Patent ID: 8913633

Claim:
A system for time synchronization in a communication network, the communication network comprising: a plurality of network nodes each having a respective internal clock; and a reference node having a reference clock and configured to transmit synchronization messages within the communication network, the reference node and each of the plurality of network nodes communicating sequentially with each other; wherein at least one network node of the plurality of network nodes is configured to determine an estimated reference clock time discretely upon arrival of a synchronization message at the at least one network node; wherein each of the plurality of network nodes includes a controller configured to determine a controlled time comprising a time-continuous estimate of the discretely estimated reference clock time, the controller being configured to determine the controlled time based on an input that is extrapolated to an execution time instant of the controller, the extrapolation being performed based on a slope of the estimated reference clock time and a slope of the controlled time with respect to an internal clock time of the at least one network node, and the execution time instant being separated from an arrival time instant of the synchronization message by a delay (Δtdelay).