred to as a time-sensitive network Translator (TSN Translator).

In one embodiment of the invention, the Master clock may be referred to as a Grand Master, Sync Master, as follows.

In one embodiment of the invention, the clock source may be one of: a synchronous Master Clock (such as Sync Master), a Master Clock (such as Grand Master Clock), and a time-sensitive network Master Clock (such as TSN Grand Master Clock).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the Time Measurement Granularity (Time Measurement Granularity) may also be referred to as one of the following: the frequency of the synchronization message ((g) PTP) transmission, the synchronization message ((g) PTP) reception frequency, the time synchronization period, the granularity of the local clock measurement time.

Embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The method and the communication equipment for supporting clock synchronization provided by the embodiment of the invention can be applied to a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system may adopt a Fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5G) system, or an Evolved Long Term Evolution (lte) system, or a subsequent Evolved communication system.

The method for supporting clock synchronization according to the embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to fig. 3 to 7.

Referring to fig. 3, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for supporting clock synchronization, where an execution subject of the method may be a first communication device, and the first communication device may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: the method comprises the following steps that: step 301 and step 302.

Step 301: determining information of a first time difference and/or determining information of a second time domain, the information of the first time difference may comprise at least one of: a Time error between the first communication device and the End Station, first Time domain information, a hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, a Time Measurement Granularity (Time Measurement Granularity, which may also be referred to as a Time synchronization period), clock source type information of the first communication device, a Frequency offset (Frequency offset) of the End Station with respect to the first communication device, and a Phase offset (Phase offset) of the End Station with respect to the first communication device;

step 302: and transmitting the information of the first time difference and/or the second time domain information.

1.1 in one embodiment of the present invention, optionally, when the first communication device is connected with a plurality of End stations, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station may be the time error between the first communication device and the farthest End Station. Further, the farthest End Station may refer to an End Station that is the most hops away from the first communication device.

Further, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station may be a maximum time error between the first communication device and the End Station.

Further, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station may be the time error of the End Station compared to the first communication device. The time error of the End Station compared to the first communication device may be a maximum time error of the End Station compared to the first communication device.

In one embodiment of the present invention, optionally, when the hop count or route between the first communication device and all the End stations is consistent, the time error between the first communication device and the End stations may be a certain value, such as 100 nanoseconds. For example, when the clock source is a Global Positioning System (GPS) clock.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station may be: the product of the number of hops between the first communication device and the End Station and the first time value.

Further, the first time value may be, but is not limited to, one of: one preset time value (e.g., the preset time value may be 40 nanoseconds), time measurement granularity/2, time error per hop on average.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first communication device may be the same entity as the End Station, and at this time, the time difference between the first communication device and the End Station may be zero.

1.2, in particular, the number of hops may be the number of hops traversed by a synchronization message, such as a (g) PTP message. The number of hops traversed by the synchronization message may comprise one of: the number of clocks passed by the synchronous message, the number of clocks passed by the synchronous message is +1, and the number of clocks passed by the synchronous message is-1. It is understood that after the synchronization message is sent from the Master clock (i.e. clock source), it may need to go through multiple edge clocks and/or transparent clocks to reach the Slave clock (e.g. End Station). When the clock number passed by the synchronization message contains the Slave clock but does not contain the Master clock, the hop count may be the clock number passed by the synchronization message. When the clock number passed by the synchronization message includes a Master clock source and a Slave clock, the hop number may be-1. When the number of clocks passed by the synchronization message does not contain a Master clock source and a Slave clock, the hop count may be +1, which is the number of clocks passed by the synchronization message.

The number of hops between the first communication device and the End Station may be the number of hops through which a synchronization message, such as a (g) PTP message, passes between the first communication device and the End Station.

For example, the End Station is the second clock, and the first communication device is the first clock. The second clock needs to be synchronized with the first clock. After the first clock sends the synchronization message, the second clock can be reached only after the first clock sends the synchronization message through N clocks (such as a transparent clock or an edge clock). It will be understood that the number of hops for the synchronization message is now N + 1. At this time, the number of hops between the first communication device and the End Station is N + 1. Since there is a time error per hop, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station can be expressed as the time error per hop multiplied by the number of hops between the first communication device and the End Station. In one embodiment, the number of hops between the first communication device and the End Station may be determined by a spanning tree algorithm.

1.3, in one embodiment, a Time Measurement Granularity (also referred to as a Time synchronization period) is a Granularity of a local clock Measurement Time. In time sensitive networks, the time measurement granularity is 40 nanoseconds or less. Time measurement granularity can affect time error. In one embodiment, there is a time error of clock measurement time/2 per hop.

1.4, in an embodiment, the clock source type information includes but is not limited to one of the following: atomic Clock (auto Clock), GPS, Terrestrial Radio (terrestial Radio), PTP (e.g., (g) PTP), Network Time Protocol (NTP), Hand-Set Clock (Hand Set), internal oscillator (internal oscillator), and others.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first communication device is an edge clock. The first communication device comprises a terminal, which in one embodiment is an edge clock. In another embodiment, the terminal is a master clock (which may also be referred to as a clock source). When the terminal is the master clock, a synchronization message (such as (g) PTP message) can be directly generated and sent to other clocks that need to be synchronized.

