CN117280788A

CN117280788A - Method for acquiring time in non-ground communication network, terminal equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117280788A
Application number: CN202180098080.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 于新磊; 李海涛; 胡奕
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2021-07-22
Filing date: 2021-07-22
Publication date: 2023-12-22
Also published as: WO2023000268A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method, terminal equipment and storage medium for acquiring time in a non-ground communication network, which are used for carrying out time correction according to UTC and round trip transmission time RTT so as to obtain world standard time at the current moment and ensure the reliability and effectiveness of the time. Embodiments of the present application may include: the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives universal standard time UTC from network equipment, wherein the UTC is carried in a system message block SIB 9; the terminal equipment acquires round trip time RTT; and the terminal equipment determines world standard time at the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT.

Description

Method for acquiring time in non-ground communication network, terminal equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, a terminal device, and a storage medium for acquiring time in a non-terrestrial communication network.

Background

In a 5G New Radio (NR) terrestrial system, a base station (gNB) provides global positioning system (Global Positioning System, GPS) time and universal time (Universal Time Coordinated, UTC) information to a User Equipment (UE) via a system message block9 (System Information Block, SIB 9). The UE may use this time information for a variety of purposes, possibly involving upper layers, such as assisting GPS initialization, synchronizing UE clocks, etc. In non-terrestrial communication networks (NTN, non Terrestrial Network), since satellites have a transmission delay much greater than terrestrial cellular networks, the validity of the time information cannot be ensured when the UE receives SIB9 message of the gNB.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method, terminal equipment and storage medium for acquiring time in a non-ground communication network, which are used for carrying out time correction according to UTC and round trip transmission time RTT so as to obtain world standard time at the current moment and ensure the reliability and effectiveness of the time.

A first aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a method for acquiring time in a non-terrestrial communication network, which may include: the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives universal standard time UTC from network equipment, wherein the UTC is carried in a system message block SIB 9; the terminal equipment acquires round trip time RTT; and the terminal equipment determines world standard time at the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT.

The second aspect of the embodiment of the invention provides a terminal device, which has the functions of correcting time according to UTC and round trip time RTT, so as to obtain world standard time at the current moment and ensure the reliability and the effectiveness of time. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In still another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal device, including: a memory storing executable program code; a processor coupled to the memory; the processor is configured to perform the method described in the first aspect of the embodiment of the present invention.

A further aspect of an embodiment of the invention provides a computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform a method as described in the first aspect of the invention.

A further aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides a chip coupled to a memory in the terminal device, such that the chip, when running, invokes program instructions stored in the memory, such that the terminal device performs the method as described in the first aspect of the present invention.

In the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment receives the universal time UTC from the network equipment, wherein the UTC is carried in a system message block SIB 9; the terminal equipment acquires round trip time RTT; and the terminal equipment determines world standard time at the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT. In the NTN, as the satellite has a transmission delay far longer than that of the ground cellular network, when the terminal equipment receives the SIB9 information of the network equipment, the validity of UTC time information cannot be ensured, and the embodiment of the invention can correct the time according to UTC and round trip time RTT, thereby obtaining the world standard time at the current moment and ensuring the reliability and the validity of the time.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a transparent forwarding satellite network architecture;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a regenerative forwarding satellite network architecture;

FIG. 3 is a system architecture diagram of a communication system to which embodiments of the present invention are applied;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a method for acquiring time in a non-terrestrial communication network according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a terminal device in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be made with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments herein without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the present application.

Some terms referred to in this application will be briefly described as follows:

1. non-terrestrial communication network (NTN, non Terrestrial Network) related background

Currently, third generation partnerships (3rd Generation Partnership Project,3GPP) are researching non-terrestrial communication network (NTN, non Terrestrial Network) technology, where NTN generally provides communication services to terrestrial users by way of satellite communications. Satellite communications have many unique advantages over terrestrial cellular communications. First, satellite communications are not limited by the user region, for example, general land communications cannot cover areas where communication devices cannot be installed, such as oceans, mountains, deserts, etc., or communication coverage is not performed due to rarity of population, while for satellite communications, since one satellite can cover a larger ground, and the satellite can orbit around the earth, theoretically every corner on the earth can be covered by satellite communications. And secondly, satellite communication has great social value. Satellite communication can be covered in remote mountain areas, poor and backward countries or regions with lower cost, so that people in the regions enjoy advanced voice communication and mobile internet technology, and the digital gap between developed regions is reduced, and the development of the regions is promoted. Again, the satellite communication distance is far, and the cost of communication is not obviously increased when the communication distance is increased; and finally, the satellite communication has high stability and is not limited by natural disasters.

Communication satellites are classified into LEO (Low-Earth Orbit) satellites, MEO (Medium-Earth Orbit) satellites, GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit, geosynchronous Orbit) satellites, HEO (High Elliptical Orbit ) satellites, and the like according to the difference in Orbit heights. LEO and GEO are the main studies at the present stage.

