Abstract:
A method, system and apparatus for notifying the Network Standard Time Information are provided by the present invention. The present invention is used to notify the Network Standard Time Information to a User Equipment (UE) in the Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) mechanism, thus ensuring that the local time of the UE is consistent with the Network Standard Time Information of the network side, and enabling the UE to achieve the MBMS at a prescribed time. The said method comprises the following steps: the network side adds the Network Standard Time Information into the MBMS point-to-multipoint Control CHannel (MCCH) message; the network side notifies the Network Standard Time Information to the UE by transmitting the said MCCH message to the UE.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a US National Stage of International Application No. PCT/CN2009/001512, filed 21 Dec. 2009, designating the United States, and claiming priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200810240165.0 filed 18 Dec. 2008. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the field of communications and particularly to a method, system and apparatus for notifying network standard time information. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, downlink communication services may be divided into two categories, i.e., a unicast service and a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), where the former refers to a point-to-point service of transmitting data from a data source to a User Equipment (UE) and the latter refers to a point-to-multipoint service of transmitting data from a data source to a plurality of user equipment. 
     In a radio access network, multicast and broadcast of both an all-text message at a low rate and a multimedia service at a high rate may be implemented in an MBMS by using a common transport channel and a common radio bearer. 
     However, an existing MBMS broadcast in a mobile cellular network has no possibility of notifying system time to a UE. An MBMS control channel generally is an MBMS multipoint Control CHannel (MCCH), and an MCCH message includes the following information: 
     1. MBMS access information; 
     2. MBMS common point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) radio bearer information; 
     3. MBMS current cell point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) radio bearer information; 
     4. MBMS general information; 
     5. MBMS modified services information; 
     6. MBMS neighboring cell point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) radio bearer information; and 
     7. MBMS unmodified services information. 
     Particularly, the MBMS access information is responsible for passing a parameter of an MBMS counting process, and since no counting process is configured in an operation of an MBMS Single Frequency Network (MBSFN), a UE may not fetch this parameter; the MBMS common point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) radio bearer information is responsible for configuration of the respective Radio Bearers (RBs); the MBMS current cell point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) radio bearer information is responsible for configuration of an RB of a current cell; the MBMS general information is responsible for configuration information of an MBMS Indicator CHannel (MICH) and information of some counters; the MBMS modified services information is responsible for passing information on a modified service; the MBMS neighboring cell point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) radio bearer information is responsible for passing information on an RB of a neighboring cell; and the MBMS unmodified services information is responsible for passing information on an unmodified service. 
     At present, a UE acquires an MBMS service in the following procedure: when a separate Secondary Common Control Physical CHannel (SCCPCH) carries merely an MBMS service, the UE fetches a System Information Block (SIB) 5 first and retrieves MBMS configuration information from the Secondary Common Control Physical CHannel (SCCPCH) system information of the MBMS, and after knowing configuration information of an MCCH of the MBMS, the UE can locate the MCCH among corresponding physical and transport channels and fetch MBMS modified services information and MBMS unmodified services information and also MBMS general information to retrieve configuration information of an MICH and possibly some information on a preferred frequency, a timer (T318), a counter and a cell group identity and also optional configuration information of an MBMS point-to-multipoint Scheduling CHannel (MSCH). If there is the MBMS service to be received by the UE, then the UE receives the corresponding MBMS service directly. If there is no MBMS service to be received by the UE, then the UE listens to the MICH. 
     As can be apparent, the UE fetches the SIB5first, then finds the MCCH from the SIB5 and the configuration information of the MICH from the MBMS general information in the MCCH and next listens to the MICH to determine the arrival time of the MBMS service to be received by the UE. 
     The UE receives the MCCH information starting from the next modification cycle notified in notification information upon determining the arrival of the MBMS service to be received by the UE. The UE knows from the MCCH whether the specific service arrives and a specific location of the arriving service and configures a corresponding bearer to receive the MBMS service starting from the next modification cycle. 