1.5, it is understood that there may be a Frequency offset (Frequency offset) in the End Station compared to the first communication device. The time error becomes larger and larger as time elapses. In one embodiment, the time error generated by the frequency offset may be a value obtained by multiplying the time measurement period by the frequency offset.

1.6, the Phase offset (Phase offset) of the End Station compared to the first communication device may be a fixed time difference.

1.7, in one embodiment of the invention, the first time domain may be a time domain associated with a time error between the first communication device and the End Station. It will be appreciated that the time error between the first communication device and the End Station may be different for different time domains.

Optionally, the first time domain information may include at least one of: identification information of a time domain, a time domain port, information of a Time Sensitive Network (TSN) domain identification, and a clock identification of a first clock source.

Further, the identification information of the time domain may include: (g) PTP domain identification information (such as domain sequence number). The first clock source may be a clock source in a first time domain. In one embodiment, there is only one clock source for a time domain. The identification information of the time domain may contain time domain sequence information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the plurality of End states connected by the first communication device may belong to different time domains.

2.1, in an embodiment of the present invention, the second time domain information may be time domain information to which the first communication device belongs.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second time domain information may be used to request clock information corresponding to the second time domain.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second time domain and the first time domain may be the same time domain or different time domains.

Optionally, the second time domain information is determined according to at least one of:

(1) determining the second time domain information according to the configured time domain;

(2) determining the second time domain information according to the time domain to which the first communication equipment belongs;

(3) and determining the second time domain information according to the time domain information of the connected sites.

Optionally, the second time domain information may include at least one of: identification information of a time domain, a time domain port, information of a Time Sensitive Network (TSN) domain identification, a clock identification of a clock source, and clock type information of the first communication device.

Further, the clock type information may include one of: edge clock, transparent clock, normal clock.

In one embodiment, the time domain is configured by configuring a port associated with the time domain. Such as port configuration time domain information on the terminal or a time sensitive network adapter to which the terminal is connected.

In one embodiment, the site may include at least one of: time sensitive network adapter, bridge, End Station.

Further, when the first communication device is a terminal, the station may include at least one of: time sensitive network adapter, bridge, End Station. When the first communication device is an integral part of the terminal and the time-sensitive network adapter, the station may include at least one of: bridge, End Station.

By the embodiment of the invention, the operation of time calibration of the terminal can be supported by sending the time error and/or the second time domain information between the End Station and the first communication equipment, and further, the synchronization and data transmission of a time sensitive network can be supported.

Referring to fig. 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for supporting clock synchronization, where an execution subject of the method may be a second communication device, and the second communication device may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: the RAN network element and the CN network element may include: step 401 and step 402.

Step 401: obtaining information of a time difference, which may include at least one of: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference and the information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference;

step 402: determining information of a third time difference according to the information of the time difference, wherein the information of the third time difference may comprise at least one of the following items: a time error budget between the first communication device and a RAN network element, first time domain information.

In one embodiment of the invention, the information of the time difference is associated with a first time domain. It is to be understood that the information of the time difference may be different in different time domains.

In one embodiment of the invention, a time error budget between the first communication device and a RAN network element is associated with the first time domain. It will be appreciated that the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element may be different in different time domains.

In one embodiment of the invention, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element may be the time error budget of the first communication device compared to the RAN network element.

The information of the first time difference is as described in the embodiment of fig. 3, and is not described herein again.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information of the second time difference may be determined according to a first clock source synchronized by the RAN network element. Further, the first Clock source may be a time sensitive network Master Clock (e.g., TSN Grand Master Clock). In an embodiment of the invention, optionally, the first clock source may be determined according to the first time domain information. The first clock source is associated with the first time domain. The first clock source is a clock source in a first time domain. It will be appreciated that the clock sources for different time domains may be different. Further, the clock source may be one of: a synchronous Master Clock (such as Sync Master), a Master Clock (such as Grand Master Clock), and a time-sensitive network Master Clock (such as TSN Grand Master Clock).

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information of the second time difference may include at least one of the following: a Time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source, first Time domain information, a hop count between the first clock source and the RAN network element, a Time Measurement Granularity (also referred to as a Time synchronization period), clock source type information of the first clock source, a Frequency offset (Frequency offset) of the RAN network element compared with the first clock source, and a Phase offset (Phase offset) of the RAN network element compared with the first clock source.

Further, the time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source may be a maximum time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source.

Further, the time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source may be a time error of the RAN network element compared to the first clock source. The time error of the RAN network element compared to the first clock source may be a maximum time error of the RAN network element compared to the first clock source.

Further, the hop count may be the number of hops traversed by a synchronization message (e.g., (g) PTP message). The number of hops passed by the synchronization message is specifically described in the embodiment of fig. 3, and is not described herein again.

