Patent ID: 7492732

Claim:
A method for differential clock recovery in a network having first and second Time Division Multiplexing (“TDM”) segments interconnected by a non-TDM segment, where a first service clock is available to the first TDM segment, the same first service clock is to be recovered at the second TDM segment, and a reference clock is available at both the first and second TDM segments, the method comprising the steps of: in the first TDM segment, measuring a number of first service clock pulses occurring in a first clock period defined by the reference clock; indicating, to the second TDM segment, the number of measured first service clock pulses occurring in the clock period defined by the reference clock; in the second TDM segment, measuring a number of second service clock pulses occurring in a second clock period defined by the reference clock; determining a difference between the number of measured first service clock pulses and the number of measured second service clock pulses; and employing the difference to recover the first service clock in the second TDM segment.