Flexible synchronization of time-of-day components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12556357-B2
Application number	US-202418612150-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2024
Priority date	Mar 21, 2024
Publication date	Feb 17, 2026
Grant date	Feb 17, 2026

Abstract

Synchronizing time-of-day (TOD) between TOD components includes issuing an order for a plurality of TOD components, each including a local time, an offset, and an effective time as a sum of the local time and the offset. The effective time of a reference TOD component is the reference time to which target TOD component(s) are to be synchronized. The order directs each of the plurality of TOD components to synchronously, at a point in time, snapshot its local time. This provides a snapshot of the effective time of the reference TOD component, and thus the reference time. The synchronizing synchronizes each target TOD component to the reference time by setting the respective offset as a difference between the target TOD component's snapshot local time and the snapshot of the reference time. Based on the synchronizing, the effective times of the plurality of TOD components match and are the reference time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
issuing, by a synchronizing component, an order for a plurality of time-of-day (TOD) components of a system, the plurality of TOD components comprising (i) a reference TOD component and (ii) one or more target TOD components to be synchronized to a reference time provided by the reference TOD component, each TOD component of the plurality of TOD components comprising a local time and an offset that are independent of each other TOD component of the plurality of TOD components, wherein each TOD component of the plurality of TOD components comprises an effective time as a sum of the local time and the offset of the TOD component, wherein the effective time of the reference TOD component is the reference time to which the one or more target TOD components are to be synchronized, wherein the order directs each TOD component of the plurality of TOD components to synchronously, at a point in time, snapshot its local time as the local times of the plurality of TOD components continue to progress, wherein the snapshot local time of the reference TOD component together with the offset of the reference TOD component provide a snapshot of the effective time of the reference TOD component, and thus a snapshot of the reference time, at the point in time; and synchronizing the one or more target TOD components to the reference time, wherein the synchronizing synchronizes, for each target TOD component of the one or more target TOD components, the effective time of the target TOD component to the reference time by setting the offset of the target TOD component as a difference between the snapshot local time of the target TOD component and the snapshot of the reference time, wherein, based on the synchronizing, the effective times of the plurality of TOD components match and are the reference time.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one of more target TOD components includes multiple target TOD components, in which the issuing issues the order for the multiple target TOD components, and the synchronizing synchronizes each of the multiple target TOD components to the reference time as part of an initial synchronization to synchronize the plurality of TOD components to the reference time.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the synchronizing comprises the synchronizing component sending the snapshot of the reference time to the one or more target TOD components.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the synchronizing comprises, for each target TOD component of the one or more target TOD components, the synchronizing component:
receiving the snapshot local time of the target TOD component; determining the offset for the target TOD component as the difference between the snapshot local time of the target TOD component and the snapshot of the reference time; and distributing the offset determined for the target TOD component.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more target TOD components are being initially configured and synchronized to the reference time or are being resynchronized to the reference time.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of TOD components further comprises at least one TOD component already synchronized to the reference time, and wherein the synchronizing identifies the at least one TOD component as already synchronized, and sets the offset for the one or more target TOD components, of the plurality of TOD components, as those which are not already synchronized to the reference time.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the synchronizing component is a target TOD component of the one or more target TOD components, in which the synchronizing component issues the order for at least (i) itself to snapshot its local time and (ii) the reference TOD component to provide a snapshot of the reference time, wherein the synchronizing component receives the snapshot of the reference time, determines its offset as a difference between the snapshot of the reference time and the snapshot of its local time, and sets its offset as the difference.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of TOD components are part of a collection of TOD components to be synchronized to the reference time, wherein the issuing and synchronizing the one or more target TOD components are performed based on initially synchronizing one or more other TOD components, of the collection of TOD components, to the reference time, in which a local time of each other TOD component of the one or more other TOD components is taken as effective time of the other TOD component, the local time of each of the one or more other TOD components being initialized to a common initial value and synchronously started so that the local time of each of the one or more other TOD components matches and is used as the reference time.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a target TOD component of the one or more target TOD components maintains its offset in a register associated with the target TOD component.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the offset and the snapshot local time of a target TOD component of the one or more target TOD components are made separately accessible to external components.

11 . A computer system comprising:
a memory; and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method comprising:
issuing, by a synchronizing component, an order for a plurality of time-of-day (TOD) components of a system, the plurality of TOD components comprising (i) a reference TOD component and (ii) one or more target TOD components to be synchronized to a reference time provided by the reference TOD component, each TOD component of the plurality of TOD components comprising a local time and an offset that are independent of each other TOD component of the plurality of TOD components, wherein each TOD component of the plurality of TOD components comprises an effective time as a sum of the local time and the offset of the TOD component, wherein the effective time of the reference TOD component is the reference time to which the one or more target TOD components are to be synchronized, wherein the order directs each TOD component of the plurality of TOD components to synchronously, at a point in time, snapshot its local time as the local times of the plurality of TOD components continue to progress, wherein the snapshot local time of the reference TOD component together with the offset of the reference TOD component provide a snapshot of the effective time of the reference TOD component, and thus a snapshot of the reference time, at the point in time; and
synchronizing the one or more target TOD components to the reference time, wherein the synchronizing synchronizes, for each target TOD component of the one or more target TOD components, the effective time of the target TOD component to the reference time by setting the offset of the target TOD component as a difference between the snapshot local time of the target TOD component and the snapshot of the reference time, wherein, based on the synchronizing, the effective times of the plurality of TOD components match and are the reference time.

12 . The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the one of more target TOD components includes multiple target TOD components, in which the issuing issues the order for the multiple target TOD components, and the synchronizing synchronizes each of the multiple target TOD components to the reference time as part of an initial synchronization to synchronize the plurality of TOD components to the reference time.

13 . The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the synchro

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Haverkamp Frank
• Maurer Thilo
• Buehler Markus
• Kroener Michael Klaus
• Lindquist Timothy
• Müller Tristan
• Greenfield Todd A

Classifications

• G06N10/00 Primary

  Quantum computing, i.e. information processing based on quantum-mechanical phenomena · CPC title

• G06F1/12

  Synchronisation of different clock signals {provided by a plurality of clock generators} · CPC title

• 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

• H04L7/0016 Primary

  correction of synchronization errors · CPC title