WO2018099375A1

WO2018099375A1 - Synchronization method, synchronization device, synchronization apparatus and communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2018099375A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/113376
Authority: WO
Inventors: 胡新天; 韩柳燕
Original assignee: 中国移动通信有限公司研究院; 中国移动通信集团公司
Priority date: 2016-12-01
Filing date: 2017-11-28
Publication date: 2018-06-07
Also published as: CN108134644B; CN108134644A

Abstract

Disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are a synchronization method, a synchronization device, a synchronization apparatus and a system. The method applied in a first device comprises: synchronizing the first device with N second devices adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of a master time of each of the second devices, N being an integer not less than 2; locking and tracking said N time signals, to form N slave times; and calibrating, according to the N slave times, the master time of the first device. First, after the time signals of the second devices are obtained, the time signals will be locked and tracked to form slave times, thus avoiding the problem that synchronization cannot be achieved when acquiring time signals repeatedly or multiple times or the synchronization effects are poor. Second, the first device obtains the time signals of a plurality of adjacent second devices to synchronize with, rather than to be synchronized with an upstream device, thereby reducing the accumulation of synchronization errors caused by the synchronization of the downstream device and the upstream device, improving synchronization accuracy.

Description

Synchronization method, synchronization device, synchronization device, and communication system

Cross-reference to related applications

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201611094137.3, filed on Jan. 1, 2016, the entire content of

Technical field

The present disclosure relates to synchronization technologies in the field of communications, and more particularly to a synchronization method, a synchronization device, a synchronization device, and a communication system.

Background technique

Typically, each device can only lock time information for one upstream device at a single point in time. After a problem occurs with the synchronization between the upstream device, the device needs to reselect the upstream device, and after stably locking the device, switch to tracking the device. During the process of reselecting and waiting for the lock, the device cannot obtain the time signal of the time server, which may cause the synchronization effect of the device to decrease and affect the communication quality. In a more serious case, when the time server fails, the entire network device needs to switch the synchronization information to the standby server, so that the impact of the single point problem spreads to the entire network, resulting in synchronization of multiple or the entire network.

Summary of the invention

(1) Technical problems to be solved

In view of this, embodiments of the present disclosure are expected to provide a synchronization method, a synchronization apparatus, and a communication system that at least partially solve the above problems.

(2) Technical plan

In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present disclosure is implemented as follows: The first aspect of the disclosure provides a synchronization method, which is applied to the first device, and includes:

Synchronizing with the N second devices respectively adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of the main time of each of the second devices, wherein the N is an integer not less than 2; locking and tracking the N Time signal, forming N slave times;

The master time of the first device is calibrated based on the N slave times.

Based on the above solution, in a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the first device includes M slave units and one master unit, where the M is an integer not less than the N and not less than 2;

And synchronizing the N second devices that are respectively adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of the main time of each of the second devices, including:

Acquiring, by the nth slave unit, an nth time signal characterizing a master time of the nth second device;

The locking and tracking the N time signals to form N slave times includes:

And calibrating a slave time of the nth slave unit according to the nth time signal; wherein, n is an integer not greater than the N;

The calibrating the master time of the first device according to the N slave times includes:

The master time of the master unit is calibrated based on the slave time of at least N of the slave units.

Based on the above solution, in a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the calibrating the master time of the first device according to the N times of time, further includes:

Determining a synchronization status of the nth slave time and a master time of the nth second device;

When the synchronization condition satisfies a preset condition, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time.

Based on the above solution, in a feasible embodiment of the present disclosure, the determining, by the determining, the synchronization status of the nth slave time and the master time of the nth second device includes:

Comparing a first time deviation of the nth slave time from a master time of the nth second device;

When the synchronization condition meets the preset condition, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time, including:

When the first time deviation is less than a preset value, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time.

Based on the foregoing solution, in a possible implementation of the disclosure, the calibrating the master time of the first device according to the N times of time includes:

Comparing respectively the second time deviations of the N slave times from the master time of the first device;

Determining an adjustment value according to the second time deviation;

Adjusting a primary time of the first device according to the adjustment value.

Based on the above solution, in a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the N second devices respectively adjacent to the first device are synchronized to obtain a time signal of the master time of each of the second devices, including:

Receiving, respectively, packets sent by the N second devices;

Extracting time information in the message to obtain N pieces of the time signals.

Based on the foregoing solution, the N second devices that are respectively adjacent to the first device are synchronized to obtain a time signal of the primary time of each of the second devices, including:

Receiving physical time signals of the master time of the N second devices, respectively.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a synchronization apparatus, which is applied to a first device, and includes:

An acquiring module, configured to synchronize with each of the N second devices adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of a primary time of each of the second devices, where the N is an integer not less than 2;

Locking a tracking module for locking and tracking the N time signals to form N slave times;

And a calibration module, configured to calibrate a primary time of the first device according to the N slave times.

