Time Message Fields

A Time message is immediately generated and sent when there is a TOP event for a given clock second. If there is no new sequenced TOP event for a given clock second, then no Time message is sent for that second. All subsequent time offset fields for the same unit will use the new Time value as the base until another Time message is received for the same unit. The Time field is the number of seconds relative to midnight Central Time, which is provided in the Time Reference message. The Time message also includes the Epoch Time field, which is the current time represented as the number of whole seconds since the Epoch (Midnight January 1, 1970).

Take care to only compare messages with a Time Offset (to) field to Time messages from the same partition. Otherwise, because ordering cannot be guaranteed between partitions, the incorrect timestamp could be used.