Real-Time Clock Offset Register for Network Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
In computer networks, achieving precise synchronization of real-time clocks across nodes is challenging due to clock drift and software-related delays in distributing synchronization messages, which can lead to inaccuracies even when the host processor calculates synchronized times accurately.
Innovation Solution
A method and circuitry that enable a host processor to determine and load a clock offset into a register, allowing the real-time clock to sum this offset with its current value, thereby adjusting the clock accurately, using minimal additional hardware and decoupling software processes from hardware updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the host processor distributes synchronization messages and calculates synchronized times, then clock synchronization is implemented, but software-related delays cause inaccuracies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the time-critical clock adjustment function from the software domain and places it in hardware. The host processor calculates the offset value, but the actual clock adjustment is performed by hardware components (adder and register) that operate independently of software execution delays, eliminating the accuracy loss caused by software timing variations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary hardware mechanism (the adder and register system) that bridges the host processor's calculated offset and the real-time clock. This intermediary hardware layer translates the software-calculated offset into precise clock adjustments without being subject to software timing delays, acting as a buffer that decouples the accuracy-critical hardware operation from software execution variability
2Device complexity
If minimal additional hardware is used for clock adjustment, then device complexity is reduced, but implementation precision must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the operational parameters of the existing real-time clock hardware by introducing an offset value that modifies the clock's time parameter. Rather than adding complex synchronization hardware, the system alters the clock's output parameter (time value) by adding a calculated offset, achieving precise adjustment through parameter modification rather than structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a simple copy operation where the host processor calculates the offset value and copies it into a hardware register. This register then serves as a persistent storage for the adjustment parameter, allowing the hardware to repeatedly apply the same offset without requiring complex recalculation or additional processing logic, maintaining precision through simple data replication
Data Source
AI summary
A method for clock synchronization includes computing an offset value between a local clock time of a real-time clock circuit and a reference clock time, and loading the offset value into a register that is associated with the real-time clock circuit. The local clock time is then summed with the value in the register so as to give an adjusted value of the local clock time that is synchronized with the reference clock.