     However in view of the unidirectional downlink of an MBMS broadcast network, the UE cannot request a network server for system time information. No system time information of the network side is carried on the MCCH, and the time of the UE (including the time of respective applications in the UE) has to depend only upon its own setting and the UE cannot revise the local time to the time of the network side, so that the time of the UE may be inconsistent with that of the network side and consequently the UE cannot receive the MBMS service normally. 
     For example, a data unit (slice) of a TV program is validated at (valid from) 19:00 and invalidated at (valid to) 19:30, and a user equipment accesses a channel under the control of parameters including a start time, an end time, etc., of a distribution window of the data unit (slice) in a schedule and presents contents of a service under the control of parameters including a start time, an end time, etc., of a presentation window, but this mechanism is effected on the precondition that the time of the user equipment can be kept consistent with the system time of the network side; otherwise, the service would not be offered as expected. For example, the data unit (slice) of the program is validated at (valid from) 19:00 and invalidated at (valid to) 19:30, but there is a one-hour difference between the time locally set at the user equipment and the system time of the network side, so that the slice of the program is validated and invalidated at some unexpected time. 
     In view of the foregoing, the system time of the network side can not be notified to the UE in the MBMS mechanism in the prior art, thus making it impossible to ensure normal reception of an MBMS service at the UE. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and apparatus for notifying network standard time information to a UE in an MBMS mechanism, thereby ensuring that the local time of the UE is kept consistent with the network standard time of the network side, so that the UE can acquire an MBMS service at a specified time. 
     An embodiment of the invention provides a method for notifying network standard time information, which includes: 
     adding, at the network side, network standard time information to a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Multipoint Control CHannel (MCCH) message; and 
     notifying from the network side the network standard time information to a user equipment by transmitting the MCCH message to the user equipment. 
     An embodiment of the invention provides a method for acquiring a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), which includes: 
     determining, by a user equipment, local time determined from network standard time information carried in an MBMS Multipoint Control CHannel (MCCH) message transmitted from the network side; and 
     acquiring by the user equipment an MBMS service from the network side according to the local time. 
     An embodiment of the invention provides a base station including: 
     a system time adding unit configured to add network standard time information to a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Multipoint Control CHannel (MCCH) message; and 
     a transmission unit configured to transmitting the MCCH message carrying the network standard time information to a user equipment. 
     An embodiment of the invention provides a user equipment including: 
     a reception unit configured to receive a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Multipoint Control CHannel (MCCH) message transmitted from the network side; and 
     a system time retrieval unit configured to retrieve network standard time information from the MCCH message. 
     An embodiment of the invention provides a communication system including: 
     a base station configured to transmit a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Multipoint Control CHannel (MCCH) message carrying network standard time information to a user equipment; and 
     the user equipment configured to receive the MBMS Multipoint Control CHannel (MCCH) message transmitted from the base station and to retrieve the network standard time information from the message. 
     In the embodiments of the invention, the network standard time information is adding at the network side to the Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Multipoint Control Channel (MCCH) message; and the network standard time information is notified from the network side to the user equipment by transmitting the MCCH message to the user equipment, thereby transmitting the network standard time information to the user equipment over a broadcast network to ensure that the local time of the UE is kept consistent with the network standard time of the network side, so that the UE can acquire the MBMS service at a specified time. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication system according to an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the structure of an MBMS service access unit according to an embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic chart of a flow of a method for notifying network standard time information according to an embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and apparatus for notifying network standard time information to a UE in an MBMS mechanism, thereby ensuring that the local time of the UE is kept consistent with the network standard time of the network side, so that the UE can acquire an MBMS service at a specified time, where the standard time of the network side can be referred to as network standard time or system time of the network side. 
