here's an example: f_rate = frame rate = 30 fps (for example) f_period = 1/f_rate = 1/30 = 33ms imagine the server serves every f_period, and the image gets

here's an example: f_rate = frame rate = 30 fps (for example) f_period = 1/f_rate = 1/30 = 33ms imagine the server serves every f_period, and the image gets updated on the ramdisk every f_period + delta where delta = f_period/16 because the clock from the image updater is not synchronized with the server and is a little slower (by some idealized fixed amount). in this case, every 16 frames, the image updater would advance past the server, and the server would serve a duplicate frame. in practice, delta is often not fixed, and can be positive or negative and instead is described with a distribution called jitter. both the server and the image updater have jitter, so duplicate/dropped frames will occur as they leap ahead and behind each other with the +/- jitters for each unsynchronized clock getting added to their respective periods for each frame. (this is, of course, assuming they're running at the same rate, which they often do not- which is why ultimately you want one to be the primary clock and the other to be driven by it)