Based on the above solution, in a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the first device includes M slave units and one master unit; wherein, the M is an integer not less than the N and not less than 2;

The acquiring module is specifically configured to acquire, by using the nth slave unit, an nth time signal that represents a master time of the nth second device;

The lock tracking module is configured to calibrate a slave time of the nth slave unit according to the nth time signal, where n is an integer not greater than the N;

The calibration module is specifically configured to calibrate a master time of the master unit according to a slave time of at least N slave units.

Based on the above solution, in a possible embodiment of the disclosure, the device further includes:

a determining module, configured to determine a synchronization status of the nth slave time and a master time of the nth second device;

When the synchronization condition satisfies a preset condition, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time;

The calibration module, specifically, when the first time deviation is less than a preset value, calibrating a primary time of the first device according to the nth slave time.

Based on the above solution, in a feasible embodiment of the present disclosure, the determining module is specifically configured to compare the first time of the nth slave time with the master time of the nth second device The calibration module, specifically, when the first time deviation is less than a preset value, calibrating the master time of the first device according to the nth slave time.

Based on the above solution, in a feasible embodiment of the present disclosure, the calibration module is specifically configured to respectively compare a second time deviation of the N slave times with a master time of the first device; according to the second The time deviation determines an adjustment value, and the main time of the first device is adjusted according to the adjustment value.

Based on the foregoing solution, in a possible implementation of the disclosure, the acquiring module is specifically configured to receive, by the N, the second device, a message that is sent by the second device, and extract time information in the packet to obtain N The time signal.

Based on the above solution, in a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the acquiring module is specifically configured to separately receive physical time signals of N main time of the second device.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a synchronization device, where the synchronization device is a first device, including:

At least two slave units for acquiring a time signal of a master time of the second device adjacent to the first device, locking and tracking the time signal to form a slave time;

a main unit, configured to calibrate a master time of the main unit according to a slave time of the at least two slave units.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a communication system including a first device and a plurality of second devices adjacent to the first device;

a plurality of the second devices, configured to respectively send time signals of their own master time to the first device;

The first device is configured to acquire time signals of a plurality of the second devices, lock and track the time signal, form a slave time, and calibrate a master time of the first device according to the slave time.

A fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a computer-implemented synchronization device, including: a processor, a memory, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the computer program being The steps in the synchronization method as described above are implemented when the processor is executed.

A sixth aspect of the present disclosure provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps in the synchronization method as described above.

(3) Beneficial effects

The beneficial effects of the above technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:

The synchronization method, device and system provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first device performing synchronization, locking and tracking the time signal from a plurality of time signals of the main time of the adjacent second device to form a plurality of slave times And then calibrate the primary time of the first device according to the time. In this way, on the one hand, in the process of synchronization, because the time signal acquired from other devices is not locked, the synchronization is inaccurate, and the time required to repeatedly acquire other devices, and the time signal process of repeatedly acquiring other devices is repeated. In the middle, there is a problem that the synchronization cannot be synchronized or the synchronization effect is poor. On the other hand, instead of only acquiring the time signal from the upstream device for synchronization, but synchronizing with a plurality of adjacent slave devices, the mesh synchronization is used to replace the synchronization mode of the synchronization chain, thereby reducing synchronization. The error is accumulated by the upstream device to the downstream device step by step, which improves the synchronization accuracy and improves the synchronization effect. In addition, even if the time server fails, according to the synchronization method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first device itself realizes the locking and tracking of the time required for synchronization from time, so that the devices cannot be synchronized. The problem, which reduces the unsynchronization of all devices in the entire network caused by the time server. In summary, the synchronization method provided according to various embodiments of the present disclosure has the characteristics of high synchronization precision, short synchronization disorder time, and low probability.

DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below. It is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only the present disclosure. Some embodiments of the text may also be used to obtain other figures from these figures without departing from the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart diagram of a synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

2 is a schematic structural diagram of a synchronization apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a synchronization device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

4 is a schematic structural diagram of a first synchronization system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a second synchronization system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a third synchronization system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

detailed description

The technical solutions of the present disclosure will be further elaborated below in conjunction with the drawings and specific embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 1 , this embodiment provides a synchronization method, which is applied to a first device, and includes:

Step S110: Synchronizing with the N second devices adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of the main time of each of the second devices; wherein, N is an integer not less than 2;

Step S120: Lock and track the N time signals to form N slave times;

Step S130: Calibrate the master time of the first device according to the N slave times.