For LEO satellites, the orbital heights range from 500km to 1500km, with corresponding orbital periods of about 1.5 hours to 2 hours. The signal propagation delay for single hop communications between terminals is typically less than 20ms. The maximum satellite visibility time is 20 minutes. The signal propagation distance is short, the link loss is less, and the requirement on the transmitting power of the terminal is not high.

For GEO satellites, the orbital altitude is 35786km and the period of rotation around the earth is 24 hours. The signal propagation delay for single hop communications between users is typically 250ms.

In order to ensure the coverage of the satellite and improve the system capacity of the whole satellite communication system, the satellite adopts multiple beams to cover the ground, and one satellite can form tens or hundreds of beams to cover the ground; a satellite beam may cover a ground area of several tens to hundreds of kilometers in diameter.

2. Satellite network architecture

There are two satellites currently considered by 3GPP, one is a transparent forwarding (transparent payload) satellite and one is a regenerative forwarding (regenerative payload) satellite.

As shown in fig. 1, a schematic diagram of a transparent forwarding satellite network architecture is shown. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a satellite network architecture for regenerative forwarding.

Where feeder link refers to a wireless link between a satellite and an NTN gateway (typically located on the ground).

3. System message

The system messages (System Information, SI) consist of a master message block (Master Information Block, MIB) and one or more system message blocks (System Information Block, SIBs), separated into a Minimum system message (Minimum SI) and Other system messages (Other SI):

minimum SI: including basic information required for initial access and information required for acquiring any other SI, i.e., MIB and SIB1.

MIB (Master Information Block): contains cell barring status information (cell barred status information) to decide whether the own cell can be camped on or not and physical layer information necessary for receiving further SI. Periodically broadcast on a broadcast channel (Broadcast Channel, BCH).

SIB1 (System Information Block 1): remaining (Remaining) Minimum SI (RMSI), defining scheduling information of other SIBs, and containing information required for cell selection, admission control, initial access. Periodically broadcast on a downlink shared channel (Downlink Shared Channel, DL-SCH); or in a radio resource control (rrc_connected) state, to a User Equipment (UE) in a dedicated signaling manner (dedicated manger) on the DL-SCH.

Other SI: all SIBs that contain Minimum SI that are not broadcast, i.e., SIB2-14, etc., contain cell reselection control parameters, common early warning system (Public Warning Systems, PWS) messages, etc. These different sibns may be combined into one RRC message at the radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, RRC) layer. Periodically broadcasting on the DL-SCH; in the RRC IDLE (RRC_IDLE) and RRC INACTIVE (RRC_INACTIVE) states, on-demand broadcast on the DL-SCH upon request of the UE; in the RRC_CONNECTED state, the transmission is performed to the UE in a dedicated signaling manner on the DL-SCH.

SIB2 contains cell reselection information, mainly related to the serving cell.

SIB3 contains cell reselection information (including cell reselection parameters common to the frequencies and cell-specific cell reselection parameters) related to the current serving frequency and co-frequency neighbors.

SIB4 contains cell reselection information (including common frequency cell reselection parameters and cell specific cell reselection parameters) related to other New Radio (NR) frequencies and different frequency neighbors, and may also be used for NR idle/inactive state measurements.

SIB5 contains evolved universal terrestrial radio access (Network) (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access, E-UTRA) frequencies and E-UTRA neighbor cell related cell reselection information (containing frequency-common cell reselection parameters and cell-specific cell reselection parameters).

SIB6 contains the earthquake and tsunami warning system (Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System, ETWS) primary notification.

SIB7 contains ETWS secondary notification.

SIB8 contains commercial mobile early warning system (Commercial Mobile Alert System, CMAS) alert notifications.

SIB9 contains information related to global positioning system (Global Positioning System, GPS) time and coordinated universal time, also known as universal time (Universal Time Coordinated, UTC).

MIB and SIB1 broadcast periods are 80ms and 160ms, respectively, and repeat transmissions will occur within the period. The broadcasting period of Other SI is 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, … …, to 5120ms. The scheduling information of Other SI is contained in the SIB1 system message scheduling information (SI-scheduling info). One Other SI may contain one or more sibns; when the SIB is long, a segment of one SIBn may also be included. Such as ETWS/CMAS, are typically relatively long, exceeding the SI maximum size 372 bytes.

In addition to UTC of SIB9, the UE does not actively read SI without notification of SI Modification (Modification). The NR updates SI will inform the UE via a Paging (Paging) message, which the UE receiving the Paging message will typically acquire a new SI (except ETWS/CMAS, i.e. SIB6, SIB7, SIB 8) in the next update period. One update period is an integer multiple of the default paging period. For the PWS messages of ETWS/CMAS, the base station will broadcast immediately, so after the base station has sent the Paging message, SIB6, SIB7 and SIB8 will be sent in the current update period. Unlike long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE), the Paging Message triggering SI Modification, which indicates updates other than SIB6, SIB7, SIB8, is carried on one physical downlink control channel (Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH), called Short Message (Short Message), has been used currently with 2 bits (bits).

