Patent ID: 8520646

Claim:
An access node for a communication system, comprising: a communication interface configured to exchange communications with an antenna node over a first link; and a processing system configured to determine a first round trip delay of a communication over the first link, wherein the communication interface is further configured to exchange communications with a wireless communication device over a second link, the second link comprising the first link and a third link, the third link comprising a link between the antenna node and the wireless communication device, wherein the processing system is further configured to determine a second round trip delay of a communication over the second link and process the first round trip delay and the second round trip delay to calculate an access node timing offset based on the first round trip delay and the second round trip delay when the second round trip delay is larger than a predetermined maximum protocol timing offset, wherein the access node timing offset comprises a timing delay of a transmission of symbols in a communication over the second link, and the access node timing offset is larger than the predetermined maximum protocol timing offset; and wherein the communication interface is further configured to transmit a downlink communication to the wireless communication device through the second link, and receive an uplink communication from the wireless communication device through the second link, wherein the uplink communication is received according to the access node timing offset.