Trusted high stability time source
OwnerJacques Debiez, James P. Hughesinventors
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Abstract
A trusted high stability time source for use with a digital time stamping service and a trusted external time source includes a private time source, a published time source, at least one power supply, and control logic. The control logic is programmed to perform a time stamping operation and to perform a published time source update. In performing the published time source update, a reply received from the trusted external time source includes the published time update, and the published time is updated with the published time update if an update condition is satisfied. The update condition is based in part on a time difference between the private time and the published time update.
Claims13
A trusted high stability time source for use with a digital time stamping service and a trusted external time source, the time source comprising:
- a private time source indicating a private time;
- a published time source indicating a published time;
- at least one power supply arranged to power the private time source and the published time source;
- and
- control logic programmed to perform a time stamping operation by receiving a message, appending the published time to the message to create a timestamp, and digitally signing the timestamp with a private key, the control logic being further programmed to perform a published time source update by sending a request to the trusted external time source for a published time update, receiving a reply from the trusted external time source including the published time update, and updating the published time with the published time update if an update condition is satisfied, wherein the update condition is based in part on a time difference between the private time and the published time update.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.