CN117675066A

CN117675066A - Time synchronization method and device and communication equipment

Info

Publication number: CN117675066A
Application number: CN202211091251.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李俊玮; 张德朝
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2022-09-07
Filing date: 2022-09-07
Publication date: 2024-03-08

Abstract

The application discloses a time synchronization method and device and communication equipment, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the first device acquires first information of a synchronous source clock, and the first device sends second information to third device, wherein the second information is related to the first information; wherein the first device is connected to one or more second devices and/or the second device is connected to one or more third devices.

Description

Time synchronization method and device and communication equipment

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to time synchronization technology, and in particular, to a time synchronization method and apparatus, and a communication device.

Background

In an optical network based on a point-to-multipoint (Point to MultiPoit, P2 MP) optical network, for example, a passive optical network (Passive Optical Network, PON), an upstream node may be connected to a plurality of downstream nodes, and time synchronization is required between the upstream node and the downstream node to carry a time synchronization protocol, for example, IEEE 1588 protocol. For optical networks based on cascaded P2MP optical networks, such as fiber-to-the-room (Fiber to The Room, FTTR) networks, currently no bearer time synchronization protocol is supported, which would result in limited traffic communication requiring time synchronization information in such scenarios.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the technical problems, embodiments of the present application provide a time synchronization method, apparatus, communication device, chip, and computer readable storage medium.

The time synchronization method provided by the embodiment of the application is applied to the first equipment, and comprises the following steps:

the first device acquires first information of a synchronous source clock, and the first device sends second information to third device, wherein the second information is related to the first information;

wherein the first device is connected to one or more second devices and/or the second device is connected to one or more third devices.

The time synchronization method provided by the embodiment of the application is applied to the second equipment, and comprises the following steps:

the second device receives second information sent by the first device to the third device;

the second device adjusts the second information into third information and sends the third information to a third device;

The time synchronization method provided by the embodiment of the application is applied to third equipment, and comprises the following steps:

the third device receives third information sent by the second device, wherein the third information is synchronization state information after the second device adjusts the second information sent by the first device to the third device;

The time synchronization device provided by the embodiment of the application is applied to first equipment, and the device comprises:

the acquisition unit is used for acquiring first information of the synchronous source clock;

a transmitting unit configured to transmit second information to a third device, the second information being related to the first information;

The time synchronization device provided in the embodiment of the present application is characterized in that the time synchronization device is applied to a second device, and the device includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive second information sent by the first device to the third device;

a transmitting unit, configured to adjust the second information to third information and transmit the third information to a third device;

The time synchronization device provided in the embodiment of the present application is characterized in that the time synchronization device is applied to a third device, and the device includes:

The receiving unit is used for receiving third information sent by the second equipment, wherein the third information is synchronization state information after the second equipment adjusts the second information sent by the first equipment to the third equipment;

The communication device provided by the embodiment of the application comprises: a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being adapted to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory, to perform any of the methods described above.

The chip provided by the embodiment of the application comprises: and a processor for calling and running the computer program from the memory, so that the device on which the chip is mounted performs any one of the methods described above.

The core computer readable storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application is configured to store a computer program, where the computer program causes a computer to execute any one of the methods described above.

According to the technical scheme, the first equipment is connected with one or more second equipment through the first link, the second equipment is connected with one or more third equipment through the second link, and after the first equipment acquires the first information of the synchronous source clock in the optical network based on the cascade P2MP optical fiber network, the second information is sent to the third equipment, so that service communication requiring time synchronization information in the scene can be effectively performed through the time synchronization mechanism.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is an optical network architecture diagram of a cascade-based P2MP optical fiber network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a BC mode;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a time synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a second flowchart of a time synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a time synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a first device sending synchronization status information to a third device through a second device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of an OLT according to an embodiment of the present application transmitting synchronization status information to a slave ONU through a master ONU;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of the structural composition of a time synchronization device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram ii of the structural composition of the time synchronization device according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram III of the structural composition of the information acquisition device provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip of an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following description is given of related technologies of the embodiments of the present application, and the following related technologies may be optionally combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application as an alternative, which all belong to the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application.

Currently, various communication systems in the field of mobile communication, such as Time Division Synchronous Code Division multiple access (Time Division-Synchronous Code DivisionMultipleAccess, TD-SCDMA), time Division long term evolution (Time Division Long Term Evolution, TD-LTE), code Division MultipleAccess, CDMA (Code Division 352000), long term evolution technology upgrade (Long Term Evolution-Advanced, LTE-a), multimedia broadcast multicast service (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service, MBMS), etc., all require that air interface protocols of a base station meet network clock synchronization to work normally, wherein the network clock synchronization includes Time synchronization and frequency synchronization.

