Patent ID: 8275001

Claim:
A communication system, comprising: a first receiver coupled to a packet network, the first receiver configured to receive data packets and timing information from the packet network, the first receiver configured to depacketize the data packets received by the first receiver thereby recovering first data and to transmit the first data via a first data signal, the first receiver further configured to control a timing of the first data signal based on a first clock signal and to control a timing of the first clock signal based on the timing information received by the first receiver such that the first clock signal is synchronous to a network clock signal; and a backup receiver configured to receive timing information from the first receiver prior to a backup switch for switching communication from the first receiver to the backup receiver, the backup receiver configured to receive data packets and timing information from the packet network after the backup switch, the backup receiver configured to depacketize the data packets received by the backup receiver thereby recovering second data and to transmit the second data via a second data signal, the backup receiver further configured to control a timing of the second data signal based on a second clock signal and to control a timing of the second clock signal based on the timing information received by the backup receiver from the packet network and based on the timing information received by the backup receiver from the first receiver prior to the backup switch such that the second clock signal is synchronous to the network clock signal.