The number of hops between the first clock source and the RAN network element may be the number of hops traversed by a synchronization message (e.g., (g) PTP message) between the first clock source and the RAN network element. For example, the RAN network element is the second clock, and the first clock source is the first clock. The second clock needs to be synchronized with the first clock. After the first clock sends the synchronization message, the second clock can be reached only after the first clock sends the synchronization message through N clocks (such as a transparent clock or an edge clock). It will be understood that the number of hops of the synchronization message is N +1 at this time. At this time, the number of hops between the first clock source and the RAN network element is N + 1. Since each hop has a time error, the time error budget between the first clock source and the RAN network element may be embodied as the time error per hop multiplied by the number of hops between the first clock source and the RAN network element.

The description of the time measurement granularity, the clock source type information, and the information of the first time domain may refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and is not repeated here.

It will be appreciated that there may be a Frequency offset (Frequency offset) in the RAN network element as compared to the first clock source, and that the time error will become larger and larger as time passes. In one embodiment, the time error generated by the frequency offset may be a value obtained by multiplying the time measurement period by the frequency offset.

In one embodiment of the invention, optionally, the Phase offset (Phase offset) of the RAN network element compared to the first clock source may be a fixed time difference.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information of the end-to-end time difference may include at least one of the following: a time error budget between End states (e.g., between a first End state and a second End state), first time domain information. The time error budget between End stations may be one of: a time error budget between any two devices in the first time domain. It is understood that the End Station is a device in the first time domain.

In one embodiment of the invention, the time error budget between the End stations is associated with a first time domain. It is understood that the End states in different time domains, the time error budget between the End states can be different.

In one embodiment of the invention, optionally, the information of the end-to-end time difference may be preconfigured.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information of the time difference between the End Station and the first clock source includes at least one of the following items: a time error budget between the End Station and the first clock source, first time domain information. The time error budget between the End Station and the first clock source may be one of: the End Station budgets the time error between any device in the first time domain and the first clock source as compared to the time error budget of the first clock source. It is understood that the End Station is a device in the first time domain. In the first time domain, the End Station is farthest away from the first clock source (i.e. the hop count is the largest), and the time error between the End Station and the first clock source is the largest.

In one embodiment of the invention, a time error budget between the End Station and a first clock source is associated with a first time domain. It will be understood that the End Station, the time error budget between the End Station and the first clock source, may be different in different time domains. In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information of the time difference between the End Station and the first clock source may be preconfigured.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element may be associated with at least one of: the information of the End-to-End time difference, the information of the time difference between the End Station and the first clock source, the information of the first time difference and the information of the second time difference.

Further, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element may be the time error budget of the first communication device compared to the RAN network element.

In one embodiment of the present invention, 1) when the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element is applicable to a plurality of first communication devices within the first time domain, the information of the third time difference may be determined according to a maximum time error of the "plurality of first time errors" within the first time domain; the first time error is a time error between the first communication device and the End Station. 2) When the time error budgets between the first communication device and the RAN network element are applicable to the plurality of first communication devices in the first time domain, taking the minimum value from the plurality of second time error budgets in the first time domain as the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element when determining the information of the third time difference; the second time error budget is a time error budget between the first communication device and a RAN network element. For example, the first communication device in the first time domain is a first terminal and a second terminal. When determining the time error budget between the terminal in the first time domain and the RAN network element, the calculation may be performed according to the time error between the first terminal and the End Station, and the maximum value of the time error between the second terminal and the End Station. Or respectively calculating the time error budget between the first terminal and the RAN network element and the time error budget between the second terminal and the RAN network element, and taking the minimum value as the time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element in the first time domain.

In one embodiment of the invention, when the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element only applies to one first communication device, then the time error between the first communication device and the End Station may be relied upon in determining the information of the third time difference.

2.1, in an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element (time error budget between the End Station and the first clock source-time error between the first communication device and the End Station-time error between the first clock source and the RAN network element).

2.2, in an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element is 0.5 × information of an End-to-End time difference, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station, and the time error between the first clock source and the RAN network element.

It is understood that the End-to-End time difference is the time error budget between the first End Station and the second End Station. The first End Station and the second End Station are synchronized with the first clock source through the terminal and the RAN network element respectively. In one embodiment, the time error budget between the first End Station and the first clock source is 0.5 × (the time error budget between the first End Station and the second End Station). Similarly, the time error budget between the second End Station and the first clock source is 0.5 × (the time error budget between the first End Station and the second End Station).

2.3 in one embodiment of the invention, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station includes at least one of: a time error between the first communication device (e.g., the first terminal and/or the first adapter) and the first End Station, and a time error between the first communication device (e.g., the second terminal and/or the second adapter) and the second End Station.

In one embodiment of the invention, the time error between the first clock source and the first RAN network element includes at least one of: a time error between the first clock source and the first RAN network element, and a time error between the first clock source and the second RAN network element. Further, the first RAN network element is a RAN network element where the first terminal resides. The second RAN network element is a RAN network element where the second terminal resides.

Optionally, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element is 0.5 × End-to-End time difference information-the time error between the first communication device (e.g., the first terminal and/or the first adapter) and the first End Station-the time error between the first communication device (e.g., the second terminal and/or the second adapter) and the second End Station-the time error between the first clock source and the first RAN network element-the time error between the first clock source and the second RAN network element.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the second communication device is a CN network element, and the method shown in fig. 4 may further include:

and sending the information of the third time difference to the RAN network element.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of sending the information of the third time difference to the RAN network element includes: and when sending a QoS flow context (QoS Profile) to the RAN network element, the QoS flow context includes information of the third time difference.

