Patent ID: 8290523

Claim:
A method of time synchronization between a sender and a receiver connected via a communication link, comprising: receiving a first synchronization signal from a communication link at a receiver, and determining the receiver local time when the first synchronization signal was received from the communication link; determining a time difference D 1 between: (a) a retrieved sender local time when a first synchronization packet was placed on the communication link for transmission, and (b) a recorded receiver local time when the first synchronization packet was received from the link, wherein determining the time difference D 1 further includes: determining a difference between (a) the retrieved sender local time phyTxTime for transmission of the first synchronization packet, and (b) a retrieved receiver local time phyRxTimePrevious for receipt of the first synchronization packet at the receiver; updating the receiver local time based on said time difference D 1 to time synchronize the receiver with the sender; maintaining a phyRxTimePrevious in a Media Access Control (MAC) Management Information Base (MIB); and upon receiving a synchronization packet at the receiver MAC layer from a receiver physical (PHY) layer, copying the value in phyRxTime to phyRxTimePrevious.