4. SIB9 message

SIB9 contains GPS time and UTC time related information. The UE may obtain UTC time, GPS time, and local time using the parameters provided in SIB 9. The UE may use the time information for a variety of purposes, possibly involving upper layers, such as assisting GPS initialization, synchronizing the UE clock.

A UTC time information (timeinfout) change in SIB9 does not result in SI update notification nor in a change of the value tag (valueTag) in SIB 1. The time of the UTC time information corresponds to a system frame number (System Frame Number, SFN) boundary at or immediately following the end boundary of the SI window in which SIB9 is transmitted, which field calculates the number of UTC seconds in units of 10 milliseconds starting from the 1 st greenish time of 1900:00:00. The UE may get GPS time through the timelnfoutc field.

In the current NR system, the behavior of the UE after receiving SIB9 is not standardized except for reference time information (referenceTimeInfo) related to ultra-high reliability ultra-low latency communication (Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication, URLLC) service.

In a 5G NR terrestrial system, a base station (gNB) provides GPS time and UTC time information to a UE through a system message SIB 9. The UE may use this time information for a variety of purposes, possibly involving upper layers, such as assisting GPS initialization, synchronizing UE clocks, etc. In NTN, since the satellite has a transmission delay much greater than that of the terrestrial cellular network, the validity of the time information cannot be ensured when the UE receives SIB9 message of the gNB.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global system for mobile communications (Global System of Mobile communication, GSM), code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA) system, general packet Radio service (General Packet Radio Service, GPRS), long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, advanced long term evolution (Advanced long term evolution, LTE-a) system, new Radio (NR) system, evolved system of NR system, LTE-based access to unlicensed spectrum, LTE-U) system on unlicensed spectrum, NR (NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum, NR-U) system on unlicensed spectrum, non-terrestrial communication network (Non-Terrestrial Networks, NTN) system, universal mobile communication system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Networks, WLAN), wireless fidelity (Wireless Fidelity, wiFi), fifth Generation communication (5 th-Generation, 5G) system, or other communication system, etc.

Generally, the number of connections supported by the conventional communication system is limited and easy to implement, however, with the development of communication technology, the mobile communication system will support not only conventional communication but also, for example, device-to-Device (D2D) communication, machine-to-machine (Machine to Machine, M2M) communication, machine type communication (Machine Type Communication, MTC), inter-vehicle (Vehicle to Vehicle, V2V) communication, or internet of vehicles (Vehicle to everything, V2X) communication, etc., and the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to these communication systems.

Optionally, the communication system in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation, CA) scenario, a dual connectivity (Dual Connectivity, DC) scenario, and a Stand Alone (SA) fabric scenario.

Optionally, the communication system in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to unlicensed spectrum, where unlicensed spectrum may also be considered as shared spectrum; alternatively, the communication system in the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to licensed spectrum, where licensed spectrum may also be considered as non-shared spectrum.

Embodiments of the present application describe various embodiments in connection with network devices and terminal devices, where a terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, user Equipment, or the like.

The terminal device may be a Station (ST) in a WLAN, may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA) device, a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a next generation communication system such as an NR network, or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN) network, etc.

In embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, hand-held, wearable or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface (such as ships, etc.); but may also be deployed in the air (e.g., on aircraft, balloon, satellite, etc.).

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be a Mobile Phone (Mobile Phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented Reality (Augmented Reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal device in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal device in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal device in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal device in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal device in smart city (smart city), or a wireless terminal device in smart home (smart home), and the like.

By way of example, and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wear by applying wearable technology and developing wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes and the like. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network device may be a device for communicating with a mobile device, where the network device may be an Access Point (AP) in WLAN, a base station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in GSM or CDMA, a base station (NodeB, NB) in WCDMA, an evolved base station (Evolutional Node B, eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, a relay station or an Access Point, a vehicle device, a wearable device, and a network device (gNB) in an NR network, or a network device in a PLMN network for future evolution, or a network device in an NTN network, etc.

By way of example and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, a network device may have a mobile nature, e.g., the network device may be a mobile device. Alternatively, the network device may be a satellite, a balloon station. For example, the satellite may be a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, a medium earth orbit (medium earth orbit, MEO) satellite, a geosynchronous orbit (geostationary earth orbit, GEO) satellite, a high elliptical orbit (High Elliptical Orbit, HEO) satellite, or the like. Alternatively, the network device may be a base station disposed on land, in a water area, or the like.

In this embodiment of the present application, a network device may provide a service for a cell, where a terminal device communicates with the network device through a transmission resource (e.g., a frequency domain resource, or a spectrum resource) used by the cell, where the cell may be a cell corresponding to a network device (e.g., a base station), and the cell may belong to a macro base station, or may belong to a base station corresponding to a Small cell (Small cell), where the Small cell may include: urban cells (Metro cells), micro cells (Micro cells), pico cells (Pico cells), femto cells (Femto cells) and the like, and the small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmitting power and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission services.

