Patent ID: 7286841

Claim:
A method for wireless communication systems to maintain uplink synchronization in P2P (peer-to-peer) communication, performed by a UTRAN (Universal mobile telecommunications system Terrestrial Radio Access Network) base station transceiver of a wireless communication system, comprising: overhearing a direct communication link of the P2P communication between two UEs (user equipments) with the UTRAN base station transceiver; computing a characteristic parameter of each UE at the UTRAN base station transceiver according to the overheard information transferred by each UE during P2P communication, wherein said computed characteristic parameter of each UE is based upon midamble information in a traffic burst structure of the overheard information of the direct communication link; determining SS (synchronization shift) information of each UE at the UTRAN base station transceiver according to the computed characteristic parameter of each UE; and transmitting the determined SS information from the UTRAN base station transceiver to a corresponding UE via a downlink common control channel wherein responsive to the SS information said corresponding UE operates to maintain uplink synchronization with the UTRAN base station transceiver during the P2P communication between the two UEs.