The “first” and “second” in the first device and the second device in this embodiment are generally referred to, and do not specifically refer to a certain device. In this embodiment, the first device and the second device are both devices that are adjacent to each other and different in the communication system. The first device and the second device are peer devices or peer devices, that is, the first device is not an upstream device of the second device, and the second device is not an upstream device of the first device. The first device and the second device are two devices that are adjacent to each other and can communicate with each other.

The first device will acquire a time signal from a plurality of adjacent second devices. The time signal here may be a time signal characterizing the master time of the second device. The master time here is a time signal since a device communicates with other devices, and uses the time to transmit an electrical signal or an electromagnetic wave signal or an optical signal carrying the information in the corresponding time-frequency resource.

In this embodiment, after the time signal of the master time of the second device is acquired, the time signal is locked and tracked to form the slave time of the first device.

In a specific implementation, the first device may include a plurality of slave units, and the slave units may also form a time signal, and in the embodiment, the time signal is locked and tracked to form a slave time. It can be understood that the slave time of the slave unit in the first device is calibrated according to the time signal, thereby realizing Calibration of time, and locking and tracking of the primary time of the second device.

The lock tracking the slave device's slave time herein may also include utilizing the acquired time signal as an input to the phase locked loop, using the phase locked loop to lock and track the time signal.

In step S130, the calibration of the master time of the first device is performed according to the slave time of the plurality of slave units. Multiple calibrations can be performed in step S130. For example, in step S130, multiple calibrations will be performed at predetermined time intervals. Since the master time of the other device is locked by the slave unit, it is not necessary to repeatedly acquire time from the second device during the calibration of the master time of the first device. If the main time of the main unit of the first device is disordered, it is not necessary to wait until the main time of the other device is re-acquired, and the main time can be calibrated according to its own time, so that time synchronization with other devices can be completed quickly and easily.

In this embodiment, since the slave time is synchronized with the master time of the plurality of adjacent devices, in this embodiment, the master time of the other device can be acquired while performing calibration, thereby avoiding the inability to perform during the acquisition time. The calibration of the primary time of the first device causes the first device itself and the downstream devices connected below it to be uncalibrated and unable to synchronize with the upstream device.

In a specific implementation, the N time signals are time pulses, and the step S120 may include: calculating N time pulses to obtain a mean or a median of phase differences among the N time pulses, using the mean of the phase differences or The median adjusts the phase of the time pulse of the first device to achieve synchronization of the time pulse of the first device with the time pulses of the N second device master times. In a specific implementation, each device in the communication network can be regarded as performing similar adjustments on the first device, so that synchronization of the entire network can be realized. Obviously, with this synchronization method, the upstream device and the downstream device can be no longer distinguished between the devices, and the downstream device is not synchronized to the upstream device, so that the accumulation of synchronization errors can be avoided and more accurate synchronization can be realized.

In some embodiments, the first device includes M slave units and one master unit, wherein the M is an integer not less than 2.

The step S110 may include: acquiring, by using the nth slave unit, an nth time signal that represents a master time of the nth second device.

The step S120 may include: calibrating a slave time of the nth slave unit according to the nth time signal; wherein the n is an integer not greater than the N; the N is not greater than the An integer of M.

The step S130 may include: calibrating a master time of the master unit according to a slave time of at least N slave units.

In the embodiment, the first device includes one main unit and a plurality of slave units. Both the master unit and the slave unit herein may correspond to a timing chip or the like, except that the master unit provides local time for the operation of the first device. The slave unit is mainly used for time calibration of the primary unit by the first device and the second device to achieve synchronization. In a specific implementation, in order to save hardware cost, the timing accuracy of the main unit may be higher than the timing accuracy of the slave unit to ensure the accuracy of the local time of the first device and reduce instability. Optionally, the timing precision of the master unit and the slave unit are consistent.

In the present embodiment, when acquiring the time signal of the second device, the slave device is used to acquire, and by calibrating the slave device's slave time, locking and tracking of the second device master time is realized.

In the embodiment, the locking may be: synchronizing the slave time of the first device with the master time of the second device; the tracking may be understood as: the slave time of the first device is in the master of the second device After the time synchronization, the timing is continued or the time signal is generated at the time after the synchronization, thereby achieving the effect of tracking the master time of the second device.

In step S130, the master time of the master unit is calibrated according to the slave time of the N slave units, that is, the master time of the second device is acquired and recorded in the slave unit as a medium, and is used to adjust the master unit in the first device. Master time.

In a specific implementation, the second device may also include: a primary unit and a secondary unit; that is, the timing structure or time structure of the second device is the same as the first device. In the embodiment, step S110 may be: one slave unit of the first device acquires a time signal from a master unit of a second device. In this case, the master time of the master unit of the plurality of second devices can be acquired by the first device including the plurality of slave units, and the master time of the master unit of the plurality of second devices (corresponding to the slaves of the plurality of slave units) Time), calibrating the master time of the primary unit of the first device, thereby implementing time alignment between a plurality of adjacent peer devices, thereby avoiding the stepwise accumulation of synchronization errors and the inability to synchronize during time acquisition.