When the base stations adopt the communication system to realize network clock synchronization, each base station is provided with a global positioning system (Global Positioning System, GPS), and GPS signals are acquired among different base stations through satellites, so that the network clock synchronization is realized. Thus, each base station needs to install a GPS, and maintenance is required for the GPS, and the equipment cost and the operation cost are relatively high.

Whereas PON and/or FTTR systems are a very inexpensive broadband access system that can provide network access services to subscribers. The PON system comprises an Optical line terminal (Optical Line Terminal, OLT), an Optical distribution network (Optical DistributionNetwork, ODN) and an Optical network node (Optical Network Unit, ONU), wherein the ONU is connected to the OLT through an ODN, the ONU can only communicate with a single OLT, and the manner of transmitting synchronization information between the OLT and the ONU complies with the rule of 1TU-T g.988, where the OLT and the ONU perform time synchronization using the TOD over PON. Specifically, the OLT and the ONU first measure the distance, and then the OLT periodically issues a Management Entity (ME) message carrying Time of Day (TOD) information to the ONU, and then the ONU uses the TOD information and the distance measurement information to achieve Time synchronization with the OLT. The FTTR system is composed of an FTTR master device and an FTTR slave device, wherein the FTTR slave device is connected with the FTTR master device through a P2MP optical fiber network, and the FTTR master device is connected with the OLT through an ODN. The working mechanism between the FTTR master and the FTTR slave is similar to the working mechanism between the OLT and the ONUs.

In the implementation process, when the PON and/or the FTTR system is used as a carrier device returned by the base station, the base station corresponds to a terminal of the time synchronization network, and can acquire time information from the carrier network by using the FTTR master device and/or the FTTR slave device through the OLT, where the FTTR master device and/or the FTTR slave device can be considered as a slave clock to follow the master clock OLT. Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the OLT of the PON system acquires time information from an upstream network, and then transmits the time information to the FTTR master through the ODN, and then the FTTR master transmits the time information to the FTTR slave, or directly to the downstream base station. In practical application, the mobile communication system puts higher demands on time synchronization accuracy between base stations in order to meet roaming and handover of mobile services, so PON and FTTR systems must be able to support high-accuracy time synchronization function to adapt to the demands of backhaul bearer networking as base stations.

However, the current research on PON systems only considers the manner of using the ToD over PON and/or ToD over FTTR to achieve network clock synchronization, where, because the time following of the OLT by the FTTR master device and/or the FTTR slave device is not based on the manner of ethernet packet transmission, the OLT cannot transmit the synchronization status information of the upstream clock, such as priority, clock quality, synchronization path length, etc., to the FTTR master device and/or the FTTR slave device, the base station cannot learn the synchronization status information of the upstream clock by the FTTR master device and/or the FTTR slave device, and the base station selects the source according to the synchronization status information, so that the network clock synchronization is better achieved. In addition, the base station can acquire the synchronous state information, so that the operator can conveniently manage faults and maintain performance of the clock source.

It follows that when network clock synchronization between base stations is achieved using PON and/or FTTR systems, transmission of synchronization status information must be supported between the OLT and the FTTR master and/or FTTR slave, but there is currently no general mature technology to achieve the transfer of synchronization status information between the OLT and the FTTR master and/or FTTR slave.

The existing method for implementing network clock synchronization mainly includes a precise time synchronization (PrecisionTiming Protocol, PTP) technology for time synchronization and a synchronous ethernet technology for frequency synchronization, and the following describes synchronization status information when the two methods for implementing network clock synchronization are applied to PON and/or FTTR systems, respectively.

Specifically, in PTP technology, the synchronization status information includes an Announce message, which includes various synchronization status information such as leap seconds, priority, clock quality, and synchronization path length. In a PTP synchronous link, a master Clock periodically transmits an Announce message to a slave Clock at a specified time interval, the slave Clock receives the Announce messages of different ports, and then, according to time status information in the Announce messages, an optimal master Clock (BestMaster Clock, BMC) source selection algorithm is used to select the optimal master Clock to follow, and further, the slave Clock interacts with messages such as Sync, delay_req, delay_resp and the like carrying time stamp information to perform time synchronization.

In the Synchronous ethernet technology, the Synchronous status information includes frequency Synchronous status information (Synchronization Status Message, SSM) carried by an ethernet Synchronous message channel (Ethernet Synchron i zat i on Message Channe, esmc) message, where the SSM information includes clock information of different levels, such as a reference clock (Primary Reference Clock, PRC) level, a Synchronous Supply Unit (SSU) level, and the like. In the synchronous ethernet technology, a master clock periodically sends an ESMC message to a slave clock at a set rate, and after the slave clock receives the ESMC message, the slave clock can learn the synchronization status information of an upstream synchronization source from the ESMC message, and can select a clock source or perform protection switching according to the message.

