From Latin and Greek origins, synchronous translates as together with time. Referring to events that occur at the same instant of a coordinated time scale. If the events are repetitive, the instant of one event bears a fixed time relationship with the instant of a corresponding event, e.g., event a is followed 10 milliseconds later by event b. Synchronous processes in separate, networked devices depend on a common clocking source, on clocking pulses emitted by the transmitting device, or on synchronizing bits or bit patterns embedded in a set of data.