At 11:54 AM 12/17/02 -0500, you wrote:

>I really need to design a product that knows the official U.S. time, aside
>from other features. Can someone tell me what is required for the hardware
>and software to acquire the official time? And what kind of connections are
>required?

The NIST site has a nifty little application that sets your computer
clock to their clock. Not sure if they offer the source code for it. I have
it run then terminate every time my computer boots to keep the time within
less than a second of the official time (it takes into account that I am
in the Eastern time zone).

Of course once you start considering Daylight Saving Time and time zones,
there's no "Official U.S. Time"- it can even vary by county if you're in
a rogue state like Indiana. Or change compared to neighboring towns
a couple times a year if you're near the Arizona-California border.
At least the hour transitions are all at the same time, unlike Canada
which has the Newfies to contend with (30 minutes out of synch).

Best regards,

Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..."            "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

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