Further, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element may be a minimum of the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the time error budgets between the first communication device and the RAN network element are applicable to a plurality of first communication devices in the first time domain, and when the information of the third time difference is sent to the RAN network element, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element in the information of the third time difference takes a minimum value for "a plurality of second time error budgets" in the first time domain; the second time error budget is a time error budget between the first communication device and a RAN network element. For example, the first communication device in the first time domain is a first terminal and a second terminal. When the time error budget between the terminal in the first time domain and the RAN network element is determined, the time error budget between the first terminal and the RAN network element and the time error budget between the second terminal and the RAN network element may be calculated, respectively, and the minimum value is taken as the time error budget between the terminal in the first time domain and the RAN network element.

It should be noted that, the description of the information of the first time difference and the first time domain information may refer to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and will not be described herein.

In one embodiment of the present invention, in order to support delay time sensitive high precision data transmission, the terminal may provide a time error between the terminal and the End Station. The time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element is (0.5 × End-to-End time error budget-time error between the terminal and the End Station-time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source), or (time error budget between the End Station and the first clock source-time error between the terminal and the End Station-time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source), and the RAN network element may perform time correction or time compensation on the terminal according to the time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element.

Further, since different End stations may belong to different TSNs, different TSNs may correspond to different time domains, and time errors between the RAN network element and the first clock source may be different in different time domains, information of associated time domains or TSNs (time sensitive networks) may be additionally provided.

By the embodiment of the invention, the time error budget between the first communication equipment and the RAN network element can be obtained, the operation of time calibration of the terminal can be supported, and the synchronization and data transmission of a time sensitive network can be supported.

Referring to fig. 5, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for supporting clock synchronization, where an execution subject of the method may be a third communication device, and the third communication device may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: the RAN network element may include the specific steps of: step 501 and step 502.

Step 501: acquiring information of a third time difference and/or second time domain information, wherein the information of the third time difference may include at least one of the following: a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element, first time domain information;

step 502: and executing the time synchronization operation according to the information of the third time difference and/or the second time domain information.

In one embodiment of the invention, the second communication device and the third communication device may be the same communication device. In one embodiment of the invention, a time error budget between the first communication device and a RAN network element is associated with the first time domain. It will be appreciated that the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element may be different for different time domains.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of acquiring information of the third time difference includes: and receiving a QoS flow context (QoS Profile), wherein the QoS flow context comprises information of the third time difference.

Optionally, the description of the first time domain information and the second time domain information may refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and is not repeated here.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the operation of performing time synchronization includes at least one of the following:

(1) broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information;

(2) an operation of time adjustment of the first communication device is performed.

1.1, in one embodiment of the invention, the time domain related clock information may comprise at least one of: clock information (such as the frame number of the corresponding block to time) and time domain information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second time domain information may be used to request clock information corresponding to the second time domain. The clock information related to the broadcast or transmission time domain may be clock information corresponding to the second time domain. The time domain information included in the time domain related clock information may be second time domain information. Broadcasting the time domain related clock information may be broadcasting the time domain related clock information included in a system information block (e.g., SIB 9). It is to be understood that different first communication devices may belong to different time domains. In one embodiment, only the clock information of the second time domain transmitted by the first communication device residing or registered under the third communication device is broadcast. Thus, the signaling of broadcasting can be saved, and the broadcasting of useless clock information is avoided.

1.2 in one embodiment of the invention, optionally, the operation of performing the time adjustment of the first communication device may comprise at least one of:

(1) configuring a timing advance for a first communication device;

(2) determining a period of broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information;

(3) determining a granularity of the adjusted timing advance;

(4) the configured time advance and the first time domain information are transmitted to the first communication device.

In one embodiment, the time advance configured for the first communication device is a time advance related to a time domain. For example, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element is a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element associated with the first time domain. The time advance configured for the first communication device is the time advance associated with the first time domain according to the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element.

It is understood that, when the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element is large, the time adjustment granularity for the first communication device may be coarse, and the time adjustment period may be long; when the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element is small, the granularity of the time adjustment for the first communication device may be fine, and the period of the time adjustment may be short. The granularity of the time adjustment may be the granularity of the configured time advance. The period of the time adjustment may be the interval time of the updated configured time advance or the period of broadcasting or transmitting the time domain related clock information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the operation of time adjustment of the first communication device may be optionally referred to as one of the following: an operation of time error compensation to the first communication device, an operation of time correction to the first communication device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the step of obtaining the information of the third time difference may include:

obtaining information of a time difference, which may include at least one of: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference and the information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference;

the information of the third time difference is determined according to the information of the time difference, and specific reference may be made to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4.

It should be noted that, reference may be made to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 for information of the first time difference, which is not described herein again. The information of the second time difference may refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and is not described herein again. It will be appreciated that the same parts of the embodiment of fig. 5 as those of the embodiments of fig. 3 and 4 will not be described again here.

By the embodiment of the invention, the time error budget and/or the second time domain information between the terminal and the RAN network element can be acquired, the first communication equipment is subjected to time synchronization operation, and the synchronization and data transmission of a time sensitive network can be supported.

