This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwanese application no. 110143479, filed on Nov. 23, 2021. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The technical field relates to an uplink signal time difference adjustment system and method.
A timing advance mechanism is stipulated based on 3GPP standards. In the standard timing advance mechanism, a base station detects time difference between the base station and a user, and a control element of a media access control layer (MAC CE) sends the time difference to a user apparatus for adjustments. However, since the time difference sent to the user apparatus for adjustments has limited granularity, high QAM modulation is subject to limitations due to insufficient SINR.
One of exemplary embodiments provides an uplink signal time difference adjustment system, including a base station and multiple user apparatuses. The base station has a time slot boundary. Each user apparatus is connected to the base station via wireless communication. The base station is used for the following steps. Each first delay time of arrival of each uplink signal is detected based on the time slot boundary. Each second delay time of each uplink signal is adjusted according to multiple sampling points. Each time offset between each first delay time and each second delay time corresponding to each user apparatus is calculated. The time slot boundary is adjusted according to each time offset.
One of exemplary embodiments provides an uplink signal time difference adjustment method, adapted to a base station and including the following steps. Each first delay time of arrival of each uplink signal is detected based on a time slot boundary. Each second delay time of each uplink signal is adjusted according to multiple sampling points. Each time offset between each first delay time and each second delay time corresponding to each user apparatus is calculated. The time slot boundary is adjusted according to each time offset.
Several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below to further describe the disclosure in details.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide further understanding, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
Part of the embodiments of the disclosure will be described in detail below with accompanying drawings. For the reference numerals used in the following description, the same reference numerals appearing in different drawings will be regarded as the same or similar elements. These embodiments are only a part of the disclosure and do not disclose all possible implementations of the disclosure.
The distance between each of the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, UE3 and the base station 10 is different. Therefore, downlink signals received by the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, and UE3 from the base station 10 have different delay times ta1, ta2, and ta3 depending on their respective distances from the base station 10. Similarly, uplink signals UL1, UL2, and UL3 transmitted by the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, and UE3 to the base station 10 have different delay times ta1, ta2, and ta3 depending on their respective distances from the base station 10 while arriving at the base station 10. Among the above, the delay times of the downlink signals are roughly the same as the delay times of the uplink signals.
Uplink signals ULd1, ULd2, and ULd3 shown in
In an embodiment, the base station 10 respectively forms an offset vector according to the time offsets E1, E2, . . . , EU corresponding to the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, . . . UEU. For example, the base station 10 forms an offset vector {right arrow over (ta ta*)} according to the first delay times ta1, ta2, . . . , taU and the second delay times ta1*, ta2*, . . . , taU* corresponding to the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, . . . , UEU as shown below:
{right arrow over (ta ta*)}=(ta1*−ta1,ta2*−ta2, . . . ,ta|U|*−ta|U|)
Among the above, U is a total number of user apparatuses.
In addition, the base station 10 also forms a weight matrix w according to weights w1, . . . , w|U| corresponding to the user apparatuses UE1, UEU as shown below:
Among the above, those skilled in the art may set the corresponding weights w1, . . . , w|U|, according to the importance of the user apparatuses UE1, UEU. For example, in an uplink signal, if the signaling radio bearer (SRB) requirement is greater than the data radio bearer (DRB), a weight may be set according to SRB/DRB or according to a signal demodulation mode.
After gaining the offset vector {right arrow over (ta ta*)} and the weight matrix w, the base station 10 obtains the minimum value according to a product of the offset vector {right arrow over (ta ta*)} and the weight matrix w by a vector norm. The vector norm is a method of converting a vector into a scalar. The base station 10 obtains the minimum value (scalar) from the product of the offset vector {right arrow over (ta ta*)} and the weight matrix w by the vector norm, such as min∥w·{right arrow over (ta ta*)}∥p. With min∥w·{right arrow over (ta ta*)}∥p as the time slot boundary adjustment taadj, the time slot boundary SB is adjusted to the time slot boundary SB′ according to the time slot boundary adjustment taadj.
