Anonymous time synchronization method
US5428645A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 3, 1992 |
| Grant date | Jun 27, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 3, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04J3/0664
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method is provided for synchronizing a local time maintained at a node within a network architecture with a reference time. Bursts of synchronization messages containing reference time stamps are transmitted over a network or communication link according to a predetermined protocol. A node to be synchronized receives and time stamps the messages. Thus, times according to a first time scale and a second time scale are obtained, and the protocol defines temporal relationships between certain ones of the times. In accordance with the predetermined protocol, the node determines a difference between a first time according to one of the time scales and a time related to second and third times according to the other time scale. The node then updates its local time based on the difference between the first time and the related time. This synchronization method provides a well-defined upper bound of synchronization error, and allows the nodes receiving the messages to synchronize their internal times based only on information contained in the received messages and their internally, generated local time stamp marks. Therefore, no "round trip" or handshaking messages are necessary to define…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.