In the above process, one of the roles of the Announce message is to transfer the master clock time status information to the slave clock, so that the slave clock can compare among a plurality of possible master clocks and select the following master clock, so that the master clock typically periodically sends the Announce message to the slave clock. However, in some systems, the slave node (slave clock) is connected to only a single master node (master clock), and it is not necessary to source among multiple master nodes, such as in PON systems, the FTTR master is connected to a single OLT through an ODN, so the FTTR master does not have to source through an Announce message. Therefore, if the existing periodic packet transmission mechanism of PTP is utilized in the PON system, the slave node (FTTR master and/or FTTR) periodically receives synchronization status information (an nonce packet) from the master node (OLT), thereby causing a waste of bandwidth. At this time, the master node (OLT) may also increase the occupancy rate of the CPU by continuously transmitting repeated information to a plurality of slave nodes (FTTR master and/or FTTR slave), thereby affecting the performance and cost of the entire system. Similarly, the same problems exist with existing ESMC messaging mechanisms using synchronous Ethernet technology in PON and/or FTTR systems.

Therefore, in the related art, when the slave node performs network clock synchronization in a system connected with a single master node, the existing network clock synchronization method has the problems of bandwidth waste and high CPU occupation rate.

The source of the time synchronization signal of the PON system may be obtained from the synchronization network or from the service network. When acquiring a time synchronization signal from a synchronization network, the PON system needs to provide an interface for acquiring the time synchronization signal. When acquiring a time synchronization signal from a service network, the PON system needs to implement support for the IEEE 1588-2008 protocol, that is, an IEEE 1588-2008 interface for providing the time synchronization signal. In the IEEE 1588-2008 protocol, there are two modes of network elements that provide IEEE 1588-2008 interfaces in specific applications: a Boundary Clock (BC) mode and a transparent Clock (Transparent Clock, TC) mode. When the IEEE 1588-2008 protocol is applied to a PON system, a network element providing an IEEE 1588-2008 interface generally uses a BC mode.

BC mode principle as shown in fig. 2, in BC mode, the OLT receives from the ethernet interface a high-precision timing protocol (Precision Time Protocol, PTP) message (synchronization (sync) message, follow-up (follow-up) message, delay-request (delay-req) message, delay-response (delay-resp) message) from the IEEE 1588-2008 master clock device, and the OLT recovers the time synchronization information from the PTP message as IEEE 1588-2008 from the clock device; then, the OLT transmits time synchronization information to the ONU to complete time synchronization between the OLT and the ONU; further, the ONU is used as an IEEE 1588-2008 master clock device to generate a new PTP message, and transmits the new PTP message to a downstream IEEE 1588-2008 slave clock device through an Ethernet interface.

In the BC mode, whether the OLT is used as the end of the IEEE 1588-2008 slave clock equipment to the IEEE 1588-2008 protocol or the ONU is used as the IEEE 1588-2008 master clock equipment to regenerate the IEEE 1588-2008 protocol, the protocol flow and message format of the ONU conform to the specifications of the IEEE 1588-2008. In BC mode, the OLT and ONU together may be regarded as one entity of IEEE 1588-2008, and the transmission of time synchronization information between the OLT and ONU does not generally use the IEEE 1588-2008 protocol.

For optical networks based on cascaded P2MP optical networks, time synchronization between devices separated by multiple hops (2 hops and above) cannot be achieved by the above mechanism of acquiring time synchronization signals from the service network alone, which would result in limited communication in such scenarios. For example: when the FTTR optical network is used for bearing scenes such as 5G small base stations, ground time synchronization signals cannot be provided, and expansion of double-gigabit fusion coverage capability for office scenes such as office buildings is limited.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions of the present application are described in detail below through specific embodiments. The above related technologies may be optionally combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, which all belong to the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. Embodiments of the present application include at least some of the following.

It should be noted that, the "first device" in the embodiment of the present application may be, but is not limited to, an OLT. The "second device" in the embodiment of the present application may be, but is not limited to, an FTTR master device, an FTTR master gateway, an FTTR master ONU, a Main FTTR Unit (MFU), a master gateway, a master device, a master ONU, and the like. The "third device" in the embodiments of the present application may be, but is not limited to, an FTTR slave device, an FTTR slave gateway, an FTTR slave ONU, an Edge FTTR Unit (EFU), a slave gateway, a slave device, a slave ONU, and the like. The above device names are often used interchangeably herein.

