Patent ID: 7992174

Claim:
A method for determining updated system time stamps in an adaptive modulation based satellite modem termination system (SMTS) configured to transmit data frames to a receiver at a predetermined symbol rate, each frame including a corresponding number of symbols and having a time stamp (i) indicative of the frame's stamped system time value and (ii) positioned within the frame at a location common to all of the frames, the method comprising: receiving a reference data frame and at least one subsequent data frame within the receiver, wherein the at least one subsequent data frame includes a time stamp having a stamped system time value that differs from an actual system time at which the at least one subsequent data frame was transmitted; registering a reference stamped system time value from a time stamp of the received reference data frame within the receiver; and updating a stamped system time value for a time stamp of the at least one subsequent data frame; wherein the updating is a function of the reference stamped system time value, the corresponding number of symbols, and the symbol rate.