Patent ID: 8990552
Filing Date: 2015-03-24
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A transmit portion of a network device, the transmit portion comprising: a medium access control (MAC) module configured to receive a frame of data to be transmitted from the network device in accordance with a MAC security (MACsec) protocol, wherein in response to the frame of data being a precise time protocol (PTP) frame, the medium access control (MAC) module is configured to a physical layer (PHY) module, wherein the physical layer (PHY) module comprises a transmit module configured to transmit the encrypted precise time protocol (PTP) frame from the network device at a particular time; and a precise time protocol (PTP) module configured to, based on the identifier associated with the encrypted precise time protocol (PTP) frame, generate a time stamp indicating the particular time that the transmit module transmits the encrypted precise time protocol (PTP) frame from the network device, wherein the time stamp is transmitted from the network device along with the encrypted precise time protocol (PTP) frame.