However, since the time slot boundary SB of the base station 10 has been adjusted to the time slot boundary SB′, with the time slot boundary SB′ as the benchmark, the second delay time ta1* of the uplink signal UL1′ and the second delay time ta2* of the uplink signal UL2′ are also be changed, such that the time offsets E1 and E2 between the first delay times ta1, ta2 and the second delay time ta1*, ta2* corresponding to the user apparatuses UE1 and UE2 are changed accordingly. With reference to
During the communication between the base station 10 and the user apparatuses through the uplink signals and the downlink signals, the base station 10 continues the adjustment according to the uplink signal of each user apparatus. Therefore, the base station keeps adjusting the time slot boundary SB to reduce uplink time deviation of all user apparatuses.
In an embodiment, without violating QoS principles, the media access control layer of the base station 10 may group the user apparatuses.
The base station 10 adjusts the uplink signals ULd1, ULd2, ULd3, and ULd4, and then the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, UE3, and UE4 transmit the uplink signals UL1′, UL2′, UL3′, UL4′ to the base station 10. With the time slot boundary SB as the benchmark, the uplink signal UL1′ is delayed by the second delay time ta1*, the uplink signal UL2′ is delayed by the second delay time ta2*, the uplink signal UL3′ is delayed by the second delay time ta3*, and the uplink signal UL4′ is delayed by a second delay time ta4*. The base station 10 respectively calculates time offsets E1, E2, E3, and E4 between the first delay times ta1, ta2, ta3, ta4 and the second delay time ta1*, ta2*, ta3*, ta4* corresponding to the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, UE3, and UE4.
In an embodiment, the media access control layer of the base station 10 may group the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, UE3, and UE4 according to the time offsets E1, E2, E3, and E4.
Furthermore, in the user apparatus group UEG, with the time slot boundary SB′ as the benchmark, the second delay time ta1* of the uplink signal UL1′ and the second delay time ta2* of the uplink signal UL2′ are changed as well, causing the time offsets E1 and E2 between the first delay time ta1, ta2 and the second delay time ta1*, ta2* corresponding to the user apparatuses UE1 and UE2 to be changed accordingly. With reference to
In view of this, a better grouping method may shorten the sampling period of the physical layer of the base station 10. For example, assuming that the resolution of the media access control layer of the base station 10 is 6 bits, then there are 31 sampling points on each divided half with the time slot boundary SB as a center. The time offsets E1, E2, . . . , EU between the first delay times ta1, ta2, . . . , taU and the second delay times ta1*, ta2*, . . . , taU* corresponding to the user apparatuses UE1, UE2, UEU are relative to the time slot boundary SB. If the 31 sampling points on one half of the time slot boundary SB is divided into 10 time slots, and user apparatuses having time offsets in the same time slot are grouped into the same user apparatus group, then the time offsets corresponding to the user apparatuses in each user apparatus group are close to each other.
According to
In the user apparatus group UEGa, the base station 10 calculates a time slot boundary adjustment taadja according to the time offset E1 of the user apparatus UE1 and the time offset E3 of the user apparatus UE3, and adjusts the time slot boundary SB to a time slot boundary SBa according to the time slot boundary adjustment taadja. In this way, in the user apparatus group UEGa, with the time slot boundary SBa as the benchmark, the second delay time ta1* of the uplink signal UL1′ and the second delay time ta3* of the uplink signal UL3′ are also changed, causing the time offsets E1 and E3 between the first delay times ta1, ta3 and the second delay times ta1*, ta3* corresponding to the user apparatuses UE1 and UE3 to be changed accordingly. With reference to
Similarly, in the user apparatus group UEGb, the base station 10 calculates a time slot boundary adjustment taadjb according to the time offset E2 of the user apparatus UE2 and the time offset E4 of the user apparatus UE4, and adjusts the time slot boundary SB to a time slot boundary SBb according to the time slot boundary adjustment taadjb. In this way, in the user apparatus group UEGb, with the time slot boundary SBb as the benchmark, the second delay time ta2* of the uplink signal UL2′ and the second delay time ta4* of the uplink signal UL4′ are also changed, causing the time offsets E2 and E4 between the first delay times ta2, ta4 and the second delay times ta2*, ta4* corresponding to the user apparatuses UE2 and UE4 to be changed accordingly. With reference to
In an embodiment, the base station further includes a physical layer and a media access control layer. The sampling points S are related to the resolution of a control element of the media access control layer. The media access control layer notifies the physical layer to adjust the time slot boundary according to each time offset.
In an embodiment, the uplink signal time difference adjustment method further includes grouping each user apparatus into multiple user apparatus groups according to each time offset corresponding to each user apparatus. In each user apparatus group, the time slot boundary relative to each user apparatus group is adjusted according to each time offset of each user apparatus in each user apparatus group.
