Robust distribution of IP timing signals

US11728917B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Disney Enterprises, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Craig L. Beardsley · Chicago, US
• Jerome G. Liscano · New York, US
• Michael J. Strein · Bohemia, US
• Carl Brown · Deer Park, US
• Nishith Shah · Monroe, US
• Benjamin H. Kepler · Palisades, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 9, 2021
• Grant date: Aug 15, 2023
• Expiry date: Apr 1, 2042

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04N21/242
• WIPO field: Audio-visual technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein provide techniques to selectively distribute Precision Time Protocol (PTP) data in a network. The network can include multiple different network devices (e.g., switches) connected to form a network architecture (e.g., a spine/leaf architecture). Rather than distributing the PTP data (e.g., PTP timestamps) through all the network devices in order to synchronize local clocks to a global, master clock, the embodiments herein describe an out-of-band distribution network which selectively distributes the PTP data to select network devices in the network.