The following describes a flow of a method for supporting clock synchronization in an embodiment of the present invention with reference to scenario 1 and scenario 2.

Scenario 1 of the embodiment of the present invention mainly describes a process in which a terminal requests registration. Please refer to fig. 6, which includes the following steps:

step 1: the terminal sends a registration request message to the AMF through the RAN network element, where the registration request message may include information of the first time difference.

The information of the first time difference may refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

Step 2: the AMF registers the terminal to Unified Data Manager (UDM). The AMF can also acquire and order subscription data of the terminal.

And step 3: the AMF and PCF are established in a strategy association with respect to the terminal. The AMF may obtain the policy of the terminal from the PCF.

And 4, step 4: the AMF sends an initial context setup request message to the RAN network element.

(1) In one embodiment, the initial context setup request message includes information of the first time difference and/or (time domain information to which the terminal and/or the time-sensitive network adapter belong).

The RAN network element determines a time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element based on the information of the time difference (see description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4). The information of the time difference may include at least one of: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference, and the information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference. (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4)

And determining the information of the second time difference according to a clock source synchronized by the RAN network element. When multiple clock sources are present, the RAN network element may determine the first clock source from the first time domain information.

Wherein the information of the end-to-end time difference may be pre-configured.

The RAN network element acquires information of a third time difference; the RAN network element performs an operation of adjusting the time of the terminal according to the information of the third time difference (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 5).

The RAN network element acquires time domain information to which a terminal and/or a time-sensitive network adapter belong; the RAN network element may broadcast or send time domain related clock information (as described in reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 5) according to the time domain information to which the terminal and/or the time-sensitive network adapter belongs. (2) In another embodiment, the initial context setup request message includes information of a third time difference (as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the information of the third time difference may include a time error budget between the terminal and a RAN network element).

The CN network element may determine a time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element according to the information of the time difference (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4). The information of the time difference may include at least one of: information of the first time difference, information of the second time difference, information of the End-to-End time difference, information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4).

Wherein, the information of the second time difference may be determined according to a clock source synchronized with the RAN network element. When multiple clock sources are present, the RAN network element may determine the clock source according to the first time domain information.

The RAN network element acquires information of a third time difference; the RAN network element may perform an operation of adjusting the time of the terminal according to the information of the third time difference (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 5).

By the embodiment of the invention, in the process of establishing the terminal registration, the RAN network element obtains the time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element, and the time calibration of the terminal can be carried out.

Scene 2

An application scenario 2 of the embodiment of the present invention mainly describes a process in which a terminal requests to establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session. The PDU session is associated with a time domain. Please refer to fig. 7, which includes the following steps:

step 1: the terminal transmits information of the first time difference to the AMF (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 3).

Specifically, the terminal sends a Non-access stratum (NAS) message to the AMF, where the NAS message includes a PDU session establishment request. The PDU session setup request may include information of the first time difference (as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 3).

Step 2: the AMF sends a PDU Session _ create Session Management (SM) context message to the SMF.

And step 3: SMF selects UPF. The SMF sends the N4 session establishment to the selected UPF.

And 4, step 4: the SMF registers the terminal to the UDM. The SMF may also obtain and subscribe to subscription data of the terminal.

And 5: the SMF acquires the policy of the terminal from the PCF.

Step 6: the SMF sends an N1N2 message to the AMF. The N1N2 message includes a PDU session setup accept NAS message.

And 7: and the AMF sends a PDU session resource establishment request message to the RAN network element. The N1N2 message contains a NAS message for PDU session establishment.

(1) In one embodiment, the PDU session resource setup request message includes information of the first time difference.

The RAN network element determines the time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element from the information of the time difference (as described in reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 4). The information of the time difference includes at least one of: information of the first time difference, information of the second time difference, information of the End-to-End time difference, information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4).

And determining the information of the second time difference according to a clock source synchronized by the RAN network element. And when a plurality of clock sources exist, determining the clock sources according to the first time domain information.

The RAN network element acquires the information of the third time difference; and the RAN network element performs time difference compensation operation of the UE according to the information of the third time difference.

(2) In another embodiment, the PDU session resource setup request message includes information of the third time difference (as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the information of the third time difference may include a time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element).

Wherein, the CN network element determines a time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element according to the information of the time difference (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4). The information of the time difference comprises at least one of: information of the first time difference, information of the second time difference, information of the End-to-End time difference, information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 4). And determining the information of the second time difference according to a clock source synchronized by the RAN network element. And when a plurality of clock sources exist, determining the clock sources according to the first time domain information.

The RAN network element acquires the information of the third time difference; the RAN network element may perform an operation of adjusting the time of the terminal according to the information of the third time difference (refer to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 5).

The RAN network element acquires time domain information to which a terminal and/or a time-sensitive network adapter belong; the RAN network element may broadcast or send time domain related clock information (as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 5) according to the time domain information to which the terminal and/or the time sensitive network adapter belong.

And 8: and the RAN network element configures radio resources to the terminal and sends a PDU session establishment message to the terminal.

And step 9: the terminal returns an RRC response to the RAN network element.