     It is proposed in the embodiments of the invention to add at the network side the network standard time information to an MCCH message, and specifically, as can be apparent from the analysis of the procedure in which the UE acquires the MBMS service, the UE upon being powered on generally fetches the MBMS modified services information, the MBMS unmodified services information and the MBMS general information in the MCCH message and then determines from such information whether the MBMS service will arrive, and if so, then the UE proceeds with fetching the bearer information of the MBMS service. Therefore in the embodiments of the invention, the network standard time information may be added at the network side to the MBMS modified services information, the MBMS unmodified services information or the MBMS general information. 
     Technical solutions according to the embodiments of the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the drawings. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a communication system according to an embodiment of the invention includes a base station  11  and at least one user equipment  12 . 
     The base station  11  is configured to transmit an MCCH message carrying network standard time information to the user equipment  12 . 
     The user equipment  12  is configured to receive the MCCH message transmitted from the base station  11  and to retrieve the network standard time information therefrom. 
     Preferably, the base station  11  includes: 
     a system time adding unit  111  configured to add the network standard time information to MBMS modified services information, MBMS unmodified services information and/or MBMS general information in the MCCH message; and 
     a transmission unit  112  configured to transmit the MCCH message carrying the network standard time information to the user equipment  12 . 
     Preferably, the user equipment  12  includes: 
     a reception unit  121  configured to receive the MCCH message transmitted from the base station  11 ; 
     a system time retrieval unit  122  configured to retrieve the network standard time information from the MCCH message; 
     a local time calibration unit  123  configured to calibrate the local time of the user equipment  12  against the network standard time information; and 
     an MBMS service acquisition unit  124  configured to retrieve the local time and to acquire an MBMS service from the network side according to the local time, where the local time is the time calibrated against the network standard time information. 
     Preferably, referring to  FIG. 2 , the MBMS service acquisition unit  124  includes: 
     an MBMS arrival time determination unit  21  configured to determine the arrival time of the MBMS service required by a user of the user equipment; 
     a listening time determination unit  22  configured to determine from the arrival time of the MBMS service determined by the MBMS arrival time determination unit  21  the time to listen to an MBMS control channel (including an MICH and an MCCH); and 
     a service acquisition unit  23  configured to check the local time in real time, to listen to the MBMS control channel when the local time comes to the time to listen to the MBMS control channel determined by the listening time determination unit  22  and to acquire the MBMS service through listening to the MBMS control channel. 
     For example, the UE receives the network standard time information of 2:00 p.m., and the MBMS service (e.g., news) of interest to the user arrives at 7:00 p.m., then the UE may first calibrate the local time upon reception of the network standard time information and monitor the calibrated local time in real time without listening to the MBMS control channel for that moment but will listen to the MBMS control channel when the local time comes to 6:59 p.m., that is, starting from the last minute prior to the arrival of the MBMS service, thereby acquiring the MBMS service of interest to the user through listening to the MBMS control channel. 
     It shall be noted that since the MBMS modified services information and the MBMS unmodified services information relate to information on a specific service, it is preferred to add the network standard time information to the MBMS general information because if the UE listening to the MCCH can retrieve the MBMS modified services information and the MBMS unmodified services information and thereby determine whether the MBMS service of interest to the user will arrive in the current modification cycle, then the UE may receive the MBMS service, without knowing the exact network standard time information, immediately after determining that the MBMS service of interest to the user will arrive in the current modification cycle. 
     The MBMS general information defined in an embodiment of the invention includes specific information as depicted in Table 1 below: 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Information 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 element/Group 
                   
