Patent ID: 8300615
Filing Date: 2012-10-30
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A device comprising: a radio that provides an air interface for communication with a plurality of other nodes in an ad hoc network, the air interface including a time-division multiple access interface having a plurality of time slots; a local clock; and a processor that controls operation of the radio to transceive data using the air interface, the processor configured to acquire a network time from one of the plurality of other nodes; to detect a number of control packets in the ad hoc network, the plurality of control packets each transmitted from one of the other nodes within one of the plurality of time slots; to determine a slot time in the network time for each of the control packets based upon corresponding header data for each of the control packets; to determine a time of arrival for each of the control packets relative to the local clock; to estimate an error in the local clock relative to the network time based upon the slot time and the time of arrival, thereby providing an offset; to adjust the local clock according to the offset in order to synchronize the local clock to the network time, thereby providing an adjusted timing; and transmit a packet in the time-division multiple access air interface using the adjusted timing.