DIFFERENTIAL TIMING TRANSFER OVER SYNCHRONOUS ETHERNET USING DIGITAL FREQUENCY GENERATORS AND CONTROL WORD SIGNALING

摘要

Transfer of differential timing over a packet network is provided. A transmitting service interface receives a service clock and is coupled to a receiving service interface through a network backplane. A primary reference clock is provided to time the network backplane. The primary reference clock and the service clock are used to synthesize a copy of the service clock connected to the transmitting service interface. A first control word containing an error differential between the service clock and the synthesized copy of the service clock is generated and transmitted through the network backplane via a packet. The first control word, together with the primary reference clock, is used to recreate the service clock for timing the receiving service interface.