Patent ID: 9654555
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: H04J,H04L

Claim:
1. A method for synchronizing local clocks in a distributed computer network, where said computer network comprises a number of components that are connected to each other via bi-directional communication links, characterized in that a) an a priori configured set of at least one generating component of the network generates synchronization messages and sends the synchronization messages to the network; b) an a priori configured set of at least one consuming component consumes the synchronization messages; c) one or more message-relaying components in between the at least one generating component and the at least one consuming component will add a delay value to the synchronization messages reflecting a delay imposed by the one or more message-relaying components; and d) each of the at least one consuming component will delay the synchronization messages upon reception by the at least one consuming component for a duration that is calculated by an a priori configured value for the maximum transmission delay (“Maximum Transmission Delay”) minus the value of the sum of all delay values added to the synchronization messages before further usage of the synchronization messages in the synchronization process of the consuming component, wherein an a priori defined set of one or more components that consume synchronization messages is configured to act as a so-called Compression Master, and wherein one or more Compression Masters are provided in the network, and wherein said Compression Master groups a multitude of received synchronization messages and generates a new synchronization message from the grouped received synchronization messages, and sends the generated synchronization message to some of its attached communication links.