Before describing the embodiments of the present application, a brief description of FTTR technology will be first provided.

The FTTR technology is a networking technology for replacing a network cable with an optical fiber, paving the optical fiber to each room, realizing interconnection with a home gateway by deploying an optical networking terminal, combining double-frequency Wi-Fi and guaranteeing full-house network coverage. The home gigabit all-optical networking scheme based on the FTTR technology deploys a main ONU (also called an FTTR main device/an FTTR main gateway/an FTTR main ONU/an MFU) at a home distribution box or a home central position, takes the main ONU as a core, adopts a Point-to-Multipoint (P2 MP)/Point-to-Point (P2P) mode, and constructs a home optical fiber network based on an optical splitter and a single-core bidirectional optical fiber connection slave ONU (also called an FTTR slave device/an FTTR slave gateway/an FTTR slave ONU/an EFU). FTTR technology may also be applied to industry scenarios or 4G/5G traffic bearers.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network to which a time synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present application is applied; as shown in fig. 1, the access network includes an OLT, a master ONU (also referred to as FTTR master/FTTR master gateway/FTTR master ONU/MFU/master gateway/master), and a slave ONU (also referred to as FTTR slave/FTTR slave gateway/FTTR slave ONU/EFU/slave gateway/slave); in the following embodiments of the present application, the main ONU/FTTR main device/FTTR main gateway/FTTR main ONU/MFU/main gateway/main device is also referred to as a first type ONU or a second device, the slave ONU/FTTR slave gateway/FTTR slave ONU/EFU/slave gateway/slave device is also referred to as a second type ONU or a third device, and the OLT is also referred to as a first device.

In this illustration, the access network may include a first level network and a second level network; the first-level network comprises an OLT (or a first device) and one or more first-type ONUs (or second devices), and the second-level network comprises one or more first-type ONUs (or second devices) and one or more second-type ONUs (or third devices) connected with each first-type ONU (or second device).

The first level network may be, for example, a passive optical network (Passive Optical Network, PON) or a PON system. The second-level network may be, for example, FTTR or a Fiber In-premises Networking (FIN), and the first-level network and/or the second-level network are not limited In this embodiment.

The OLT (or first device) is connected with the first-type ONU (or second device) through a first link, and the first-type ONU (or second device) is connected with the second-type ONU (or third device) through a second link. Alternatively, the first link may also be referred to as a first physical link, a first level physical link, or the like. Illustratively, the first link may also be referred to as a PON link. Accordingly, the second link may also be referred to as a second physical link, a second level physical link, and so on. Illustratively, the second link may also be referred to as an FTTR link or FIN link, or the like.

In this embodiment of the present application, a channel is established between the OLT (or the first device) and the second ONU (or the third device) to manage the second ONU (or the third device), where the first ONU (or the second device) is configured to forward a management and control message between the OLT (or the first device) and the second ONU (or the third device).

In this embodiment, a first channel, for example, a main ONU1, may be established between the OLT (or the first device) and the first ONU (or the second device), where the first channel is a channel between the main ONU1 and the OLT, for example, a main ONU1-ONU management control channel (OMCC, ONU Management Control Channel), and the first channel may be used to transmit a management and control message between the OLT (or the first device) and the first ONU (or the second device). A third channel may be established between the first class ONU (or the second device) and the second class ONU (or the third device), for example, the master ONU1, and the channels between the master ONU1 and the slave ONU1, the slave ONU2, and the slave ONU3, for example, the slave ONU1-OMCC, the slave ONU2-OMCC, and the slave ONU3-OMCC, respectively.

In this embodiment, in order to implement unified management and control of the OLT (or the first device) on the second ONU (or the third device), a second channel of the second ONU (or the third device) is established on the first link, that is, a channel for transmitting a management and control message of the second ONU (or the third device) is established between the OLT (or the first device) and the first ONU (or the second device). Taking the main ONU1 as an example, the second channel is, for example, a slave ONU1-OMCC, a slave ONU2-OMCC, and a slave ONU3-OMCC on the first link, so that, through the second channel on the first link and the third channel on the second link, a management message can be transmitted between the OLT (or the first device) and the second ONU (or the third device), and the OLT (or the first device) and the second ONU (or the third device) can manage the second ONU (or the third device) through establishing channels (second channel and third channel). The second channel may also be referred to as a management channel, an OMCI channel, or an out-of-band OMCI channel of the OLT (or the first device) that directly manages the second class of ONUs (or the third device), and in this embodiment, the channel name is not limited.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the two-stage network as shown in fig. 1, but may also be applied to a three-stage network or a network with more than three stages.