As shown in fig. 3, a system architecture diagram of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied is shown. The communication system may comprise a network device, which may be a device in communication with a terminal device (or called communication terminal, terminal). The network device may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area and may communicate with terminal devices located within the coverage area. Fig. 3 exemplarily shows one network device and two terminal devices, alternatively, the communication system may include a plurality of network devices and each network device may include other number of terminal devices within a coverage area of the network device, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the communication system may further include a network controller, a mobility management entity, and other network entities, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The network device may further include an access network device and a core network device. I.e. the wireless communication system further comprises a plurality of core networks for communicating with the access network devices. The access network device may be a long-term evolution (LTE) system, a next-generation (NR) system, or an evolved base station (evolutional node B, abbreviated as eNB or e-NodeB) macro base station, a micro base station (also called "small base station"), a pico base station, an Access Point (AP), a transmission point (transmission point, TP), a new generation base station (new generation Node B, gNodeB), or the like in an licensed assisted access long-term evolution (LAA-LTE) system.

It should be understood that a device having a communication function in a network/system in an embodiment of the present application may be referred to as a communication device. Taking the communication system shown in fig. 3 as an example, the communication device may include a network device and a terminal device with a communication function, where the network device and the terminal device may be specific devices described in the embodiments of the present invention, and are not described herein again; the communication device may also include other devices in the communication system, such as a network controller, a mobility management entity, and other network entities, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In the following, by way of example, the technical solution of the present application is further described, as shown in fig. 4, which is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a method for acquiring time in a non-terrestrial communication network in an embodiment of the present application, and may include:

401. the terminal device receives the universal time UTC from the network device.

It will be appreciated that the terminal device receives UTC broadcast by the network device, which may also be referred to herein as UTC time information (timeinfotc). Wherein the UTC is carried in a system message block SIB 9.

Optionally, the terminal device currently resides in an NTN cell.

402. The terminal device obtains round trip time RTT.

(1) Optionally, in the case that the terminal device does not have global navigation satellite system (Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS) capability, the RTT is a first RTT, where the first RTT is used to indicate a round trip transmission time of the network device to a first terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell. The first RTT may be understood as a common RTT.

Optionally, the first ground reference point is any reference point in the NTN cell. Preferably, the first ground reference point is a center reference point in the NTN cell.

Optionally, the RTT is a first RTT, and the terminal device obtains a round trip transmission time RTT, which may include:

1) The terminal equipment receives the round trip transmission time RTT sent by the network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

2) The terminal equipment determines the round trip time RTT according to a first ground reference point in the NTN cell and the pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

3) And the terminal equipment determines the round trip time RTT according to a first ground reference point in the NTN cell, the satellite ephemeris information and the time delay information of the feeder line, which are acquired in advance.

It will be appreciated that the terminal device may receive the common RTT transmitted by the network device, whether it is a regenerative forwarding satellite network architecture scenario or a transparent forwarding satellite network architecture scenario. For the satellite network architecture scene of regenerative forwarding, there is no delay information of feeder links, so the terminal device can determine round trip time RTT according to the location of the terminal device and the pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information. In the transparent forwarded satellite network architecture scenario, there is delay information of the feeder link, so the terminal device can determine the round trip transmission time RTT according to the location of the terminal device, and the pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information and the delay information of the feeder link.

For example, for a UE without GNSS capability, a UE camping on an NTN cell receives a cell common RTT (common RTT) broadcast by the gNB, where the common RTT is used to indicate the round trip transmission time of the gNB to some terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell. The cell common RTT (common RTT) information may be directly indicated by the network device; or the terminal equipment is obtained based on a certain ground reference point in the NTN cell and broadcast satellite ephemeris information (also called Two-line orbit data (Two-Line Orbital Element, TLE)); the method can also be obtained based on a certain ground reference point in the NTN cell, and the broadcasted satellite ephemeris information and the delay information of the feeder link.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and the terminal equipment informs the upper layer of the world standard time at the current moment, and is used for acquiring first time information by the upper layer to perform corresponding data processing.

Illustratively, the UE informs an upper layer (e.g., an application layer) of the corrected UTC time (currentTimeInfoUTC) of the current time, and uncertainty information (if an uncertaity is included) for acquiring GPS time, local time, etc., the upper layer may GPS initialize according to a GPS time protocol, may synchronize a UE clock according to a local time, etc.

Optionally, the SIB9 further includes uncertainty information of the UTC, where the uncertainty information of the UTC is used to indicate a maximum error between an RTT between the network device and the terminal device and the common RTT.

Illustratively, a UE camping on an NTN cell receives a system message SIB9 broadcasted by a gNB, where SIB9 includes UTC time information (timeinfout). Uncertainty information (uncertaity) of timeinfout tc may also be included in SIB9, which is used to indicate the maximum error in RTT and common RTT between UE and gNB within NTN cell.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and the terminal equipment informs the upper layer of the world standard time at the current moment and the uncertainty information of the UTC, and is used for acquiring second time information by the upper layer to perform corresponding data processing.

