Patent ID: 7873024

Claim:
A method performed by a gateway device, the method comprising: in response to receiving at the gateway device a first request from a first client over a local network for accessing a first server of an external network, which is the Internet, the external network not accessible to the gateway device without a network connection to route IP (Internet Protocol) data between the gateway device and the external network, the first request for services that are unrelated to time services, establishing the network connection via an Internet service provider (ISP) to enable the first client to access the first server over the external network; sending the first request over the network connection to access the first server based on the IP data; determining, in response to the receiving the first request, if there is a need to synchronize a local clock at the gateway device, wherein the gateway device is a wireless access point providing a wireless interface of a plurality of clients of the local network, including the first client and a second client, the local network being a wireless network, wherein each of the plurality of clients has to go through the gateway device in order to reach the external network; exchanging messages over the network connection with a second server in the external network based on the IP data to synchronize the local clock at the gateway device with the second server, if the need to synchronize the local clock is determined, the second server being a time service facility, the first request and the messages sharing the network connection provided by the ISP; and in response to a second request for a time service received from the second client over the local network, providing time services to the second client over the local network, using the synchronized local clock, to enable the second client to synchronize a system clock of the second client without having to access the time service facility again over the external network.