Patent ID: 7860107

Claim:
A communication network element comprising: a transmitter for transmitting at least one timing data packet to at least one further network element over both a first communication link that is unidirectional and a second communication link that is bidirectional; a receiver for receiving at least two timing data packets from the at least one further network element over the second communication link, wherein at least one of the at least two timing data packets corresponds to the timing data packet that was transmitted via the first communication link; and signal processing logic operably coupled to the transmitter and receiver, wherein the signal processing logic is operable to calculate a transit delay of the at least one transmitted timing data packet over the first communication link based on the at least two timing data packets received via the second communication link, and wherein the signal processing logic is further operable to schedule at least one transmission across the first communication link to the at least one further network element in response to the calculated transit delay.