In some embodiments, the step S130 may include: determining a synchronization status of the nth slave time and a master time of the nth second device; when the synchronization condition satisfies a preset condition, The master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time.

The synchronization condition here can characterize the synchronization accuracy between the slave time of each slave unit and the master time of other devices.

Further, the step S120 may include: comparing a first time deviation of the nth slave time with a master time of the nth second device, and when the first time offset is less than a preset And a value, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time.

The specific method may include: determining, by comparing the time of the sth slave unit and the sth master unit of the second device, the sth first time offset; the s is not greater than the N Positive integer. In the embodiment, the sth slave unit refers to any slave unit that performs time signal interaction with the second device. The s second device is also generally referred to as any device that performs time signal interaction with the slave unit in the first device. In this embodiment, a slave unit and a master unit of an adjacent device perform time comparison to obtain a first time offset. Because the slave unit is in the process of acquiring the master unit of the neighboring device, there may be a time error between the slave unit and the master unit of the adjacent second device even after the unit is calibrated due to problems such as transmission delay and calibration delay. In order to further improve the synchronization accuracy in this embodiment, the first time offset will also be acquired. For example, the packet exchanges, for example, packet packet interaction, acquires the time of the second device, and obtains the first time offset by comparing the acquired time with the slave unit. In this case, the step S120 includes: calibrating the master time of the master unit according to the first time offset and the slave time of the N slave units.

In this embodiment, one or more slave times that are better than the master time synchronization effect of the adjacent second device are combined with the first time offset value to calibrate the master time of the master unit.

In some embodiments, when specifically calculating the interval between the main units, if the N time error values have P first time deviation values less than a deviation threshold, according to the P first time deviation values and the From time, the master time of the first device is calibrated.

If the deviation threshold is greater than the calibration, the calibration of the master time of the first device is not performed according to the slave time, and the problem that the synchronization effect is poor during the calibration of the master time of the first device is avoided.

In some embodiments, the step S120 may include:

Determining an adjustment value according to the second time deviation;

Adjusting a primary time of the first device according to the adjustment value.

In this embodiment, the primary time of the first device herein has an original time, which is the time before the primary unit of the first device is calibrated. In this embodiment, N times and the first setting The prepared master time is compared, and after the comparison, at least N second time offsets are obtained. In the specific implementation, if M is greater than N, in order to reduce the data required to be recorded during the synchronous calibration process, for example, it is not necessary to record which N times of time have been time-aligned with the adjacent second device, and the ratio can be directly The second time offset of the original time of the M slave units and the master unit, the comparison manner necessarily includes the N slave times that are time-aligned with the second device. And according to the second time deviation, the adjustment value is determined. Finally, the adjustment value adjusts the main time of the main unit, thereby achieving precise synchronization of the main unit of the first device. The adjustment value may be a mean or a median of the plurality of the second time offsets.

In some embodiments, the step S110 may include: receiving, respectively, N messages sent by the second device; extracting time information in the message, and obtaining N the time signals.

The message here may be a packet time message, for example, a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) message. The time signal can be obtained by extracting time information carried by the message. For example, the time stamp of the packet is extracted, the time signal is obtained, and the packet content of the packet is extracted, and time information in the content of the packet is obtained, thereby obtaining the time signal. In summary, in the embodiment, the interaction of the time signals between the first device and the second device can be easily realized through message interaction, and has the characteristics of being simple to implement.

In other embodiments, the step S110 may include:

The physical time signal in this embodiment may include a time pulse, for example, a second pulse, which are the corresponding physical times. The first device may receive the physical time signal by using a phase locked loop or the like, for example, a second pulse, and then calibrate the instantaneous time of the slave unit according to the physical time signal, for example, using the output signal of the phase locked loop as the local time of the slave unit, thereby Time calibration of the unit. If the physical time signal is received from the second device, the main unit may implement time calibration in step S120 by phase adjustment or adjustment of a pulse length, thereby achieving synchronization.

It should be noted that the method described in this embodiment may further include:

Obtain frequency information of neighboring devices;

A neighboring device that uses the same operating frequency as the first device is selected as the second device. For example, the first device operates at 2 Mbps. If calibration synchronization is required, it needs to be calibrated to a device with the same operating frequency of 2 Mbps instead of any device. Therefore, in this embodiment, the method further includes:

The second device is selected by acquisition of frequency information. Specifically, for example, a neighboring device having the same operating frequency as the primary unit of the first device or having a frequency deviation within a predetermined range is acquired as the first device. Usually the operating frequency or frequency information of the master unit and the slave unit in a device is the same.

