System and Method of Synchronizing Real Time Clock Values in Arbitrary Distributed Systems

Abstract

A system and method of determining a master node in a computer system having a plurality of nodes includes establishing a hierarchy of master nodes from the plurality of nodes, wherein the master node synchronizes the plurality of nodes in the computer system with a clock value and determining the master node from the hierarchy of master nodes. A system and method of synchronizing a plurality of nodes in a computer system includes determining a master node from the plurality of nodes, sending a clock value from the master node to neighbor nodes of the master node, synchronizing a node clock in each node receiving the clock value if a predetermined period of time has elapsed in each receiving node, distributing a node clock value from each synchronized node to neighbor nodes of the synchronized node, and repeating synchronizing and distributing, wherein synchronizing a node clock in each node receiving the clock value includes each node receiving the node clock value.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.