US Patent 10164759 Distributed precision time architecture

Provided are systems and methods for implementing a reliable precision time architecture in a network device. In various implementations, a first port of the network device can be configured to synchronize to a first network time from the network. A second port can be configure to receive the first network time from the first port, and further provide the first network time to the network. A third port of the network device can further be configured to synchronize to a second network time from the network. A fourth port can be configured to receive the second network time from the third port, and provide the second network time to the network. The network device can further be configured to use the first network time as a current time.