As shown in FIG. 2, the embodiment provides a synchronization device 100, which is applied to a first device, and includes:

The obtaining module 110 is configured to synchronize the N second devices adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of a primary time of each of the second devices, where the N is an integer not less than 2;

Locking tracking module 120, configured to lock and track the N time signals to form N slave times;

The calibration module 130 is configured to calibrate the master time of the first device according to the N times.

The synchronization device provided in this embodiment is a synchronization structure applied to the second device.

The obtaining module 110 may correspond to a communication interface, and may receive a time signal from the second device. The lock tracking module can correspond to a time chip and can be used to record and generate slave time.

The calibration module 130 can correspond to a processor or processing circuit or processing chip. The processor can include a central processing unit, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, an application processor or a programmable array, and the like. The processing circuit can include an application specific integrated circuit or the like.

In this embodiment, the acquisition module 110 will obtain time signals of a plurality of adjacent second devices of the first device, and the calibration module 130 will calibrate the master time of the first device according to the N slave times. On the one hand, it is no longer the calibration of the downstream device to the upstream device, and all devices are regarded as the network-like synchronous calibration of the same-level device, thereby achieving the synchronization accuracy improvement. On the other hand, during the synchronization process, the master time of other devices is locked and tracked. When multiple synchronizations are performed, it is not necessary to perform clock acquisition of other devices every time, or when one synchronization fails, it is not necessary to repeat the acquisition. In order to avoid the problem of unsynchronized or poor synchronization caused by acquiring the master time of other devices, and avoiding the problem of chained synchronization step-by-step synchronization failure.

In some embodiments, the first device includes M slave units and one master unit; wherein the M is an integer not less than 2;

The acquiring module 110 is specifically configured to acquire, by using the nth slave unit, an nth time signal that represents a primary time of the nth second device;

The lock tracking module 120 is specifically configured to calibrate the according to the nth time signal a slave time of the nth slave unit; wherein n is an integer not greater than the N; the N is an integer not greater than the M;

The calibration module 130 is specifically configured to calibrate a master time of the master unit according to a slave time of at least N slave units.

In the embodiment, the first device includes a plurality of slave units and one master unit. The obtaining unit 110 acquires a plurality of time signals from the plurality of second devices by using the slave unit. The calibration module 130 can be configured to control the main unit to perform calibration according to the slave time of the plurality of slave units, thereby implementing synchronization with the plurality of second devices to improve synchronization accuracy.

In some embodiments, the synchronization device 100 further includes:

a judging module (not shown), configured to determine a synchronization status of the nth slave time and a master time of the nth second device;

The calibration module 130 specifically calibrates the master time of the first device according to the nth slave time when the synchronization condition satisfies a preset condition.

For example, the determining module is specifically configured to compare a first time deviation between the nth slave time and a master time of the nth second device; the calibration module 130 is specifically used And when the first time deviation is less than a preset value, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time.

The determination module may correspond to a processor or processing circuit, or a comparator or a processor or processing circuit having a comparison function. The determining module obtains the first time offset value by comparing the time of the slave unit with the second device.

The calibration module 130, when the first time deviation is less than a preset value, calibrating the master time of the first device according to the nth slave time, so that the slave with poor synchronization effect with other devices can be replaced. Time, the calibration of the primary time of the local first device, again improves the calibration and synchronization accuracy of the master time between the two devices.

In some embodiments, the calibration module 130 is specifically configured to respectively compare a second time deviation of the N slave times with a master time of the first device; and determine, according to the second time offset, an adjustment value, according to The adjustment value adjusts a primary time of the first device. In this embodiment, the calibration module 130 calculates the second time deviation value, determines the adjustment value according to the second time deviation, and then uses the adjustment value to adjust the main time of the main unit to improve the synchronization accuracy again.

In some embodiments, the acquiring module 110 is configured to receive, by the N, the second device, a message that is sent by the second device, and extract time information in the packet to obtain the N time signals. In this embodiment, the time signal is obtained through message interaction. In some other embodiments, the acquiring module 110 is specifically configured to receive physical time signals of the primary time of the N second devices. In this embodiment, the acquiring unit 110 may also acquire the time signal by receiving a physical time signal. These messages are sent based on the primary time of the second device.

As shown in FIG. 3, the embodiment provides a synchronization device 200, where the synchronization device is a first device, and includes:

At least two slave units 210, for acquiring a time signal of a master time of a second device adjacent to the first device, locking and tracking the time signal to form a slave time;

The main unit 220 is configured to calibrate the main time of the main unit according to the slave time of the at least two slave units.