Step 10: and the RAN network element returns a PDU session resource establishment response to the AMF.

Step 11: the AMF sends an SM context update request to the SMF.

Step 12: the SMF sends an N4 session update to the UPF.

Step 13: the SMF sends an SM context update response to the AMF.

By the embodiment of the invention, in the time domain related PDU session establishment process, the RAN network element obtains the time error budget between the terminal and the RAN network element, and the time calibration of the terminal can be carried out.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a first communication device, and since the principle of the first communication device for solving the problem is similar to the method for supporting clock synchronization in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the first communication device may refer to the implementation of the method, and the repetition part is not described again.

Referring to fig. 8, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a first communication device, where the first communication device 800 includes:

a first determining module 801, configured to determine information of a first time difference and/or determine the second time domain information, where the information of the first time difference includes at least one of: a time error between the first communication device and an End Station, first time domain information, a hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, a time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first communication device, frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and a phase deviation of the End Station compared with the first communication device;

a first sending module 802, sending the information of the first time difference and/or the second time domain information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a time error between the first communication device and an End Station, first time domain information, a hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, a time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first communication device, a frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and a phase offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device are as described in the embodiment of fig. 3, and are not described herein again.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, when the first communication device is connected to a plurality of End stations, a time error between the first communication device and an End Station is a time error between the first communication device and a farthest End Station;

or,

when the first communication device and the End Station are the same entity, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station is zero;

or,

when the number of hops or routes between the first communication device and all End stations is consistent, the time error between the first communication device and the End stations is a determined value.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, a time error between the first communication device and the End Station is: a product of a number of hops between the first communication device and the End Station and a first time value.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the first time domain information includes at least one of the following: identification information of the time domain, a time domain port, information of the time sensitive network domain identification, and a clock identification of the first clock source.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second time domain information may be time domain information to which the first communication device belongs.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the determining determines the second time domain information, and includes at least one of:

determining the second time domain information according to the configured time domain;

determining the second time domain information according to the time domain to which the first communication equipment belongs;

and determining the second time domain information according to the time domain information of the connected sites.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the second time domain information includes at least one of the following: the identification information of the time domain, the time domain port, the information of the time sensitive network domain identification, the clock identification of the clock source, and the clock type information of the first communication device.

The first communication device provided in the embodiment of the present invention may execute the method embodiments described above, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again. The embodiment of the present invention further provides a second communication device, and since the principle of the second communication device for solving the problem is similar to the method for supporting clock synchronization in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the second communication device may refer to the implementation of the method, and the repeated points are not described again.

Referring to fig. 9, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a second communication device, where the second communication device 900 includes:

a first obtaining module 901, configured to obtain information of a time difference, where the information of the time difference includes at least one of: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference and the information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference;

a second determining module 902, configured to determine information of a third time difference according to the information of the time difference, where the information of the third time difference includes at least one of: a time error budget between the first communication device and a radio access network, RAN, network element, first time domain information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information about the first time difference includes at least one of: the time error between the first communication device and the End Station, the first time domain information, the hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, the time measurement granularity, the clock source type information of the first communication device, the frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and the phase deviation of the End Station compared with the first communication device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information of the time difference between the End Station and the first clock source includes: a time error budget between the End Station and the first clock source, first time domain information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information of the second time difference includes at least one of the following: the method comprises the steps of obtaining time error between a RAN network element and a first clock source, first time domain information, hop count between the first clock source and the RAN network element, time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first clock source, frequency offset of the RAN network element compared with the first clock source, and phase offset of the RAN network element compared with the first clock source.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the information about the end-to-end time difference includes at least one of the following items: a time error budget between End states (e.g., between a first End state and a second End state), first time domain information. The time error budget between End stations may be one of: a time error budget between any two devices in the first time domain. It is understood that the End Station is a device in the first time domain.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, a time error budget between the first communication device and a RAN network element is associated with the information of the end-to-end time difference, the information of the first time difference, and the information of the second time difference.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the second communication device is a core network CN network element, and the second communication device further includes:

and a second sending module, configured to send the information of the third time difference to a RAN network element.

The second communication device provided in the embodiment of the present invention may execute the method embodiment described above, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a third communication device, and as the principle of solving the problem of the third communication device is similar to the method for supporting clock synchronization in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the third communication device may refer to the implementation of the method, and the repeated parts are not described again.

Referring to fig. 10, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a third communications device, where the third communications device 1000 includes:

a second obtaining module 1001, configured to obtain information of a third time difference and/or second time domain information, where the information of the third time difference includes at least one of the following: a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element, first time domain information;

the execution module 1002 is configured to execute a time synchronization operation according to the information of the third time difference and/or the second time domain information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the operation of performing time synchronization includes at least one of:

broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information;

performing an operation of time adjustment of the first communication device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the time domain related clock information includes at least one of the following: clock information, time domain information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the clock information related to the broadcast or transmission time domain may be clock information corresponding to the second time domain. Further, the time domain information included in the time domain related clock information may be second time domain information. In one embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the operation of performing the time adjustment for the first communication device includes at least one of:

configuring a timing advance for the first communication device;

determining a period for broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information;

determining a granularity of the adjusted timing advance;

and sending the configured time advance and the first time domain information to the first communication equipment.

