COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM FOR TRANSMISSION OF SIGNALS BETWEEN TERMINAL EQUIPMENT CONNECTED TO INTERMEDIATE EQUIPMENT CONNECTED TO AN ETHERNET NETWORK
First Claim
1. A communications system allowing the transmission of signals between pieces of terminal equipment connected to pieces of intermediate equipment, connected to a communications network using the Ethernet protocol, the pieces of terminal equipment not being master-controlled by a distributed clock, the pieces of intermediate equipment each including at least one Ethernet access physical interface, at least one interface with a piece of terminal equipment and a mechanism configured to process the transmitted signals, the communications system including at least one reference clock generator, whereinreference time information is periodically transmitted by the reference clock generator and distributed as data transport packets to the pieces of intermediate equipment via the Ethernet access physical interface,each piece of intermediate equipment includes a local clock generator and the reference time information being received and processed by each piece of intermediate equipment, so as to subordinate the local clock generator to the reference clock, andthe processing mechanism being clocked by the local clock generator so as to realize synchronous processing of the transmitted signals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communication system for transmission of signals between various terminal equipment connected to various intermediate equipment and connected to a communications network using the Ethernet protocol is disclosed. In one aspect, the terminal equipment is not master-controlled by a distributed clock and the intermediate equipment each includes at least one Ethernet access physical interface. In the communication system, reference time information is periodically transmitted by the reference clock generator and distributed as data transport packets to the intermediate equipment via the Ethernet access physical interface. Each intermediate equipment includes a local clock generator, the reference time information is received and processed by each intermediate equipment, so as to subordinate the local clock generator to the reference clock. The mechanism configured to process the signals is clocked by the local clock generator so as to obtain synchronous processing of the transmitted signals.
30 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A communications system allowing the transmission of signals between pieces of terminal equipment connected to pieces of intermediate equipment, connected to a communications network using the Ethernet protocol, the pieces of terminal equipment not being master-controlled by a distributed clock, the pieces of intermediate equipment each including at least one Ethernet access physical interface, at least one interface with a piece of terminal equipment and a mechanism configured to process the transmitted signals, the communications system including at least one reference clock generator, wherein
reference time information is periodically transmitted by the reference clock generator and distributed as data transport packets to the pieces of intermediate equipment via the Ethernet access physical interface, each piece of intermediate equipment includes a local clock generator and the reference time information being received and processed by each piece of intermediate equipment, so as to subordinate the local clock generator to the reference clock, and the processing mechanism being clocked by the local clock generator so as to realize synchronous processing of the transmitted signals.
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8. A device of the intermediate equipment type connected to a communications network using the Ethernet protocol, via at least one Ethernet access physical interface including at least one interface capable of exchanging signals with at least one piece of terminal equipment and a mechanism configured to process signals exchanged with the at least one piece of terminal equipment and transmitted via the communications network, wherein
a local clock generator is configured to process reference time information received as data transport packets via a so-called Ethernet access physical interface, so as to subordinate the local clock generator to a reference clock, and the local clock generator is also configured to clock the processing mechanism so as to obtain synchronous processing of the transmitted signals.
Specification