(2) Optionally, in the case that the terminal device has a global navigation satellite system GNSS capability, the RTT is a second RTT, or the first RTT; the second RTT is used for indicating a round trip transmission time between the network device and the terminal device; the first RTT is used to indicate a round trip transmission time of the network device to a first terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell. The second RTT may be understood as an RTT corresponding to the terminal device itself.

It should be noted that, the obtaining of the first RTT may refer to the above description, and will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the RTT is a second RTT, and the terminal device obtains a round trip transmission time RTT, which may include:

1) The terminal equipment determines the round trip time RTT according to the position of the terminal equipment and satellite ephemeris information acquired in advance; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

2) And the terminal equipment determines the round trip transmission time RTT according to the position of the terminal equipment, and the satellite ephemeris information and the delay information of the feeder line which are acquired in advance.

It will be appreciated that for a regenerative forwarding satellite network architecture scenario, there is no delay information of the feeder link, and therefore, the terminal device may determine the round trip transmission time RTT according to the location of the terminal device and the pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information. For transparent forwarded satellite network architecture, there is delay information of the feeder link, so the terminal device can determine the round trip time RTT according to the location of the terminal device, and the pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information and the delay information of the feeder line.

Optionally, the position of the terminal device is obtained through the global navigation satellite system GNSS.

Illustratively, for UEs with global navigation satellite system (Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS) capabilities. The UE residing in the NTN cell receives the system message SIB9 broadcasted by the gNB, and the SIB9 contains UTC time information (timeimfoutc). The Round Trip Time (RTT) may be obtained based on the location of the UE (obtained by the GNSS) and the broadcasted satellite ephemeris information and feeder link delay information.

In general, in the case where the terminal device does not have GNSS capability, the terminal device performs correction of UTC time information with a common RTT; in the case of GNSS capability, although it is possible to use a common RTT for the correction of UTC time information, in most cases, the terminal device uses an RTT from itself to the network device for the correction of URC time information, and the reliability of the correction of URC time information by an RTT from itself to the network device is also higher. But the scenarios that the terminal device has GNSS capabilities may include: the GNSS signal strength is less than the threshold, and the position fix cannot be acquired, which may be referred to as low GNSS capability, at which time the terminal device cannot determine the RTT between itself and the network device, so the RTT may be a common RTT broadcasted by the network device. Alternatively, the GNSS signal strength may be a mean value of GNSS signal strengths.

For example, for low GNSS capable UEs, the UE camping on the NTN cell receives the cell common RTT (common RTT) broadcast by the gNB, and the common RTT is used to indicate the round trip transmission time of the gNB to some terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell. The cell common RTT (common RTT) information may be directly indicated by the network device; or may be based on a certain terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell, and broadcast satellite ephemeris information (also known as Two-line orbital data (Two-Line Orbital Element, TLE)); the method can also be obtained based on a certain ground reference point in the NTN cell, and the broadcasted satellite ephemeris information and the delay information of the feeder link.

Optionally, in the step (1) or (2), the satellite ephemeris information is carried in a system message and/or a broadcast message; the delay information of the feeder line is carried in a system message and/or in a broadcast message.

It will be appreciated that the timing of steps 401 and 402 is not limited.

403. And the terminal equipment determines world standard time at the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT.

Optionally, the determining, by the terminal device, the world standard time of the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT may include:

the terminal equipment determines world standard time at the current moment according to a first formula;

the first formula is: t=utc-0.5×rtt.

Illustratively, when SIB9 is received, the UE should calculate UTC time at the current time, universal time at the current time (currentTimeInfoUTC) =timeinfotc-0.5×rtt. It will be appreciated that here, since RTT is round trip transmission time, it is necessary to multiply 0.5 or 1/2 to obtain a single transmission time when UTC time information correction is performed.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device determines the world standard time at the current moment according to the pre-acquired world standard time UTC and round trip transmission time RTT. In the NTN, as the satellite has a transmission delay far longer than that of the ground cellular network, when the terminal equipment receives the SIB9 information of the network equipment, the validity of UTC time information cannot be ensured, and the embodiment of the invention can correct the time according to UTC and round trip time RTT, thereby obtaining the world standard time at the current moment and ensuring the reliability and the validity of the time.

As shown in fig. 5, which is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a terminal device in an embodiment of the present application, may include:

a transceiver module 501, configured to receive universal time UTC from a network device, where UTC is carried in a system message block SIB 9;

a processing module 502, configured to obtain a round trip time RTT; and determining world standard time at the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT.

Optionally, the terminal device currently resides in an NTN cell.

Optionally, in the case that the terminal device does not have GNSS capability, the RTT is a first RTT, where the first RTT is used to indicate a round trip transmission time of the network device to a first terrestrial reference point in the NTN cell.

