Server Time Synchronization with Time Difference Adjustment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In information processing systems, when the server time is changed, there is a possibility that change information is not transmitted to other information processing apparatuses, leading to unsynchronized device-use master data across the system.
Innovation Solution
A server with a processor and memory that stores changed information, writes a first time when the information is stored, receives inquiries about the stored information, and transmits the change information when the time difference between previous and current inquiries matches the server's new time, ensuring synchronization by calculating and applying a time difference to the written first time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the server time is changed by a user, then the time measurement accuracy is improved, but the reliability of change information transmission deteriorates because the reflection time T may no longer exist between previous and current inquiry times
Solution Approach 1:
The server performs preliminary action by calculating and storing the time difference between the old time and new time before the time change takes effect. This stored time difference is then used to adjust the reflection time T when change information needs to be transmitted, ensuring that the corrected reflection time properly reflects the actual time when changes were made, even though the server time has changed. This preliminary calculation and storage of time difference prevents loss of change information.
2Reliability
If the reflection time T is adjusted to account for server time changes, then the synchronization reliability is improved, but the system complexity increases due to time difference calculation and storage requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and isolates the time difference component from the overall time synchronization mechanism. By separating the time difference calculation and storage as a distinct function, the system can adjust reflection times without redesigning the entire synchronization protocol. This extraction allows the core synchronization logic to remain simple while adding only the necessary time adjustment capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A server 100 capable of surely synchronizing MFPs 102 and 103. The server 100 writes a first time that the server 101 measures in response to storing of information changed in the MFP 102. When the time that the server 101 measures is changed, a time difference between the time before the change and the time after the change is calculated. A modified first time is acquired by applying the calculated time difference to the written first time when the time that the server 101 measures is changed after the first time has been written. When the modified first time is a time between a time when a previous inquiry was received from the MFP 103 and a time when a current inquiry from the MFP 103 is received, the information indicating the content of the changed information is transmitted to the MFP 103.