Patent ID: 8811374

Claim:
A method comprising: synchronizing, by a first mobile station in a wireless network, with an access node; receiving a connection message from the access node, the connection message comprising timing advance parameters of mobile stations in a device-to-device group and a maximum device-to-device transmission power level allowed, the device-to-device group comprising at least the first mobile station and a second mobile station; repeatedly sending a synchronization message to the second mobile station until receiving a synchronization acknowledgement from the second mobile station, the synchronization message being sent with an initial transmission power level based at least partly on a difference between timing advance parameters of the first mobile station and the second mobile station, and increasing transmission power levels to the maximum device-to-device transmission power comprised in the connection message; and receiving the synchronization acknowledgment message from the second mobile station, sending a transmission power message to the second mobile station, the transmission power message comprising a transmission power level of the synchronization message corresponding to the received synchronization acknowledgment message, wherein the synchronizing with the access node comprises: sending a preamble to the access node; and receiving a response from the access node, the response comprising timing alignment information and an initial uplink grant.