Optionally, in the case that the terminal device has a global navigation satellite system GNSS capability, the RTT is a second RTT, or the first RTT;

the second RTT is used for indicating a round trip transmission time between the network device and the terminal device;

the first RTT is used to indicate a round trip transmission time of the network device to a first terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell.

Optionally, the first ground reference point is a center reference point in the NTN cell.

Optionally, the RTT is a first RTT,

a transceiver module 501, configured to receive the round trip time RTT sent by the network device; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processing module 502 is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to a first ground reference point in the NTN cell and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processing module 502 is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to the first terrestrial reference point in the NTN cell, and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information and delay information of a feeder line.

Optionally, the RTT is a second RTT,

the processing module 502 is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to the location of the terminal device and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processing module 502 is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to the location of the terminal device, and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information and delay information of the feeder line.

Optionally, the satellite ephemeris information is carried in a system message, and/or in a broadcast message;

the delay information of the feeder line is carried in a system message and/or in a broadcast message.

Optionally, the processing module 502 is specifically configured to determine, according to a first formula, a world standard time at a current moment;

the first formula is: t=utc-0.5×rtt.

Optionally, the transceiver module 501 is further configured to notify an upper layer of the world standard time at the current time, and is configured to obtain the first time information by the upper layer, and perform corresponding data processing.

Optionally, the transceiver module 502 is further configured to notify the upper layer of the world standard time at the current time and the uncertainty information of the UTC, and is configured to obtain the second time information by the upper layer, and perform corresponding data processing.

Corresponding to the above-mentioned at least one method applied to the embodiment of the terminal device, the embodiment of the present application further provides one or more terminal devices. The terminal device of the embodiment of the application may implement any implementation manner of the above method. As shown in fig. 6, a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the terminal device is illustrated by using a mobile phone as an example, may include: radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 610, memory 620, input unit 630, display unit 640, sensor 650, audio circuitry 660, wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi) module 670, processor 680, and power supply 690. Wherein the radio frequency circuit 610 includes a receiver 66 and a transmitter 612. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the handset configuration shown in fig. 6 is not limiting of the handset and may include more or fewer components than shown, or may combine certain components, or may be arranged in a different arrangement of components.

The following describes the components of the mobile phone in detail with reference to fig. 6:

the RF circuit 610 may be configured to receive and transmit signals during a message or a call, and in particular, receive downlink information of a base station and process the downlink information with the processor 680; in addition, the data of the design uplink is sent to the base station. Typically, the RF circuitry 610 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier (low noise amplifier, LNA), a duplexer, and the like. In addition, the RF circuitry 610 may also communicate with networks and other devices via wireless communications. The wireless communications may use any communication standard or protocol including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communications (global system of mobile communication, GSM), general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE), email, short message service (short messaging service, SMS), and the like.

The memory 620 may be used to store software programs and modules, and the processor 680 may perform various functional applications and data processing of the cellular phone by executing the software programs and modules stored in the memory 620. The memory 620 may mainly include a storage program area and a storage data area, wherein the storage program area may store an operating system, application programs required for at least one function (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, etc.), and the like; the storage data area may store data (such as audio data, phonebook, etc.) created according to the use of the handset, etc. In addition, memory 620 may include high-speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other volatile solid-state storage device.

The input unit 630 may be used to receive input numeric or character information and to generate key signal inputs related to user settings and function control of the handset. In particular, the input unit 630 may include a touch panel 631 and other input devices 632. The touch panel 631, also referred to as a touch screen, may collect touch operations thereon or thereabout by a user (e.g., operations of the user on the touch panel 631 or thereabout using any suitable object or accessory such as a finger, a stylus, etc.), and drive the corresponding connection device according to a preset program. Alternatively, the touch panel 631 may include two parts of a touch detection device and a touch controller. The touch detection device detects the touch azimuth of a user, detects a signal brought by touch operation and transmits the signal to the touch controller; the touch controller receives touch information from the touch detection device and converts it into touch point coordinates, which are then sent to the processor 680 and can receive commands from the processor 680 and execute them. In addition, the touch panel 631 may be implemented in various types such as a resistive type, a capacitive type, an infrared ray, and a surface acoustic wave. The input unit 630 may include other input devices 632 in addition to the touch panel 631. In particular, other input devices 632 may include, but are not limited to, one or more of a physical keyboard, function keys (e.g., volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, mouse, joystick, etc.

The display unit 640 may be used to display information input by a user or information provided to the user and various menus of the mobile phone. The display unit 640 may include a display panel 641, and optionally, the display panel 641 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display, LCD), an organic light-Emitting diode (OLED), or the like. Further, the touch panel 631 may cover the display panel 641, and when the touch panel 631 detects a touch operation thereon or thereabout, the touch panel 631 is transferred to the processor 680 to determine the type of the touch event, and then the processor 680 provides a corresponding visual output on the display panel 641 according to the type of the touch event. Although in fig. 6, the touch panel 631 and the display panel 641 are two independent components to implement the input and input functions of the mobile phone, in some embodiments, the touch panel 631 and the display panel 641 may be integrated to implement the input and output functions of the mobile phone.

