Synchronization of timing advance and deviation

A mobile terminal (MT) for a communication system which supports base station (BS)/mobile terminal (MT) wireless bi-directional communications via utilization of a radio frame format defined by radio frames that include a numeric identifying designation where a BS transmits selectively formatted communication data to MTs within system radio frames, including timing advance (TA) command signals which include TA data and a Connect Frame Number (CFN) specifying a particular radio frame for effectuating a timing adjustment by a MT, the mobile terminal (MT) comprising:

• a transmitter and an associated processor configured to transmit selectively formatted communication data to a BS within system radio frames synchronized by said processor;
• and
• a receiver configured to receive communication data from the BS within system radio frames;
• and
• said MT processor configured to adjust the timing of communication data transmitted by said MT processor in response to TA data in a received TA command signal commencing in the radio frame specified in the CFN of the received TA command signal.

A method of synchronizing communication data at a base station for a communication system supporting wireless bi-directional communications between a base station (BS) and a plurality of mobile terminals (MTs) via utilization of a radio frame format defined by radio frames that include a numeric identifying designation, where the BS transmits selectively formatted communication data to MTs within system radio frames and receives communication data from MTs within system radio frames, and at least one mobile terminal (MT) transmits selectively formatted communications data to the BS within system radio frames and receives communication data from said BS within system radio frames, the method comprising:

• a) measuring timing deviation (TD) of communication data received from a selected MT by the BS and performing the following steps when the measured TD does not fall within a selected timing synchronization range;
• b) generating a TA command signal which includes:
• TA data calculated based upon the measured TD of the communication data received from the selected MT, and
• a Connect Frame Number (CFN) specifying a particular radio frame for effectuating a timing adjustment by the selected MT;
• c) transmitting the TA command signal to the selected MT;
• d) if the TA command signal is received by the selected MT, adjusting the timing of communication data transmitted by the selected MT in response to the TA command signal based on the TA data and commencing in the radio frame specified by the CFN of the received TA command signal;
• and
• e) measuring the TD for communication data received from the selected MT in the radio frame specified by the CFN of the transmitted TA command signal.

A method of geographically locating a mobile terminal (MT) in a communication system having a plurality of base stations (BSs) supporting wireless bi-directional BS/MT communications via utilization of a radio frame format defined by radio frames that include a numeric identifying designation where the BSs transmit selectively formatted communication data to MTs within system radio frames and receive communication data from MTs within system radio frames and where the MTs transmit selectively formatted communications data to the BSs within system radio frames and receive communication data from said BSs within system radio frames, the method comprising:

• communicating timing advance (TA) command signals to a selected MT which signals include TA data and a Connect Frame Number (CFN) specifying a particular radio frame for effectuating a timing adjustment by the selected MT;
• measuring timing deviation (TD) in each CFN specified radio frame of communication data received from the selected MT by a BS to determine whether each respective command signal was successful;
• measuring timing deviation (TD) of a received MT transmission from the selected MT in a selected radio frame by said BS;
• and
• using the measured TD from the selected radio frame and the TA data of a most recent successful TA command signal transmitted to the selected MT to calculate the geographic location of the selected MT.