It should be noted that "first information" in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as "first synchronization status information", and "second information" in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as "second synchronization status information", and "third information" in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as "third synchronization status information", and "fourth information" in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as "fourth synchronization status information". The names of these information are not limited in this application. The first information, the second information, the third information, and the fourth information may be information directly or indirectly indicating a state of synchronization, and may be referred to as time state information, clock information, synchronization information, state information, and the like, and may be leap seconds, priority, clock quality, a reference clock (Primary Reference Clock, PRC) rank, a synchronization path length, and the like, for example.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a time synchronization method provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3, where the time synchronization method includes the following steps:

step 301: the first device acquires first information of a synchronous source clock, and the first device sends second information to the third device, wherein the second information is related to the first information.

Here, the first device is connected to one or more second devices, and/or the second device is connected to one or more third devices. Specifically, the first device is connected to one or more second devices through a first link, and the second devices are connected to one or more third devices through a second link. The network in which the first device and the one or more second devices connected thereto are located may be referred to as a first level network. The network in which the second device and the one or more third devices connected thereto are located may be referred to as a second level network.

The first level network may be, for example, a PON or PON system. The second level network may be, for example, FTTR or FIN, and the first level network and/or the second level network are not limited in this embodiment.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, the first device is connected to the second device through a first link, and the second device is connected to the third device through a second link. Alternatively, the first link may also be referred to as a first physical link, a first level physical link, or the like. Illustratively, the first link may also be referred to as a PON link. Accordingly, the second link may also be referred to as a second physical link, a second level physical link, and so on. Illustratively, the second link may also be referred to as an FTTR link or FIN link, or the like.

It will be appreciated that the first device is an upstream node with respect to the second device and that the second device is a downstream node with respect to the first device. Likewise, the second device is an upstream node with respect to the third device, and the third device is a downstream node with respect to the second device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first device acquires first information of a synchronization source clock, where the synchronization source clock may be an upstream clock of the first device or may be a clock of the first device itself. Illustratively, the first information is such as priority, clock quality, synchronization path length, etc.

As a case, the synchronization source clock is an upstream clock of the first device, and the first device may acquire first information of the upstream clock based on an ethernet packet transmission manner. For example: the first device receives a PTP message from an IEEE 1588 master clock device through an Ethernet interface; the first device determines first information of a synchronous source clock as an IEEE 1588 slave clock device based on the PTP message.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the first device obtains the first information of the synchronization source clock, the first device sends second information to the third device, where the second information is related to the first information.

Here, the second information is related to the first information, and it is also understood that the second information is determined based on the first information. In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one status information in the first information. For example: the second information includes part of the state information in the first information, or the second information includes all of the state information in the first information.

In some embodiments, after determining that a second device is synchronized with the first device based on second information sent by the first device, the first device sends the second information to a third device through the second device.

Here, the first device sends a first message carrying the second information to a second device, and the second device may use the second information in the first message, and when the second device synchronizes with the first device based on the second information, the first device sends the second information to a third device through the second device (or the second device adjusts the second information in the first message to be the third information and forwards the third information to the third device). The first message is a management and control message interacted between the first device and the third device.

In some implementations, the first device creates a dedicated management channel for the third device on the second device; the first device sends the second information to the third device through a dedicated management channel of the third device.

Here, a first channel may be established between the first device and the second device, and it may be understood that the first channel is a channel between the first device and the second device, and the first channel may be used for a management message between the first device and the second device. A third channel may be established between the second device and the third device, and it is understood that the third channel is a channel between the second device and the third device. In order to achieve the first device's control of the third device, a second channel of the third device is established over the first link, i.e. a channel for transmitting control messages of the third device is established between the first device and the second device. In this way, a management and control message may be transmitted between the first device and the third device through the second channel on the first link and the third channel on the second link, and the third device may be managed by establishing the channels (the second channel and the third channel) between the first device and the third device. The second channel may also be referred to as a management channel of the first device that directly manages the third device (i.e. a dedicated management channel of the third device), an OMCI channel, or an out-of-band OMCI channel, which is not limited by the channel name in this embodiment. For the embodiment of the application, the first device may send the second information to the third device through a dedicated management channel of the third device.

The dedicated management channel of the third device is illustratively a channel type such as OMCC. The first message transmitted over the dedicated management channel is for example a management message such as an optical network unit management control interface (ONU Management and Control Interface, OMCI).

In some embodiments, the first device receives first capability information reported by the second device and the third device, where the first capability information includes synchronization support capability information and/or status information synchronization support capability information; the first device sends the second information to a third device after determining that the second device and the third device support synchronization support capability and/or status information synchronization support capability based on the first capability information.

By the scheme, time synchronization between the first equipment and the third equipment can be realized.