In an embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the second obtaining module 1001 is further configured to: acquiring information of a time difference, wherein the information of the time difference comprises at least one of the following items: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference and the information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference; and determining the information of the third time difference according to the information of the time difference.

In one embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element is associated with at least one of: End-to-End time difference information, first time difference information, second time difference information, End Station and first clock source time difference information; wherein, the information of the first time difference is as described in the embodiment of fig. 3; the information of the second time difference is as described in the embodiment of fig. 4.

It is to be understood that the first time domain information is as described in the embodiment of fig. 3.

The third communication device provided in the embodiment of the present invention may execute the method embodiment described above, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 11, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication device 1100, including: a processor 1101, a transceiver 1102, a memory 1103, and a bus interface.

Among other things, the processor 1101 may be responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing. The memory 1103 may store data used by the processor 1101 in performing operations.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the communication device 1100 may further include: a computer program stored on the memory 1103 and executable on the processor 1101.

In one embodiment of the invention, the computer program when executed by the processor 1101 implements: determining information of a first time difference and/or determining the second time domain information, the information of the first time difference comprising at least one of: a time error between the first communication device and an End Station, first time domain information, a hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, a time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first communication device, frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and a phase deviation of the End Station compared with the first communication device; and sending the information of the first time difference and/or the second time domain information.

In another embodiment of the invention, the computer program when executed by the processor 1101 implements: acquiring information of a time difference, wherein the information of the time difference comprises at least one of the following items: acquiring information of a time difference, wherein the information of the time difference comprises at least one of the following items: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference and the information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference; determining information of a third time difference according to the information of the time difference, wherein the information of the third time difference comprises at least one of the following items: a time error budget between the first communication device and a radio access network, RAN, network element, first time domain information.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the computer program when executed by the processor 1101 implements: acquiring information of a third time difference and/or second time domain information, wherein the information of the third time difference comprises at least one of the following items: a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element, first time domain information; and executing time synchronization operation according to the information of the third time difference and/or the second time domain information.

In fig. 11, the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, with one or more processors, represented by processor 1101, and various circuits, represented by memory 1103, linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further in connection with embodiments of the present invention. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1102 may be a plurality of elements including a transmitter and a receiver that provide a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium.

The communication device provided by the embodiment of the present invention may execute the above method embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the computer program implements each process of the method for supporting time-sensitive communication service quality, and can achieve the same technical effect, and is not described herein again to avoid repetition. The computer-readable storage medium may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

Through the description of the foregoing embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that the method of the foregoing embodiments may be implemented by software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and certainly may also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases, the former is a better implementation. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes instructions for enabling a terminal (such as a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present invention.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, which are illustrative and not restrictive, and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for supporting clock synchronization, applied to a first communication device, the first communication device comprising at least one of: the terminal, time sensitive network adapter, the whole that terminal and time sensitive network adapter constitute, anchor point gateway, the whole that anchor point gateway and time sensitive network adapter constitute, its characterized in that includes:

sending the information of the first time difference and/or the second time domain information;

wherein,

the information of the first time difference is used for determining information of a third time difference;

the information of the third time difference and/or the second time domain information is used for performing an operation of time synchronization, and the information of the third time difference includes at least one of the following: a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element, first time domain information;

the operation of performing time synchronization comprises at least one of: broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information; performing a related operation of time adjustment of the first communication device;

the first time domain information is time domain information related to a time error between the first communication equipment and the End Station;

the second time domain information is time domain information to which the first communication device belongs.

2. The method of claim 1,

when the first communication device is connected with a plurality of End stations, the time error between the first communication device and an End Station is the time error between the first communication device and the farthest End Station;

or,

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a time error between the first communication device and an End Station is: a product of a number of hops between the first communication device and the End Station and a first time value.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time domain information comprises at least one of: identification information of the time domain, a time domain port, information of the time sensitive network domain identification, and a clock identification of the first clock source.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining second time domain information comprises at least one of:

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second time domain information comprises at least one of: the identification information of the time domain, the time domain port, the information of the time sensitive network domain identification, the clock identification of the clock source, and the clock type information of the first communication device.

7. A method for supporting clock synchronization, applied to a second communication device, the second communication device comprising: a core network element, comprising:

determining information of a third time difference according to the information of the time difference, wherein the information of the third time difference comprises at least one of the following items: a time error budget between the first communication device and a radio access network RAN network element, first time domain information;

the information of the third time difference is used for performing a correlation operation of time synchronization, and the correlation operation of time synchronization includes at least one of: broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information; performing operations related to time adjustment of the first communication device;

wherein the information of the first time difference comprises at least one of: a time error between the first communication device and an End Station, first time domain information, a hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, a time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first communication device, frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and a phase deviation of the End Station compared with the first communication device;

the information of the time difference of the End Station and the first clock source comprises at least one of: time error budget between the End Station and the first clock source, first time domain information;

the information of the second time difference comprises at least one of: time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source, first time domain information, hop count between the first clock source and the RAN network element, time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first clock source, frequency offset of the RAN network element compared with the first clock source, and phase offset of the RAN network element compared with the first clock source;

