Patent ID: 6987759

Claim:
In a TDM network having a plurality of switchable traffic paths to a common destination, a method comprising: receiving TDM traffic from a traffic source as a plurality of copies of traffic routed along a plurality of predetermined traffic paths originating at the traffic source, each one of said traffic paths having a receive circuit; communicating qualifying information over a communication path that is separate from the traffic paths and couples two or more receive circuits, wherein the qualifying information describes performance characteristics of the TDM traffic received by one or more receive circuits; configuring a TDM switch to provide a route to a common destination for each one of the traffic paths; determining a qualified copy of the traffic based on qualifying information that is exchanged between two or more receive circuits; and discarding all copies of the traffic except for the qualified copy such that only the qualified copy is passed to the TDM switch for routing to a common destination.