Fig. 4 is a second flowchart of a time synchronization method provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 4, where the time synchronization method includes the following steps:

step 401: the second device receives second information sent by the first device to the third device.

Step 402: the second device adjusts the second information into third information and sends the third information to a third device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the first device obtains the first information of the synchronization source clock, the first device sends second information to the third device, where the second information is related to the first information. Accordingly, the second device receives second information sent by the first device to the third device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first device sends a first message carrying the second information to the second device, and correspondingly, the second device receives a first message carrying the second information sent by the first device to the third device; the second device may use the second information in the first message, and after the second device synchronizes with the first device based on the second information, the second device adjusts the second information in the first message to third information and then sends the third information to a third device. The first message is a management and control message interacted between the first device and the third device.

In some embodiments, a dedicated management channel of the third device is established on the second device; and the second device receives second information sent by the first device to the third device through the special management channel of the third device.

The dedicated management channel of the third device is illustratively a channel type such as OMCC. The first message transmitted over the dedicated management channel is for example a management message such as OMCI.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart third of a time synchronization method provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 5, where the time synchronization method includes the following steps:

step 501: and the third equipment receives third information sent by the second equipment, wherein the third information is synchronization state information adjusted by the second equipment after receiving the second information sent by the first equipment to the third equipment.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the third device receives the third information sent by the second device, time synchronization with the first device may be implemented.

In some embodiments, after the third device receives the third information, the third device sends fourth information to a downstream node, where the fourth information is synchronization status information updated by the third information.

For example, the third device generates a new PTP message as an IEEE 1588 master clock device, and sends the PTP message to the downstream node through the ethernet interface, where the downstream node acts as an IEEE 1588 slave clock device, so that the downstream node may learn about synchronization status information to implement synchronization. The downstream node may be, for example, a base station, and the base station may select a source according to the synchronization status information, so that network clock synchronization is better achieved, for example, when the synchronization status information of the upstream time acquired by the base station indicates that the clock quality level of the clock source is reduced, a clock source with a higher clock quality level may be selected for following according to the received synchronization status information of other clock sources. In addition, the base station can acquire the synchronous state information, so that the operator can conveniently manage faults and maintain performance of the clock source.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a first device sending synchronization status information to a third device through a second device according to an embodiment of the present application, where, as shown in fig. 6, the method includes the following steps:

step 601: the first device sends second information for the third device to the second device over a dedicated management channel for the third device over the first link.

Step 602: the second device replaces the second information with the locally generated third information and sends the third information to the third device through a dedicated management channel for the third device on the second link.

Step 603: and after receiving the third information, the third device sends a second response message to the second device.

Step 604: and after receiving the second response message, the second device sends the first response message to the first device.

In the above-described scheme of the embodiment of the present application, the second information sent by the first device to the second device may be transmitted through a Time of Day (ToD) signal. Likewise, the second information transmitted by the second device to the third device may be transmitted via the ToD signal.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is further illustrated in the following with reference to the example shown in fig. 7. In the example shown in fig. 7, the first device is an OLT, the second device is a master ONU/FTTR master gateway/FTTR master ONU/MFU/master gateway/master, and the third device is a slave ONU/FTTR slave gateway/FTTR slave ONU/EFU/slave gateway/slave. The OLT receives PTP messages (e.g., sync message, follow-up message, delay-req message, delay-resp message) from the IEEE 1588-2008 master clock device from the ethernet interface; the OLT as IEEE 1588-2008 recovers the synchronous state information from the PTP message by the clock equipment; then, the OLT sends synchronization status information to the main ONU/FTTR main device/FTTR main gateway/FTTR main ONU/MFU/main gateway/main device; the master ONU/FTTR master device/FTTR master gateway/FTTR master ONU/MFU/master gateway/master device is used as a relay device to send synchronous state information to the slave ONU/FTTR slave device/FTTR slave gateway/FTTR slave ONU/EFU/slave gateway/slave device; further, the slave ONU/FTTR slave gateway/FTTR slave ONU/EFU/slave gateway/slave generates a new PTP message as an IEEE 1588-2008 master clock device and sends the new PTP message to a downstream IEEE 1588-2008 slave clock device through an Ethernet interface.

According to the technical scheme, a time synchronization mechanism is provided for an optical network based on a cascade P2MP optical fiber network, and under the time synchronization mechanism, an FTTR optical network can support 1588 time synchronization protocol, so that the service bearing requirement of a 5G small base station is met.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a time synchronization apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, which is applied to a first device, as shown in fig. 8, and includes:

an acquiring unit 801, configured to acquire first information of a synchronous source clock;

a transmitting unit 802 configured to transmit second information to a third device, the second information being related to the first information;

wherein the first device is connected to one or more second devices and/or the second device is connected to one or more third devices. Specifically, the first device is connected to one or more second devices through a first link, and the second devices are connected to one or more third devices through a second link.

