Patent ID: 8909804

Claim:
A method of distributing data in a network, comprising: measuring path lengths of physical connections between a reference clock and a plurality of remote destinations, the physical connections comprising a cable, a wire, an optical fiber, or a circuit board trace, wherein measuring the path lengths comprises: sending a calibration signal of a first frequency over a reference path of known length; tuning the calibration signal of a first frequency over a frequency interval while sending the calibration signal over the reference path; sending the calibration signal of a first frequency over a plurality of paths of unknown lengths for the physical connections; tuning the calibration signal of a first frequency over a frequency interval while sending the signal over the plurality of paths; and determining the path lengths for the plurality of paths by comparing the phase change induced in the calibration signal in the reference path with the phase change induced in the calibration signal in the plurality of paths; sending a timing signal from the reference clock to the plurality of remote destinations through the physical connections; measuring a phase difference between the timing signal from the reference clock and a return signal from each of the plurality of remote destinations; and adjusting the phase of the signals such that each remote destination receives the data within a skew tolerance.