Patent ID: 11888587
Assignee: CIENA CORPORATION
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A network element comprising:
a port including a transmitter and a receiver; and
a device comprising circuitry configured to
encode data for communication to a second device via a plurality of physical channels,
utilize one of the plurality of physical channels as a dedicated timing channel, to the second device for synchronization therebetween, wherein the dedicated timing channel includes encoding thereon different from encoding on the other plurality of physical channels,
interface encoded data via the plurality of physical channels with the port for transmission and reception with the second device, and
perform a three layer timestamp exchange including between a PTP application layer including a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) clock, an interworking function to the dedication timing channel, and the dedicated timing channel.