In some embodiments, the sending unit 802 is configured to send, by the second device, the second information to the third device after determining that the second device is synchronized with the first device based on the second information sent by the first device.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: a creation unit configured to create a dedicated management channel of the third device on the second device;

the sending unit 802 is configured to send the second information to the third device through a dedicated management channel of the third device.

In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one status information in the first information.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: a receiving unit 803, configured to receive first capability information reported by the second device and the third device, where the first capability information includes synchronization support capability information and/or status information synchronization support capability information;

the sending unit 802 is configured to send, based on the first capability information, the second information to a third device after determining that the second device and the third device support synchronization support capability and/or status information synchronization support capability.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the implementation functions of the units in the time synchronization apparatus shown in fig. 8 can be understood with reference to the relevant description of the foregoing method. The functions of the units in the time synchronization apparatus shown in fig. 8 may be implemented by a program running on a processor or by a specific logic circuit.

Fig. 9 is a second schematic structural diagram of a time synchronization apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, which is applied to a second device, as shown in fig. 9, where the time synchronization apparatus includes:

a receiving unit 901, configured to receive second information sent by a first device to a third device, where the first information is synchronization state information of a synchronization source clock acquired by the first device;

a transmitting unit 902, configured to adjust the second information to third information and retransmit the third information to a third device;

In some embodiments, the receiving unit 901 is configured to receive a first message carrying the second information sent by a first device to a third device;

the sending unit 902 is configured to adjust the second information in the first message to third information and send the third information to a third device.

In some embodiments, a dedicated management channel of the third device is established on the second device;

The receiving unit 901 is configured to receive, through a dedicated management channel of the third device, second information sent by the first device to the third device.

In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one of first information, where the first information is synchronization status information of a synchronization source clock acquired by the first device.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: the processing unit 903 is configured to adjust the second information to third information and send the third information to a third device after synchronizing the second information sent by the first device with the first device.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the implementation functions of the units in the time synchronization apparatus shown in fig. 9 can be understood with reference to the relevant description of the foregoing method. The functions of the units in the time synchronization apparatus shown in fig. 9 may be implemented by a program running on a processor or by a specific logic circuit.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram third of the structural composition of the information acquisition apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application, which is applied to a third device, as shown in fig. 10, and the time synchronization apparatus includes:

a receiving unit 1001, configured to receive third information sent by a second device, where the third information is synchronization status information after adjustment of second information sent by the second device to the third device by using the received first device;

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: a sending unit 1002, configured to send fourth information to a downstream node, where the fourth information is synchronization status information updated by the third information.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the implementation functions of the units in the information acquisition apparatus shown in fig. 10 can be understood with reference to the relevant description of the foregoing method. The functions of the respective units in the information acquisition apparatus shown in fig. 10 may be realized by a program running on a processor or by a specific logic circuit.

Fig. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be a first device or a second device or a third device, and the communication device 1100 shown in fig. 11 includes a processor 1110, where the processor 1110 may call and execute a computer program from a memory to implement the methods in the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 11, the communication device 1100 may also include a memory 1120. Wherein the processor 1110 may call and run a computer program from the memory 1120 to implement the methods in embodiments of the present application.

Wherein the memory 1120 may be a separate device from the processor 1110 or may be integrated into the processor 1110.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 11, the communication device 1100 may further include a transceiver 1130, and the processor 1110 may control the transceiver 1130 to communicate with other devices, and in particular, may send information or data to other devices, or receive information or data sent by other devices.

The transceiver 1130 may include, among other things, a transmitter and a receiver. Transceiver 1130 may further include antennas, the number of which may be one or more.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may be specifically a first device in the embodiments of the present application, and the communication device 1100 may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the first device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may be specifically a second device in the embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 1100 may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the second device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may be specifically a third device in the embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 1100 may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the third device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip of an embodiment of the present application. The chip 1200 shown in fig. 12 includes a processor 1210, and the processor 1210 may call and execute a computer program from a memory to implement the method in the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 12, the chip 1200 may further include a memory 1220. Wherein the processor 1210 may call and run computer programs from the memory 1220 to implement the methods in embodiments of the present application.

The memory 1220 may be a separate device from the processor 1210, or may be integrated into the processor 1210.

Optionally, the chip 1200 may also include an input interface 1230. Wherein the processor 1210 may control the input interface 1230 to communicate with other devices or chips, and in particular, may obtain information or data sent by other devices or chips.

