Method and apparatus for timebase synchronization for use with cellular base stations

Abstract

A server-assisted approach for synchronizing timebases (and) in a client-server system utilizes global positioning system (GPS) receivers (and) at both the client and server. In a typical implementation, the GPS receiver () associated with the client system receives fragmentary or incomplete data from satellites that are part of the GPS. Thus, the client GPS receiver () is capable of receiving only fragmentary information and cannot derive accurate time signals therefrom. The server system () is associated with a GPS receiver () capable of generating accurate time and position data based on signals from GPS satellites (). The fragmentary information from the client GPS receiver () is transmitted to the server () along with time information indicating the time at which the client captured the fragmentary GPS data. The server () analyzes the fragmentary GPS data with respect to the complete GPS data available from the GPS receiver () associated with the server. The server () accurately determines the actual time at which the fragmentary GPS data was captured and transmits timing signals to the client (). The timing signals are used to correct the client timebase () thus synchronizing the client and server timebases (and).