Patent ID: 7221686

Claim:
A method for determining a relationship between the timing of a local clock of a node with respect to the timing of a local clock of at least one other node in a wireless communications network, comprising: transmitting a clock information request message from said node to said other node at a request transmission time; receiving at said node a response message from said other node at a response reception time, said response message including timing information pertaining to a request reception time at which said other node received said clock information request message and response transmission time at which said other node transmitted said response message; and calculating a difference between the timing of said local clock of said node and said local clock of said other node based on said timing information, said request transmission time and said response reception time, controlling said other node to transmit a subsequent signal at a beginning of a time slice; receiving said subsequent signal at said node; calculating a subsequent transmission time at which said local clock of said other node was reading when said other node transmitted said subsequent signal based on said calculated difference between the timing of said local clock of said node and said local clock of said other node; and comparing said subsequent transmission time to a time representing a beginning of a time slice to determine a propagation time for said subsequent signal to propagate between said other node and said node.