Optionally, the chip 1200 may further include an output interface 1240. Wherein processor 1210 may control the output interface 1240 to communicate with other devices or chips, and in particular may output information or data to other devices or chips.

Optionally, the chip may be applied to the first device in the embodiment of the present application, and the chip may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the first device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the chip may be applied to the second device in the embodiment of the present application, and the chip may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the second device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the chip may be applied to the third device in the embodiment of the present application, and the chip may implement a corresponding flow implemented by the third device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

It should be understood that the chips referred to in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as system-on-chip chips, or the like.

It should be appreciated that the processor of an embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in software form. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components. The disclosed methods, steps, and logic blocks in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a decoded processor, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in a decoded processor. The software modules may be located in a random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. as well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and, in combination with its hardware, performs the steps of the above method.

It will be appreciated that the memory in embodiments of the present application may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double Data Rate SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be understood that the above memory is exemplary but not limiting, and for example, the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), direct RAM (DR RAM), and the like. That is, the memory in embodiments of the present application is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program.

Optionally, the computer readable storage medium may be applied to the first device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program causes a computer to execute a corresponding flow implemented by the first device in each method of the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer readable storage medium may be applied to the second device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program causes a computer to execute a corresponding flow implemented by the second device in each method of the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer readable storage medium may be applied to the third device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program causes a computer to execute a corresponding flow implemented by the third device in each method of the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising computer program instructions.

Optionally, the computer program product may be applied to the first device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute a corresponding procedure implemented by the first device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer program product may be applied to the second device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute a corresponding procedure implemented by the second device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer program product may be applied to the third device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute the corresponding flow implemented by the third device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer program.

Optionally, the computer program may be applied to the first device in the embodiments of the present application, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute a corresponding flow implemented by the first device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer program may be applied to the second device in the embodiments of the present application, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute a corresponding flow implemented by the second device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Optionally, the computer program may be applied to the third device in the embodiments of the present application, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute a corresponding flow implemented by the third device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein for brevity.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a first device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of time synchronization, applied to a first device, the method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device transmitting the second information to the third device comprises:

after determining that a second device is synchronous with the first device based on second information sent by the first device, the first device sends the second information to a third device through the second device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the position of the substrate comprises,

the method further comprises the steps of: the first device creating a dedicated management channel for the third device on the second device;

the first device sending second information to a third device, comprising: and the first device sends the second information to the third device through a special management channel of the third device.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second information comprises at least one status information of the first information.

5. A method according to any one of claim 1 to 3, wherein,

the method further comprises the steps of: the first equipment receives first capability information reported by the second equipment and the third equipment, wherein the first capability information comprises synchronous support capability information and/or state information synchronous support capability information;

the first device sending second information to a third device, comprising: the first device sends the second information to a third device after determining that the second device and the third device support synchronization support capability and/or status information synchronization support capability based on the first capability information.

6. A method of time synchronization, for use with a second device, the method comprising:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of providing the first layer comprises,

the second device receives second information sent by the first device to the third device, and the second device comprises: the second device receives a first message carrying the second information, which is sent by the first device to the third device;

the second device adjusts the second information into third information and then sends the third information to a third device, and the method comprises the following steps: the second device adjusts the second information in the first message to third information and sends the third information to a third device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second device has a dedicated management channel established thereon for the third device;

the second device receives second information sent by the first device to the third device, and the second device comprises:

And the second device receives second information sent by the first device to the third device through the special management channel of the third device.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the second information includes at least one of first information, the first information being synchronization status information of a synchronization source clock acquired by the first device.

10. The method according to any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the second device adjusts the second information to third information and resends it to a third device, comprising:

and after the second device synchronizes with the first device based on the second information sent by the first device, the second device adjusts the second information into third information and sends the third information to third device.

11. A method of time synchronization, applied to a third device, the method comprising:

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the second information comprises at least one of first information, the first information being synchronization status information of a synchronization source clock acquired by the first device.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein after the third device receives the third information sent by the second device, the method further comprises:

and the third equipment transmits fourth information to a downstream node, wherein the fourth information is the synchronization state information updated by the third information.

14. A time synchronization apparatus for use with a first device, the apparatus comprising:

15. A time synchronization apparatus for use with a second device, the apparatus comprising:

16. A time synchronization apparatus for use with a third device, the apparatus comprising:

17. A communication device, comprising: a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being adapted to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory, to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 5, or the method of any of claims 6 to 10, or the method of any of claims 11 to 13.

18. A chip, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a device on which the chip is mounted to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or the method of any one of claims 11 to 13.

19. A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or the method of any one of claims 11 to 13.