                   
                   
                 Release 
               
               
                 name 
                 Needed 
                 Type and reference 
                 Semantics description 
                 Version 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 Message type 
                 Must be 
                 Message type 
                   
                 REL-6 
               
               
                   
                 Present 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 (MP) 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 MBMS preferred 
                 Optional 
                 MBMS preferred 
                 If the cell is operating in MBSFN mode 
                 REL-6 
               
               
                 frequency 
                 (OP) 
                 frequency 
                 as indicated in subclause 8.1.1.6.3, the 
                   
               
               
                 information 
                   
                 information 
                 UE behavior upon reception of this 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 10.3.7.43a 
                 Information Element, IE, is 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 unspecified. 
                   
               
               
                 MBMS timers and 
                 Must be 
                 MBMS specific 
                   
                 REL-6 
               
               
                 counters 
                 Present 
                 timers and counters 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 (MP) 
                 10.3.9a.11 
                   
                   
               
               
                 Network Standard 
                 Optional 
                 Year: Month: Date: 
                 The system may selectively transmit it, 
                 REL-8 
               
               
                 Time Information 
                 (OP) 
                 Hour: Minute: 
                 and if this information element is 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Second: 
                 present, the UE may update internal 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Millisecond 
                 timers according to the time and 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 determine whether to receive MCCH 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 channel. Noted that the time is the time 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 that the system transmits the message 
                   
               
               
                 MICH 
                 Must be 
                 MICH 
                   
                 REL-6 
               
               
                 configuration 
                 Present 
                 configuration 
                   
                   
               
               
                 information 
                 (MP) 
                 information 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 10.3.9a.14 
                   
                   
               
               
                 Cell group identity 
                 Must be 
                 Bit string (12) 
                 Identify the group of cells for which the 
                 REL-6 
               
               
                   
                 Present 
                   
                 same common RLC and PDCP entity is 
                   
               
               
                   
                 (MP) 
                   
                 used as the current cell 
                   
               
               
                 Default MSCH 
                 Optional 
                 MSCH 
                 Default MSCH configuration 
                 REL-6 
               
               
                 configuration 
                 (OP) 
                 configuration 
                   
                   
               
               
                 information 
                   
                 information 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 10.3.9a.16 
                   
                   
               
               
                 Indicate changes 
                 Must be 
                 Boolean 
                 TRUE means that the UE indicates 
                 REL-6 
               
               
                 in MBMS Selected 
                 Present 
                   
                 changes in MBMS selected services in 
                   
               
               
                 Services 
                 with 
                   
                 URA_PCH, CELL_PCH or 
                   
               
               
                   
                 default 
                   
                 CELL_FACH. Defaulted FALSE. If the 
                   
               
               
                   
                 values 
                   
                 cell is operating in MBSFN mode as 
                   
               
               
                   
                 (MD) 
                   
                 indicated in subclause 8.1.1.6.3, the UE 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 behaves as if this IE has the value 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 FALSE. 
                   
               
               
                 MBSFN 
                 Optional 
                 MBSFN 
                 May be included for FDD and 
                 REL-7 
               
               
                 inter-frequency 
                 (OP) 
                 inter-frequency 
                 3.84/7.86 Mcps TDD if the cell is 
                   
               
               
                 neighbor list 
                   
                 neighbor list 
                 operating in MBSFN mode. 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 10.3.7.43b 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     Particularly, the “Network Standard Time Information” depicted in Table 1 above refers to the network standard time information, “MP” represents “Required,” and “OP” represents “Optional,” that is, the “Network Standard Time Information” in the table is optional and the network standard time information may not necessarily be carried. “REL-6” and “REL-8” represent Release version 6 and Release version 8 respectively. 
     It shall be noted that if the network standard time information carried in the MBMS general information is precise in seconds, then it may be the time that the MBMS general information is transmitted from the network side via an air interface, and if it is precise in milliseconds, then it may be the time as presumed at the network side that the UE receives the MBMS general information. 
     The network standard time information is added to the MBMS general information transmitted to the UE so that the UE can know from the information the network standard time information. Thus the UE receives the network standard time information upon power-on and thereby determines how soon a service which it subscribes will arrive and hence determines whether to listen to the MBMS control channel. Further it can set a period of time by which to listen to the MBMS control channel ahead of time. 
     Furthermore, the network standard time information transmitted from the network side to the UE in an embodiment of the invention may be absolute time or relative time. When the same absolute time is maintained at the network side and the UE, the relative time can be transmitted from the network side to the UE to thereby reduce the amount of transmitted data. The UE can derive the network standard time information from the maintained absolute time. 
     Contents of the elements in the network standard time information included in Table 1 above are as depicted in Table 2 below: 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 Network 
                 Optional 
                 Relative 
                 The system may selectively transmit it, and if this 
                 REL-8 
               
               
                 Standard 
                 (OP) 
                 time 
                 information element is present, the UE may update internal 
                   