The handset may also include at least one sensor 650, such as a light sensor, a motion sensor, and other sensors. Specifically, the light sensor may include an ambient light sensor that may adjust the brightness of the display panel 641 according to the brightness of ambient light, and a proximity sensor that may turn off the display panel 641 and/or the backlight when the mobile phone is moved to the ear. As one of the motion sensors, the accelerometer sensor can detect the acceleration in all directions (generally three axes), and can detect the gravity and direction when stationary, and can be used for applications of recognizing the gesture of a mobile phone (such as horizontal and vertical screen switching, related games, magnetometer gesture calibration), vibration recognition related functions (such as pedometer and knocking), and the like; other sensors such as gyroscopes, barometers, hygrometers, thermometers, infrared sensors, etc. that may also be configured with the handset are not described in detail herein.

Audio circuitry 660, speaker 661, microphone 662 may provide an audio interface between a user and the handset. The audio circuit 660 may transmit the received electrical signal converted from audio data to the speaker 661, and the electrical signal is converted into a sound signal by the speaker 661 to be output; on the other hand, microphone 662 converts the collected sound signals into electrical signals, which are received by audio circuit 660 and converted into audio data, which are processed by audio data output processor 680 for transmission to, for example, another cell phone via RF circuit 610, or which are output to memory 620 for further processing.

WiFi belongs to a short-distance wireless transmission technology, and a mobile phone can help a user to send and receive emails, browse webpages, access streaming media and the like through a WiFi module 670, so that wireless broadband Internet access is provided for the user. Although fig. 6 shows a WiFi module 670, it is understood that it does not belong to the necessary constitution of the mobile phone, and can be omitted entirely as required within the scope of not changing the essence of the invention.

Processor 680 is a control center of the handset, connects various parts of the entire handset using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions and processes of the handset by running or executing software programs and/or modules stored in memory 620, and invoking data stored in memory 620, thereby performing overall monitoring of the handset. Optionally, processor 680 may include one or more processing units; preferably, the processor 680 may integrate an application processor that primarily handles operating systems, user interfaces, applications, etc., with a modem processor that primarily handles wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 680.

The handset further includes a power supply 690 (e.g., a battery) for powering the various components, which may be logically connected to processor 680 by a power management system, such as to provide charge, discharge, and power management functions via the power management system. Although not shown, the mobile phone may further include a camera, a bluetooth module, etc., which will not be described herein.

In the embodiment of the present application, the radio frequency circuit 610 is configured to receive the universal time UTC from the network device, where the UTC is carried in the system message block SIB 9;

a processor 680, acquiring round trip time RTT; and the world standard time of the current moment is determined according to the UTC and the RTT.

Optionally, the terminal device currently resides in an NTN cell.

the second RTT is used for indicating round trip transmission time between the network device and the location of the terminal device;

Optionally, the RTT is a first RTT,

radio frequency circuit 610, further configured to receive the round trip transmission time RTT sent by the network device; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

a processor 680, configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to a first terrestrial reference point in the NTN cell and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processor 680 is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to the first terrestrial reference point in the NTN cell, and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information and delay information of the feeder line.

Optionally, in case the terminal device has global navigation satellite system GNSS capability, the RTT is used to indicate a round trip transmission time between the network device and the terminal device.

Optionally, the RTT is a second RTT,

a processor 680, specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to the location of the terminal device and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The processor 680 is specifically configured to determine the round trip transmission time RTT according to the location of the terminal device, and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information and delay information of the feeder line.

Optionally, the processor 680 is specifically configured to determine, according to a first formula, a world standard time at a current moment;

the first formula is: t=utc-0.5×rtt.

Optionally, the radio frequency circuit 610 is further configured to notify an upper layer of the world standard time at the current time, and is configured to obtain the first time information by the upper layer, and perform corresponding data processing.

Optionally, the radio frequency circuit 610 is further configured to notify an upper layer of the world standard time at the current time and the uncertainty information of the UTC, and is configured to obtain second time information by the upper layer, and perform corresponding data processing.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be stored by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid State Disk (SSD)), etc.

The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth" and the like in the description and in the claims of this application and in the above-described figures, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged where appropriate such that the embodiments described herein may be implemented in other sequences than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, 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.

