Clock synchronization is a problem from computer science and engineering which deals with the idea that internal clocks of several computers may differ. Even when initially set accurately, real clocks will differ after some amount of time due to clock drift, caused by clocks counting time at slightly different rates. There are several problems that occur as a repercussion of clock rate differences and several solutions, some being more appropriate than others in certain contexts.
In serial communication, some people use the term "clock synchronization" merely to discuss getting one metronome-like clock signal to pulse at the same frequency as another one – frequency synchronization and phase synchronization. Such "clock synchronization" is used in synchronization in telecommunications and automatic baud rate detection.
Famous quotes containing the word clock:
“I open with a clock striking, to beget an awful attention in the audience—it also marks the time, which is four o’clock in the morning, and saves a description of the rising sun, and a great deal about gilding the eastern hemisphere.”
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)