               
               
                 Time 
                   
                   
                 timers according to the time and determine whether to 
                   
               
               
                 Information 
                   
                   
                 receive the MCCH channel. Noted that the time may be the 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 time that the system transmits the MCCH message 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     For example, the same absolute time is maintained in 10 ms at the network side and the UE by being represented with 64 bits among which a System Frame Number (SFN) consists of the last 12 bits (i.e., lower 12 bits), and then relative time can be transmitted simply by transmitting the 52 bits (upper 52 bits) preceding the 12 bits, and upon reception of the 52-bit relative time, the UE can derive the absolute time of the system by adding the 12-bit SFN to the relative time carried in the 52-bit information element. For example, the SFN is 1111 1111 1111 representing 4095×10=40950 ms. If the preceding 52 bits are 00 . . . 001, then the absolute time is 1 1111 1111 1111, i.e., 81910 ms. If GPS time is in use, then 81910 ms mean elapsing of 81910 ms from the initial GPS time. Since the SNF can be retrieved from the normal system broadcast, it will be sufficient to transmit the upper 52 bits of the absolute time. 
     Since the SFN of the system is always the same as that maintained at the UE, a 12-bit overhead can be dispensed with by transmitting the relative time of the system. If the Global Positioning System (GPS) with initial GPS time of 1980:January:6 th :00:00:00 is indicated for use as a time reference source of the UE and the network side along with the upper bits of the time information, then the relative time information of Year:Month:Date:Hour:Minute:Second can be derived from the absolute time at the UE and the network side. Of course, an alternative time reference resource, e.g., North Star, Galileo, etc., can be indicated. Initial time may vary from one time reference resource to another, but the same information of Year: Month: Date: Hour: Minute: Second shall be derived in the end. 
     Furthermore, since the MCCH message with the same contents shall be transmitted repeatedly in a modification cycle on the MCCH (as in the existing mechanism), the time indicated in the network standard time information carried in the MCCH message transmitted repeatedly in the same modification cycle on the MCCH is the time that the MCCH message was initially transmitted on the MCCH. 
     In view of the possibility that the UE may not receive the MCCH message including the network standard time information initially transmitted from the network side (where the carried network standard time information indicates the time that the MCCH message was transmitted from the network side) but may retrieve the network standard time information in a periodically retransmitted message of the MCCH message, the UE calibrates the local time against the network standard time information in this case in the following procedure. 
     The first operation is to compare a current SFN with a “relevant SFN” to derive the difference thereof. 
     Particularly, the current SFN refers to an SFN of the network standard time information currently retrieved by the UE, that is, the SFN upon transmission from the network side of a retransmitted message of the MCCH message including the network standard time information, and the relevant SFN refers to an SFN upon initial transmission from the network side of the MCCH message including the network standard time information in an MCCH modification cycle. 
     The second operation is to derive an accurate standard time as a result of adding the network standard time indicated in the network standard time information to the time difference derived in the first operation so that the UE maintains the standard time as the local time. 
     The UE calibrates the local time against the network standard time information at an interval of time which depends on the UE&#39;s own setting. The UE does not need to calibrate the local time upon each reception of the network standard time information. 
     In summary, referring to  FIG. 3 , an embodiment of the invention provides a method for notifying network standard time information, which includes: 
     an operation S 301  of adding, at the network side, network standard time information to an MCCH message; and 
     an operation S 302  of transmitting from the network side the MCCH message carrying the network standard time information to a user equipment. 
     Preferably, the network standard time information is added at the network side to MBMS modified services information, MBMS unmodified services information or MBMS general information in the MCCH message. The network standard time information is absolute time or relative time. 
     The network standard time information is transmitted from the network side to the user equipment over a broadcast network so that the user equipment can apply the time information to a variety of local applications, which may be of great significance to a broadcast-type service. 
     Evidently those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to the invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus the invention is also intended to encompass these modifications and variations thereto provided the modifications and variations come into the scope of the claims appended to the invention and their equivalents.