Redundant time synchronization
US7558292B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 21, 2006 |
| Grant date | Jul 7, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 23, 2028 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F1/14
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Disclosed is a time-synchronization algorithm for use among disparate systems, such as between a controller system and a system having one or more application workstations. In an embodiment of the invention, the workstation system acts as a master timekeeper, ensuring that the time stored in the controller system is in synchrony with the time kept by the workstation system. In a further embodiment of the invention, the time-synchronization system provides staggered time-synchronization signals from each of two or more workstations for receipt by the controller system. The controller system sets its local time by resetting the time for each such incoming synchronization signal. In a further embodiment of the invention, each of two or more workstations employs a technique for evaluating the error accumulated in the controller's time clock and transmits a time-synchronization message in response to finding that the accumulated error has exceeded a predetermined acceptable error threshold.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.