Method and system for providing time information via a wireless network

1 . A method for providing time information to user devices via a wireless network, comprising:

configuring a plurality of transmitters in the wireless network such that a synchronization frame transmitted by each of the plurality of transmitters may be used by the user devices to identify time zone information; and

transmitting, by each of the plurality of transmitters, the synchronization frame via the wireless network.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the synchronization frame includes a B bit field.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the B bit field includes color code information that may be used by a user device to identify a time zone in which the user device is located.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network comprises a ReFLEX-based network.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at a user device, the synchronization frame;

decoding a B bit field in the synchronization frame; and

determining, at the user device, local time using the decoded B bit field.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining comprises:

determining a color code index based on the decoded B bit field, and

determining local time based on the color code index.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuring comprises:

configured each of the plurality of transmitters in a particular time zone to transmit color code information corresponding to a color code index within a predetermined range.

8 . A system, comprising:

a plurality of transmitters, each of the plurality of transmitters configured to:

insert information in a synchronization frame, the information corresponding to a time zone associated with the respective transmitter, and

transmit the synchronization frame via a wireless network.

9 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a network operations center, the network operations center configured to transmit color code information to each of the plurality of transmitters.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of transmitters is further configured to:

receive the color code information from the network operations center.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of transmitters is configured to communicate in accordance with the ReFLEX protocol.

12 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a plurality of user devices, each of the plurality of user devices configured to:

receive the synchronization frame from one of the plurality of transmitters, and

determine a time zone in which the respective user device is located based on the information in the synchronization frame.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein when determining the time zone, each of the plurality of user devices is configured to:

identify an index based on the information in the synchronization frame, and

determine the time zone based on the index.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein each of the plurality of user devices is further configured to:

receive UTC time information at predetermined intervals, and

determined local time based on the UTC time and the determined time zone.

15 . A system, comprising:

means for providing time zone information to a user device via a synchronization frame; and

means for transmitting the synchronization frame to the user device via a wireless network.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the means for providing comprises:

means for assigning color code information to each of a plurality of transmitters based on a time zone in which the respective transmitter is located, and

means for inserting the color code information in the synchronization frame.

17 . A device, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive radio frequency (RF) signals from a transmitter, the RF signals including a synchronization signal; and

logic configured to:

decode the synchronization signal, and

identify a time zone in which the device is located based on the decoded synchronization signal.

18 . The device of claim 17 , wherein the device is configured to communicate in accordance with the ReFLEX protocol and time zone information is included in a B bit field of the synchronization signal.

19 . The device of claim 17 , wherein when identifying a time zone, the logic is configured to:

identify color code information in the synchronization signal, and

use the color code information to identify the time zone.

20 . The device of claim 17 , wherein the logic is further configured to:

determine a local time based on the identified time zone.

21 . A method for providing time information to user devices via a wireless network, comprising:

configuring each of a plurality of transmitters to transmit identification information based on a time zone in which each respective transmitter is located; and

transmitting a frame including the identification information from each of the plurality of transmitters via the wireless network.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the frame comprises a synchronization frame and the identification information comprises color code information.

23 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

receiving, at a user device, the frame;

decoding, at the user device, the frame; and

identifying, at the user device, time zone information based on the decoded frame.

24 . The method of claim 23 , further comprising:

receiving, at the user device, universal time information; and

determining local time, at the user device, based on the identified time zone information and the received universal time information.

25 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the configuring comprises:

assigning to each of the plurality of transmitters in a particular time zone a color code corresponding to a color code index within a predetermined range.