Patent ID: 11924318
Assignee: MARVELL ISRAEL (M.I.S.L) LTD.
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 10:
11. A method for timestamping packets in a network device, the method comprising:
generating, at a packet processor of the network device, a domain-specific timestamp for a timing message to be transmitted by the network device, the domain-specific timestamp generated using a domain-specific clock maintained by the network device;
generating, at the packet processor, a first local-domain timestamp for the timing message, the first local-domain timestamp generated based on a first local-domain clock used by the packet processor;
adjusting, at the packet processor, the domain-specific timestamp using the first local-domain timestamp to generate an adjusted domain-specific timestamp;
transferring the timing message having the adjusted domain-specific timestamp from the packet processor to a physical layer (PHY) processor of the network device via an internal communication link within the network device;
generating, at the PHY processor, a second local-domain timestamp using a second local-domain clock used by the PHY processor, the second local-domain timestamp corresponding to a time at which the PHY processor transmits the timing message via a network link communicatively coupled to the PHY processor and being external to the network device;
modifying, at the PHY processor, timing information in the timing message using the second local-domain timestamp, the timing information being separate from the adjusted domain-specific timestamp; and
transmitting, by the PHY processor, the timing message via the network link, the timing message including the adjusted domain-specific timestamp and the timing information when transmitted so that the adjusted domain-specific timestamp and the timing information is available to another network device that receives the timing message to use the timing information to further adjust the adjusted domain-specific timestamp to determine a time, measured by the domain-specific clock, at which the PHY processor transmitted the timing message via the network link.