Patent ID: 7461282

Claim:
A device for processing a plurality of data packets from a plurality of program sources multiplexed in a data stream comprising: an input processor configured to receive a plurality of data packets from the plurality of program sources in the multiplexed data stream and to distribute the plurality of data packets to a plurality of timestamp insertion modules, each timestamp insertion module associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of program sources, wherein each timestamp insertion module includes: a local program reference clock, a synchronizer that synchronizes the local program reference clock to a clock of an associated one of the plurality of program sources, and a local program timestamp generator configured to add a local program timestamp to each received data packet, wherein the local program reference clocks operate independently; and a transmissions module configured to receive a set of the data packets and further configured, for each packet in the set of data packets, to account for a delay introduced by processing within the device using the local program timestamp of the data packet and to remove the local program timestamp from the data packet prior to transmission to a destination.