Abstract: An apparatus and method allow two or more members of a network, connected in multipoint-multipoint manner, to synchronize their local service clocks. Overall synchronization is achieved as soon as every member within the network transports its own timing information to other members of the group, plus the maximum propagation delay between the group members, and accordingly minimizes the possibility of overruns and underruns at each node end. Such synchronization is implemented when all members of a network synchronize their internal clocks to a lowest clock frequency within the network.

Abstract: A data processing system and a method implement a unique push, or streaming, model for communicating time sensitive encoded data, such as video and audio data, in a communication network. A pacing mechanism is implemented in the data processing system to allow a client to pace a streaming server in a stable way such that a fill level of a client buffer will oscillate around a single threshold value. A simple protocol is implemented to protect pacing primitives, allow recovery for pacing primitives, and to keep a client and a server synchronized during the pacing operation. To implement the pacing mechanism, the streaming server transmits data at a slightly faster rate than it was encoded. Subsequently, a decoder circuit at the client, or receiver, uses the transmitted data at the encoded rate. Thus, the utilization of buffers in the client will gradually increase. When the utilization of buffers reaches a threshold level, the client provides a pacing message to the server.