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US 11,606,157 B1Granted
Time synchronization based on network traffic patterns
AssigneeMellanox Technologies, Ltd.
InventorsWojciech Wasko, Dotan David Levi, Guy Lederman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A network node includes a port and circuitry. The port is configured for communicating over a packet network. The circuitry is configured to receive, via the port, a sequence of packets from a peer network node, the sequence of packets including (i) a time-protocol packet and (ii) a transmit-side (TX) time-stamp indicative of a time at which the time-protocol packet was transmitted from the peer network node, to assess a receive-side (RX) traffic pattern over one or more of the received packets in the sequence that precede reception of the time-protocol packet, and to calculate an accuracy measure for the TX time-stamp, based on the assessed RX traffic pattern.
Claims25
A network node, comprising:
- a port for communicating over a packet network;
- and
- circuitry, configured to:
- receive, via the port, a sequence of packets from a peer network node, the sequence comprising (i) a time-protocol packet of a time-synchronization protocol employed in the packet network and (ii) a transmit-side (TX) time-stamp which is included in the time-protocol packet or in a separate packet, the TX time-stamp being indicative of a time at which the time-protocol packet was transmitted from the peer network node;
- assess a receive-side (RX) traffic pattern based on one or more of the received packets in the sequence that precede reception of the time-protocol packet;
- and
- calculate an accuracy measure for the TX time-stamp, based on the assessed RX traffic pattern.
4 more elements
A network node, comprising:
- a port for communicating over a packet network;
- and
- circuitry, configured to:
- receive, via the port, a sequence of packets from a peer network node, the sequence comprising (i) a time-protocol packet of a time-synchronization protocol employed in the packet network and (ii) a transmit-side (TX) time-stamp which is included in the time-protocol packet or in a separate packet, the TX time-stamp being indicative of a time at which the time-protocol packet was transmitted from the peer network node;
- assess a receive-side (RX) traffic pattern based on one or more of the received packets in the sequence that precede reception of the time-protocol packet TX time-stamp;
- and
- based on the assessed RX traffic pattern, perform one of (i) assigning a weight to a time-synchronization adjustment derived from the time-protocol packet and (ii) disregarding the time-protocol packet.
4 more elements
A method, comprising:
- receiving in a network node, over a packet network, a sequence of packets from a peer network node, the sequence comprising (i) a time-protocol packet of a time-synchronization protocol employed in the packet network and (ii) a transmit-side (TX) time-stamp which is included in the time-protocol packet or in a separate packet, the TX time-stamp being indicative of a time at which the time-protocol packet was transmitted from the peer network node;
- assessing in the network node a receive-side (RX) traffic pattern based on one or more of the received packets in the sequence that precede reception of the time-protocol packet;
- and
- calculating an accuracy measure for the TX time-stamp, based on the assessed RX traffic pattern.
1 more element
A method, comprising:
- receiving in a network node, over a packet network, a sequence of packets from a peer network node, the sequence comprising (i) a time-protocol packet of a time-synchronization protocol employed in the packet network and (ii) a transmit-side (TX) time-stamp which is included in the time-protocol packet or in a separate packet, the TX time-stamp being indicative of a time at which the time-protocol packet was transmitted from the peer network node;
- assessing in the network node a receive-side (RX) traffic pattern based on one or more of the received packets in the sequence that precede reception of the time-protocol packet;
- and
- based on the assessed RX traffic pattern, performing one of (i) assigning a weight to a time-synchronization adjustment derived from the time-protocol packet and (ii) disregarding the time-protocol packet.
1 more element
A network node, comprising:
- a port for communicating over a packet network;
- and
- circuitry, configured to:
- receive, via the port, a sequence of packets from a peer network node, the sequence comprising (i) a time-protocol packet of a time-synchronization protocol employed in the packet network and (ii) a transmit-side (TX) time-stamp which is included in the time-protocol packet or in a separate packet, the TX time-stamp being indicative of a time at which the time-protocol packet was transmitted from the peer network node;
- assess a receive-side (RX) traffic pattern based on one or more of the received packets in the sequence that precede reception of the time-protocol packet;
- and
- based on the assessed RX traffic pattern, process one or both of the time-protocol packet and the TX time-stamp.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.