In an embodiment, the uplink signal time difference adjustment method further includes forming an offset vector according to each time offset corresponding to each user apparatus, setting a weight corresponding to each user apparatus to form a weight matrix, obtaining the minimum value from a product of the offset vector and the weight matrix by a vector norm, and adjusting the time slot boundary according to the minimum value.
In summary, the uplink signal time difference adjustment system and method provided in the disclosure may enable the base station to modulate uplink signals without being limited by the resolution of the media access control layer of the base station. The time slot boundary is adjusted according to the difference between the original delay time and the delay time adjusted by the control element of the media access control layer corresponding to each user apparatus, thereby reducing the time difference of the uplink signals between the base station and the user apparatuses and improving the performance of the base station in modulating the uplink signals. In addition, through the timing fine-tuning mechanism of the base station, the granularity problem of the user apparatuses is fixed to improve the SINR of the base station system.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
110143479 | Nov 2021 | TW | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
9204411 | Chen et al. | Dec 2015 | B2 |
9749927 | Lohr et al. | Aug 2017 | B2 |
10123288 | Dinan | Nov 2018 | B2 |
10136367 | Zhang et al. | Nov 2018 | B2 |
10219230 | Fwu et al. | Feb 2019 | B2 |
10383110 | Blankenship et al. | Aug 2019 | B2 |
10644853 | Xu et al. | May 2020 | B2 |
10856257 | Lee et al. | Dec 2020 | B2 |
20140308956 | Zhang et al. | Oct 2014 | A1 |
20140369322 | Fwu et al. | Dec 2014 | A1 |
20160242133 | Venkob et al. | Aug 2016 | A1 |
20160302113 | Hwang | Oct 2016 | A1 |
20180063804 | Venkob et al. | Mar 2018 | A1 |
20180084546 | Guo | Mar 2018 | A1 |
20190208387 | Jiang | Jul 2019 | A1 |
20200413400 | Liu et al. | Dec 2020 | A1 |
20210281520 | Shrestha | Sep 2021 | A1 |
20210297149 | Hsieh | Sep 2021 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
102695267 | Dec 2014 | CN |
106605434 | Dec 2019 | CN |
113498014 | Oct 2021 | CN |
2557867 | Feb 2013 | EP |
2756719 | Jan 2020 | EP |
I459847 | Nov 2014 | TW |
201536008 | Sep 2015 | TW |
I679869 | Dec 2019 | TW |
Entry |
---|
J. Zhou et al., “Estimation and compensation of timing drift for NR-based NTN system,” Advances in Communications Satellite Systems. Proceedings of the 37th International Communications Satellite Systems Conference (ICSSC-2019), Oct. 29-Nov. 1, 2019, pp. 1-12. |
S. V. Ramanan et al., “On the Dependence Between User Detection and Timing Advancement in LTE Ranging Channels,” in IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 20, No. 7, Jul. 2016, pp. 1481-1484. |
Shah Zeb et al., “Impact of Indoor Multipath Channels on Timing Advance for URLLC in Industrial IoT,” 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), Jun. 7-11, 2020, pp. 1-6. |
F. Schaich et al., “Relaxed synchronization support of universal filtered multi-carrier including autonomous timing advance,” 2014 11th International Symposium on Wireless Communications Systems (ISWCS), Aug. 26-29, 2014, pp. 203-208. |
S. V. Ramanan et al., “Effective ranging techniques in LTE,” 2016 Twenty Second National Conference on Communication (NCC), Mar. 4-6, 2016, pp. 1-6. |
Giyoon Park et al., “Implicit Timing Advance for Cellular Uplink Transmission,” 2019 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology Convergence (ICTC), Oct. 16-18, 2019, pp. 834-836. |
D. Carrillo et al., “A low-cost test platform to estimate the LTE timing advance procedure,” 2016 8th IEEE Latin-American Conference on Communications (LATINCOM), Nov. 15-17, 2016, pp. 1-6. |
Yukun Zhang et al., “Timing Advance Estimation With Robustness to Frequency Offset in Satellite Mobile Communications,” 2020 IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC), Aug. 9-11, 2020, pp. 917-922. |
“Office Action of Taiwan Counterpart Application”, issued on Oct. 11, 2022, p. 1-p. 10. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20230164748 A1 | May 2023 | US |