Multireceiver timing advance provisioning

A mobile station, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and comprising computer readable program code embodied in the at least one memory that when executed by the at least one processor causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
• monitoring a downlink packet associated control channel for arrival of the distribution timing advance message;
• receiving the distribution timing advance message on the downlink packet associated control channel from a base station, the distribution timing advance message comprising:
• an indication of how many mobile stations are being addressed in the distribution timing advance message,
• a plurality of mobile station identifiers, wherein a different mobile station identifier identifies each of the number of addressed mobile stations, and
• a plurality of associated timing advance values, wherein each timing advance value is associated with a different one of the mobile station identifiers;
• determining that a data packet is available in an uplink queue;
• identifying one of the plurality of mobile station identifiers received in the distribution timing advance message as corresponding to the mobile station;
• determining the timing advance value associated with the identified one of the plurality of the mobile station identifiers;
• and
• transmitting the data packet in an uplink transmission to the base station based on adjusting a timing responsive to the timing advance value.

A method of operating a base station subsystem to communicate timing advance values to a plurality of mobile stations, the method comprising:

• obtaining timing advance values for one or more of the plurality of mobile stations;
• generating a distribution timing advance message, comprising:
• an indication of how many mobile stations are being addressed in the distribution timing advance message,
• a plurality of mobile station identifiers, wherein a different mobile station identifier identifies each of the number of addressed mobile stations, and
• a plurality of associated timing advance values, wherein each timing advance value is associated with a different one of the mobile station identifiers;
• communicating the distribution timing advance message to the plurality of mobile stations;
• and
• receiving a data packet from one of the plurality of mobile stations with timing adjusted based on a timing advance value associated with the one of the plurality of mobile stations.

A base station subsystem, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and comprising computer readable program code embodied in the at least one memory that when executed by the at least one processor causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
• obtaining timing advance values for one or more of a plurality of mobile stations;
• generating a distribution timing advance message, comprising:
• an indication of how many mobile stations are being addressed in the distribution timing advance message,
• a plurality of mobile station identifiers, wherein a different mobile station identifier identifies each of the number of addressed mobile stations, and
• a plurality of associated timing advance values, wherein each timing advance value is associated with a different one of the mobile station identifiers;
• communicating the distribution timing advance message to the plurality of mobile stations;
• and
• receiving a data packet from one of the plurality of mobile stations with timing adjusted based on a timing advance value associated with the one of the plurality of mobile stations.