Claims

A method for acquiring time in a non-terrestrial communication network, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives universal standard time UTC from network equipment, wherein the UTC is carried in a system message block SIB 9;

the terminal equipment acquires round trip time RTT;

and the terminal equipment determines world standard time at the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT.
The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is currently camped on an NTN cell.
Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in case the terminal device is not global navigation satellite system, GNSS, capable, the RTT is a first RTT indicating a round trip transmission time of the network device to a first terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell.
Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in case the terminal device has global navigation satellite system, GNSS, capabilities, the RTT is a second RTT, or a first RTT;

the second RTT is used for indicating a round trip transmission time between the network device and the terminal device;

the first RTT is used to indicate a round trip transmission time of the network device to a first terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell.
The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein the first terrestrial reference point is a center reference point within an NTN cell.
The method according to any of claims 3-5, wherein the RTT is a first RTT and the terminal device obtains a round trip transmission time RTT, comprising:

The terminal equipment receives the round trip transmission time RTT sent by the network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment determines the round trip time RTT according to a first ground reference point in the NTN cell and the pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the terminal equipment determines the round trip time RTT according to a first ground reference point in the NTN cell, the satellite ephemeris information and the time delay information of the feeder line, which are acquired in advance.
The method of claim 4, wherein the RTT is a second RTT, and the terminal device obtains a round trip time RTT, comprising:

the terminal equipment determines the round trip time RTT according to the position of the terminal equipment and satellite ephemeris information acquired in advance; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the terminal equipment determines the round trip transmission time RTT according to the position of the terminal equipment, and the satellite ephemeris information and the delay information of the feeder line which are acquired in advance.
The method according to claim 7, wherein the location of the terminal device is obtained by means of the global navigation satellite system GNSS.
The method according to claim 5 or 7, wherein the satellite ephemeris information is carried in a system message and/or in a broadcast message;

The delay information of the feeder line is carried in a system message and/or in a broadcast message.
The method according to any of claims 1-9, wherein the terminal device determining the world standard time of the current moment in time from the UTC and the RTT comprises:

the terminal equipment determines world standard time at the current moment according to a first formula;

the first formula is: t=utc-0.5×rtt.
The method according to any one of claims 1-10, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment informs the upper layer of the world standard time at the current moment, and is used for acquiring first time information by the upper layer to perform corresponding data processing.
The method according to any of claims 1-11, wherein uncertainty information of the UTC is further included in the SIB9, the uncertainty information of the UTC being used to indicate a maximum error of RTT between the network device to the terminal device and the common RTT.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

and the terminal equipment informs the upper layer of the world standard time at the current moment and the uncertainty information of the UTC, and is used for acquiring second time information by the upper layer to perform corresponding data processing.
A terminal device, comprising:

a memory storing executable program code;

a processor and transceiver coupled to the memory;

the transceiver is configured to receive universal time UTC from a network device, where UTC is carried in a system message block SIB 9;

the processor is used for acquiring round trip transmission time RTT; and determining world standard time at the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT.
The terminal device of claim 14, wherein the terminal device is currently camped on an NTN cell.
The terminal device according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the RTT is a first RTT indicating a round trip transmission time of the network device to a first terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell, in case the terminal device does not have global navigation satellite system, GNSS, capability.
The terminal device according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the RTT is a second RTT, or a first RTT, in case the terminal device has global navigation satellite system, GNSS, capabilities;

the second RTT is used for indicating a round trip transmission time between the network device and the terminal device;

The first RTT is used to indicate a round trip transmission time of the network device to a first terrestrial reference point within the NTN cell.
A terminal device according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the first terrestrial reference point is a central reference point within an NTN cell.
The terminal device according to any of the claims 16-18, characterized in that the RTT is a first RTT,

the transceiver is further configured to receive the round trip time RTT sent by the network device; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processor is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to a first ground reference point in the NTN cell and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processor is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to a first ground reference point in the NTN cell, and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information and delay information of a feeder line.
The terminal device of claim 17, wherein the RTT is a second RTT,

the processor is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to the location of the terminal device and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The processor is specifically configured to determine the round trip time RTT according to the location of the terminal device, and pre-acquired satellite ephemeris information and delay information of a feeder line.
The terminal device of claim 20, wherein the location of the terminal device is obtained by the global navigation satellite system GNSS.
The terminal device according to claim 18 or 20, characterized in that the satellite ephemeris information is carried in a system message and/or in a broadcast message;

the delay information of the feeder line is carried in a system message and/or in a broadcast message.
Terminal device according to any of the claims 14-22, characterized in that,

the processor is specifically configured to determine, according to a first formula, a world standard time at a current moment;

the first formula is: t=utc-0.5×rtt.
Terminal device according to any of the claims 14-23, characterized in that,

the transceiver is further configured to notify an upper layer of world standard time at the current moment, and is used for the upper layer to acquire first time information and perform corresponding data processing.
The terminal device according to any of the claims 14-24, wherein the uncertainty information of the UTC is further included in the SIB9, the uncertainty information of the UTC being used to indicate a maximum error of RTT between the network device to the terminal device and the common RTT.
The terminal device of claim 25, wherein the terminal device,

the transceiver is configured to notify the upper layer of the world standard time at the current moment and the uncertainty information of the UTC, and is configured to obtain second time information by the upper layer, and perform corresponding data processing.
A terminal device, comprising:

a transceiver module, configured to receive universal time UTC from a network device, where UTC is carried in a system message block SIB 9;

the processing module is used for acquiring round trip transmission time RTT; and determining world standard time at the current moment according to the UTC and the RTT.
A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when run on a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any of claims 1-13.