The synchronization device in this embodiment may be any one of the communication devices, for example, base stations at various levels, gateways at various levels, or communication devices at various levels. In the embodiment, the synchronization device includes at least one slave unit 210, and further includes a plurality of master units 220. In this embodiment, the slave unit 210 acquires the time signal of the master unit of the adjacent second device, and then the master unit 220 of the device performs the master unit 220 of the device according to the slave time of the plurality of slave units 210. Time calibration of the main time. The synchronization device 200 of this embodiment can be used to implement the foregoing synchronization method. For example, the main unit 220 is mainly used for comparing with the time of the slave unit 210, determining the time deviation, determining the adjustment value according to the time deviation, and adjusting the main time of the main unit 220 by using the adjustment value. For example, the slave unit may acquire a time signal by using a message, for example, a PTP message, or the like, or acquire a physical time signal or the like directly from an adjacent second device.

As shown in Figure 4, this embodiment provides a communication system, including a first device 310 and a plurality of second devices 320 adjacent to the first device 310;

a plurality of the second devices 320, respectively, for transmitting a time signal of its own master time to the first device 310;

The first device 310 is configured to acquire time signals of a plurality of the second devices, lock and track the time signal, form a slave time, and calibrate a master time of the first device according to the slave time.

In this embodiment, the synchronization system provides a time signal for synchronization by a plurality of second devices for a first device, where the time signal can be a time stamp or a physical time signal in a PTP message, for example. Both the first device 310 and the second device 320 are regarded as peer devices, so that mesh-like synchronization can be realized, thereby achieving synchronization improvement. In summary, this embodiment can be used to implement the aforementioned synchronization method.

Several specific examples are provided below in conjunction with the above embodiments:

Example 1:

As shown in FIG. 5, the present example provides a synchronization system including a plurality of devices; each of the devices includes a main unit and a plurality of slave units. A slave unit of a device can establish a connection with a master unit of an adjacent device for time signal interaction and time calibration of the slave unit, and finally time calibration and synchronization of the master unit between two adjacent devices.

As shown in FIG. 6, this example also provides a synchronization system. The synchronization system includes a plurality of devices as described above, each device including a master unit and a slave unit. The main unit includes an input subunit and an output subunit; the slave unit includes an input subunit and a comparison subunit. The input subunit of the slave unit is connected to the output subunit of the master unit of another device, acquires the time of the master unit of the other device, and calibrates the time of the slave unit. The comparison subunit of the slave unit compares the time of the master unit of the device with the slave unit, and then obtains a time offset, and then calibrates the time of the master unit by using the time offset.

Specifically, the input subunit maintains time synchronization with the main unit of the neighboring device by using PTP message interaction, and takes the acquired time as the slave unit local time. The input subunit simultaneously locks an external clock frequency signal such as 2 MHz to obtain frequency information that is the same as or maintains a specified frequency deviation from the device and other adjacent device main units.

The comparison subunit locks the main unit by the 1PPS signal, and extracts the time T _{M of the} main unit, and simultaneously extracts the local time T _{S(i) of the} slave unit, by comparing the main unit time T _M with the slave unit time T _S(i) Deviation, obtain the time deviation T _D(i) from the unit time and the main unit, and report the time deviation T _D(i) to the centralized management unit outside the device. Where T _D(i) = T _{M -} T _S(i) , i = 1, 2, ..., N. The main unit contains an input subunit and an output subunit.

The input subunit obtains frequency information through an external frequency signal such as 2 MHz, and provides frequency information to the output subunit to maintain the device time T _M ; the output subunit transmits the 1 PPS (second pulse) signal to the device and other adjacent devices. The slave unit outputs the time T _M .

The apparatus further includes: an external centralized management unit (not shown) that extracts a time offset of the primary unit and the one or more secondary units for each device; T _{D(i) is a} primary unit and a Time offset between i slave units, using the time offset to calculate the adjustment value T _A in a specified manner, and adjusting the time TM of the device master unit with the adjustment value T _A so that all devices in the network tend to be at the same time, in the device Time synchronization is achieved. among them,

The N is the number of slave units or the number of slave units that have acquired other neighboring devices.

Example two:

The time synchronization system provided by this example is composed of a plurality of devices connected to each other.

Optionally, the devices that make up the time synchronization system are at the same level in the network.

A plurality of devices constituting a time synchronization system are composed of a main unit and one or more slave units. In the device performing synchronization, when the time deviation of the main unit and the plurality of slave units is respectively compared, it is judged based on the synchronization state of the slave unit whether or not the time of the slave unit is extracted. Specifically, if the slave unit cannot currently obtain the time information of the adjacent master unit corresponding thereto or cannot correctly lock the adjacent master unit corresponding thereto, the time of the slave unit is not extracted, and the slave unit and the master unit are not compared. Time deviation.

