Method, system and apparatus for synchronizing signals

A signal synchronization system comprising:

• a plurality of slave reference signal generators;
• a master reference time generator;
• and
• a packet network connecting said master reference time generator to at least one of said plurality of slave reference signal generators;
• said master reference time generator comprising a master reference time counter and a master sampling device for sampling an output of said master reference time counter;
• said master reference time generator encoding time data in master reference time packets and outputting the packets to said packet network;
• said at least one slave reference signal generator being operable to accept the encoded time data as an input to generate a signal having a phase calculated based upon an elapsed time measured from an initial time point;
• said at least one slave reference signal generator comprising a slave reference time counter to generate time data elapsed from the initial time point and a slave sampling device for sampling the time data;
• said master reference time counter and said slave reference time counter being sampled at time points derived from a time base synchronized on said master reference time generator and said at least one slave reference signal generator.

A master reference time generator comprising:

• a counter to generate time code data representing time elapsed from an initial time point;
• and
• a sampling device for repeatedly sampling the time code data, and transmitting packets comprising the sample to at least one receiving device;
• wherein a time interval lapsed between subsequent samplings is derived from a time base synchronized on the at least one receiving device.

A slave information signal generator for receiving packets comprising samples from a master reference time generator and comprising:

• a reference time counter and a sampling device cooperating therewith for
• regenerating the samples from the master reference time reference generator;
• and
• calculating a phase of an information reference signal based upon the regenerated samples and a time elapsed since an initial time point.

A signal synchronization method comprising:

• connecting a master reference time generator to at least one of a plurality of slave reference signal generators via a packet network, the master reference time generator comprising a master reference time counter and a master sampling device for sampling an output of the master reference time counter;
• encoding time data in master reference time packets at the master reference time generator and outputting the packets to the packet network;
• accepting the encoded time data at the at least one slave reference signal generator as an input to generate a signal having a phase calculated based upon an elapsed time measured from an initial time point, the at least one slave reference signal generator comprising a slave reference time counter to generate time data elapsed from the initial time point and a slave sampling device for sampling the time data;
• and
• sampling outputs of the master reference time counter and the slave reference time counter at time points derived from a time base synchronized on the master reference time generator and the slave reference signal generators.