Companion metadata for precision time protocol (PTP) hardware clock

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12308952-B2
Application number	US-202217858236-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2022
Priority date	Jul 6, 2022
Publication date	May 20, 2025
Grant date	May 20, 2025

Abstract

System, methods, and devices for sharing time information between machines are provided. In one example, a system includes a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC) and an application. The application receives time information from the PHC along with contextual metadata associated with the time information, analyzes the contextual metadata associated with the time information, and determines a context in which the PHC is disciplined. The context in which the PHC is disciplined may control a manner in which the application uses the time information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device, comprising:
an interface that receives time information from a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC) of a network device along with contextual metadata associated with the time information;
a processor; and
memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory comprises at least one application that is executable by the processor and, upon execution by the processor:
analyzes the contextual metadata associated with the time information; and
determines, based on the contextual metadata, whether the PHC meets a reliability threshold, and wherein the contextual metadata comprises an oscillator temperature variation of the network device.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, determines a reliability of the PHC based on a context in which the PHC is disciplined.

3. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, discards the time information received from the network device upon determining that the reliability of the PHC fails to meet at least the reliability threshold.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the contextual metadata further describes an operational change of the network device.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the contextual metadata further describes an elapsed time since the PHC of the network device has last been disciplined.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the contextual metadata is received in a packet that also contains the time information.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the contextual metadata is received in a first packet and wherein the time information is received in a second packet.

8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, makes a routing decision based on the time information and based upon a context in which the PHC is disciplined meets at least one contextual criterion.

9. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.

10. A network device, comprising:
a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC); and
an interface that transmits, to a computing device, time information derived from the PHC along with contextual metadata that enables an application of the computing device to determine, based on the contextual metadata, whether the PHC meets a reliability threshold, wherein the contextual metadata comprises an oscillator temperature variation of the network device.

11. The network device of claim 10 , wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are encoded together.

12. The network device of claim 10 , wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are transmitted via the interface via a common packet.

13. The network device of claim 10 , wherein the time information is transmitted via a first packet and wherein the contextual metadata is transmitted via a second packet.

14. The network device of claim 10 , wherein the contextual metadata further describes an operational change of the network device.

15. The network device of claim 10 , wherein the contextual metadata further describes an elapsed time since the PHC has last been disciplined.

16. The network device of claim 10 , wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.

17. A system, comprising:
a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC); and
an application that receives time information from the PHC along with contextual metadata associated with the time information, analyzes the contextual metadata associated with the time information, and determines, based on the contextual metadata, whether the PHC meets a reliability threshold, wherein the contextual metadata comprises an oscillator temperature variation of a network device.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are received at the application in a common packet.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the PHC belongs to the network device and wherein the application belongs to a computing device that communicates with the network device via a communication network.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the contextual metadata further describes at least one of: an operational change of the network device and an elapsed time since the PHC has last been disciplined.

21. The system of claim 17 , wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.

Assignees

• Mellanox Technologies Ltd

Inventors

• Kernen Thomas
• Levi Dotan David
• Or Shapira Bar
• Chalakov Georgi Mihaylov
• Raveh Aviad Itzhak

Classifications

• G06F1/14

  Time supervision arrangements, e.g. real time clock · CPC title

• G06F1/04

  Generating or distributing clock signals or signals derived directly therefrom · CPC title

• H04J3/0697 Primary

  Synchronisation in a packet node · CPC title