One or more slave units are synchronized to different units of the main unit, and are synchronized by message interaction. Specifically, each slave unit exchanges a packet time message such as a PTP packet with a master unit of a different neighboring device, and uses the timestamp information in the packet to calculate the time of acquiring the neighboring unit of the other neighboring device, and serves as a slave unit. Local time. The slave unit continuously extracts the timestamp, locks the time of other neighboring device master units, and calculates the update local time.

Alternatively, one or more slave units are synchronized to a master unit of a different device, and synchronized using a physical layer synchronization method. Specifically, each slave unit receives a physical time signal such as 1 PPS (second pulse) from a different neighboring device, locks the time signal locally with a phase locked loop, and uses the phase locked loop output signal as the local time of the slave unit.

One or more slave units are synchronized to a master unit of a different device, and the slave unit acquires frequency information that is the same as or maintains a specified frequency deviation from the own device and other neighboring device master units. The slave unit obtains frequency information by using an external frequency signal such as 8000 Hz, 2 Mbps/2 MHz, and 10 MHz, an intra-band frequency signal such as E1, synchronous Ethernet, or a packet such as PTP. The specified frequency deviation should ensure that the synchronization accuracy of one or more slave units and different master units under the influence of frequency deviation meets the requirements in specific application scenarios.

Aligning the time deviation between the main unit and one or more slave units within the device and utilizing the obtained The time deviation calculates the time adjustment value, adjusts the time of the main unit of the device, so that multiple devices constituting the time synchronization system tend to be at the same time, and time synchronization is realized between the devices.

When the time deviation of the main unit and the one or more slave units is compared within the device, the time of the master unit and the time of one or more slave units are extracted by comparing the master unit time with the one or more slave unit times at the same time Deviation, obtaining one or more slave unit time and time offset of the master unit. For example, the slave unit receives a physical time signal such as 1PPS (second pulse) of the master unit, extracts the whole second information carried by the time signal, and discriminates the phase difference between the unit local time and the extracted time signal and the second time. The time offset between the unit and the main unit of the device.

The time offset is stored after the time offset of the master unit and one or more slave units is compared within the device. The obtained time deviation can be stored locally; the obtained time deviation can be sent to the centralized management unit inside the device; and the obtained time deviation can also be reported to the centralized management unit outside the device.

When adjusting the time of the device main unit by using the time deviation, extracting the time deviation of the main unit and one or more slave units (ie, obtaining the time deviation between the device and all its neighbors), calculating the time adjustment value by using the time deviation in a specified manner, and The time of the device's main unit is adjusted with the time adjustment value so that all devices in the network tend to be at the same time, and time synchronization is implemented between the devices. For example, when calculating the time adjustment value, the arithmetic mean or weighted average of the primary unit and one or more slave unit time offsets may be used as the time adjustment value.

Optionally, after calculating the time adjustment value by using the time deviation in a specified manner, extracting a time error value between one or more slave unit time and an actual time of the adjacent device main unit, and correcting the time adjustment value by using the time error value, Get more accurate time offset values. The time error value can be calculated by using PTP packet interaction.

The main unit has the time of the device and provides the time of the device to the slave units of different devices.

Optionally, the master unit extracts the absolute time of the upstream device or the time server as the output time. The time here is different from the main unit and the slave unit time, and is used for output to the user. Absolute time refers to the standard time commonly used worldwide, such as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Optionally, when the time synchronization system needs to work in cooperation with the external device, the main unit extracts the time of the upstream device or the time server as the local time.

When the time of the device is supplied to the slave units of different devices, the master unit transmits 1PPS (second pulse) The time is output to the slave unit of the device and other neighboring devices by means of a signal, an interactive PTP message, and the like.

Before the time of providing the device to the slave units of different devices, the master unit obtains frequency information by means of an external frequency signal, an in-band frequency signal such as an Ethernet, and a PTP message to maintain the device time.

The master unit and one or more slave units may have the same carrier, but have different functions through configuration.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the unit is only a logical function division, and the actual implementation may have another division manner. For example, multiple units or components can be combined, or can be integrated into another system, or some features can be omitted or not implemented. In addition, the coupling, or direct coupling, or communication connection of the components shown or discussed may be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be electrical, mechanical or other forms. of.

The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as the unit may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place or distributed to a plurality of network units. It is also possible to select some or all of the units according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present disclosure may be integrated into one processing module, or each unit may be separately used as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

A person skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the steps of implementing the above method embodiments may be completed by using hardware related to the program instructions. The foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the program is executed when executed. The foregoing storage device includes the following steps: the foregoing storage medium includes: a mobile storage device, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. A medium that can store program code.