the information of the end-to-end time difference comprises at least one of: time error budget between End stations, first time domain information;

the first communication device comprises at least one of: the system comprises a terminal, a time sensitive network adapter, a whole formed by the terminal and the time sensitive network adapter, and a whole formed by an anchor point gateway and the time sensitive network adapter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first time domain information comprises at least one of: identification information of the time domain, a time domain port, information of the time sensitive network domain identification, and a clock identification of the first clock source.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a time error budget between the first communication device and a RAN network element is associated with at least one of: the information of the End-to-End time difference, the information of the End Station and the time difference of the first clock source, the information of the first time difference and the information of the second time difference.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein determining a time error budget between the first communication device and a Radio Access Network (RAN) network element according to the information of the time difference comprises:

a time error budget between the first communication device and a radio access network RAN network element ═ time error budget between the End Station and the first clock source-time error between the first communication device and the End Station-time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source);

or,

the time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element is 0.5 × information of End-to-End time difference, the time error between the first communication device and the End Station, and the time error between the RAN network element and the first clock source.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and sending the information of the third time difference to a RAN network element.

12. A method for supporting clock synchronization, applied to a third communication device, the third communication device comprising: a radio access network element, comprising:

performing time synchronization operation according to the information of the third time difference and/or the second time domain information;

the operation of performing time synchronization comprises at least one of:

broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information;

performing an operation of time adjustment of the first communication device;

wherein performing the time adjustment of the first communication device comprises at least one of:

configuring a timing advance for the first communication device;

determining a period of broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information;

determining a granularity of the adjusted timing advance;

transmitting the configured timing advance and first time domain information to the first communication device;

wherein the first time domain information is time domain information associated with a time error between the first communication device and the End Station;

the second time domain information is the time domain information of the first communication equipment;

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the time domain related clock information comprises at least one of: clock information, time domain information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information is clock information corresponding to a second time domain.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the obtaining information of the third time difference comprises:

acquiring information of a time difference, wherein the information of the time difference comprises at least one of the following items: the information of the first time difference, the information of the second time difference, the information of the End-to-End time difference and the information of the End Station and the first clock source time difference;

and determining the information of the third time difference according to the information of the time difference.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the information at the third time difference comprises: in case of a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element,

a time error budget between the first communication device and a radio access network, RAN, network element (time error budget between End Station and first clock source-time error between first communication device and End Station-time error between RAN network element and first clock source);

or,

17. The method of claim 12, wherein obtaining information of the third time difference comprises:

information of the third time difference is acquired from the second communication device.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the information of the first time difference comprises at least one of: a time error between the first communication device and an End Station, first time domain information, a hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, a time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first communication device, frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and a phase deviation of the End Station compared with the first communication device;

the information of the second time difference comprises at least one of: the method comprises the steps of obtaining time error between a RAN network element and a first clock source, first time domain information, hop count between the first clock source and the RAN network element, time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first clock source, frequency offset of the RAN network element compared with the first clock source, and phase offset of the RAN network element compared with the first clock source.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the first time domain information comprises at least one of: identification information of the time domain, a time domain port, information of the time sensitive network domain identification, and a clock identification of the first clock source.

20. A first communication device, the first communication device comprising at least one of: the terminal, time sensitive network adapter, the whole that terminal and time sensitive network adapter constitute, anchor point gateway, the whole that anchor point gateway and time sensitive network adapter constitute, its characterized in that includes:

a first sending module, configured to send information of the first time difference and/or the second time domain information;

wherein,

21. A second communication device, the second communication device comprising: a core network element, comprising:

a second determining module, configured to determine information of a third time difference according to the information of the time difference, where the information of the third time difference includes at least one of: a time error budget between the first communication device and the RAN network element, first time domain information;

the information of the third time difference is used for performing a correlation operation of time synchronization, and the correlation operation of time synchronization includes at least one of: broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information; performing a related operation of time adjustment of the first communication device;

the information of the first time difference comprises at least one of: a time error between the first communication device and an End Station, first time domain information, a hop count between the first communication device and the End Station, a time measurement granularity, clock source type information of the first communication device, frequency offset of the End Station compared with the first communication device, and a phase deviation of the End Station compared with the first communication device;

22. A third communication device, the third communication device comprising: a radio access network element, comprising:

the execution module is used for executing the time synchronization operation according to the information of the third time difference and/or the second time domain information;

the operation of performing time synchronization comprises at least one of:

broadcasting or transmitting time domain related clock information;

performing an operation of time adjustment of the first communication device;

configuring a timing advance for the first communication device;

determining a granularity of the adjusted time advance;

23. A communication device, comprising: a processor, a memory and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which program, when executed by the processor, carries out the steps of the method of supporting clock synchronization according to any one of claims 1 to 6; or a method step of supporting clock synchronization according to any of claims 7 to 11; or the steps of a method of supporting clock synchronization as claimed in any of claims 12 to 19.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, which computer program, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the method of supporting clock synchronization according to any one of claims 1 to 6; or a method step of supporting clock synchronization according to any of claims 7 to 11; or the steps of a method of supporting clock synchronization as claimed in any of claims 12 to 19.