The above description is only a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, but the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or within the technical scope disclosed in the present disclosure. Substitutes are intended to be covered by the scope of the present disclosure. Cause Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

A synchronization method is applied to the first device, including:

Synchronizing with the N second devices respectively adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of a primary time of each of the second devices, where N is an integer not less than 2;

Locking and tracking the N time signals to form N slave times;

The master time of the first device is calibrated based on the N slave times.
The method of claim 1 wherein

The first device includes M slave units and one master unit; wherein, the M is an integer not less than the N and not less than 2;

And synchronizing the N second devices that are respectively adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of the main time of each of the second devices, including:

Acquiring, by the nth slave unit, an nth time signal characterizing a master time of the nth second device;

The locking and tracking the N time signals to form N slave times includes:

And calibrating a slave time of the nth slave unit according to the nth time signal, where n is an integer not greater than the N;

The calibrating the master time of the first device according to the N slave times includes:

The master time of the master unit is calibrated based on the slave time of at least N of the slave units.
The method of claim 2, wherein

The calibrating the master time of the first device according to the N times, further comprising:

Determining a synchronization status of the nth slave time and a master time of the nth second device;

When the synchronization condition satisfies a preset condition, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time.
The method of claim 3, wherein

The determining a synchronization status of the nth slave time and the master time of the nth second device includes:

Comparing the nth slave time with the first time of the nth second device's master time deviation;

When the synchronization condition meets the preset condition, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time, including:

When the first time deviation is less than a preset value, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein

The calibrating the master time of the first device according to the N slave times includes:

Comparing respectively the second time deviations of the N slave times from the master time of the first device;

Determining an adjustment value according to the second time deviation;

Adjusting a primary time of the first device according to the adjustment value.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein

And synchronizing the N second devices that are respectively adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of the main time of each of the second devices, including:

Receiving, respectively, packets sent by the N second devices;

Extracting time information in the message to obtain N pieces of the time signals.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein

And synchronizing the N second devices that are respectively adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of the main time of each of the second devices, including:

Receiving physical time signals of the master time of the N second devices, respectively.
A synchronization device is applied to the first device, including:

An acquiring module, configured to synchronize with each of the N second devices adjacent to the first device to obtain a time signal of a primary time of each of the second devices, where the N is an integer not less than 2;

Locking a tracking module for locking and tracking the N time signals to form N slave times;

And a calibration module, configured to calibrate a primary time of the first device according to the N slave times.
The device according to claim 8, wherein

The first device includes M slave units and one master unit, where the M is an integer not less than the N and not less than 2;

The obtaining module is specifically configured to acquire, by using the nth slave unit, the nth second device The nth time signal of the standby master time;

The lock tracking module is configured to calibrate a slave time of the nth slave unit according to the nth time signal, where n is an integer not greater than the N;

The calibration module is specifically configured to calibrate a master time of the master unit according to a slave time of at least N slave units.
The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine a synchronization status of the nth slave time and a master time of the nth second device;

Wherein, when the synchronization condition satisfies a preset condition, the calibration module calibrates a master time of the first device according to the nth slave time;

When the first time deviation is less than a preset value, the calibration module calibrates the master time of the first device according to the nth slave time.
The device according to claim 10, wherein

The determining module is specifically configured to compare a first time deviation between the nth slave time and a master time of the nth second device; the calibration module, specifically when the first time offset When less than the preset value, the master time of the first device is calibrated according to the nth slave time.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein

The calibration module is specifically configured to respectively compare a second time deviation of the N slave times with a master time of the first device; determine an adjustment value according to the second time offset, and adjust the location according to the adjustment value The primary time of the first device.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein

The acquiring module is specifically configured to receive N packets sent by the second device, and extract time information in the packet to obtain N time signals.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein

The acquiring module is specifically configured to separately receive physical time signals of N main time of the second device.
A synchronization device, where the synchronization device is a first device, including:

At least two slave units for acquiring a time signal of a master time of the second device adjacent to the first device, locking and tracking the time signal to form a slave time;

a main unit, configured to calibrate a master time of the main unit according to a slave time of the at least two slave units.
A communication system, the communication system comprising a first device and a plurality of second devices adjacent to the first device;

a plurality of the second devices, configured to respectively send time signals of their own master time to the first device;

The first device is configured to acquire time signals of a plurality of the second devices, lock and track the time signal, form a slave time, and calibrate a master time of the first device according to the slave time.
A computer-implemented synchronization device comprising: a processor, a memory, and a computer program stored on the memory and operable on the processor, the computer program being executed by the processor to implement the claims The steps in the synchronization method described in any one of 1 to 7.
A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, the computer program being executed by a processor to implement the steps of the synchronization method of any one of claims 1 to 7.