Patent ID: 8014400

Claim:
A method for distributing packets of a data stream in a network having at least two network links, each link connecting a source device to a destination device, the method comprising: assigning one of said links as a primary link and another of said links as a backup link; transmitting data stream packets from the source device to the destination device on the primary link using a first set of communications protocols associated with said primary network link; transmitting a signal from the source device to the destination device on each link and receiving at the source device a return signal from the destination device on each link; and if the roundtrip time for said signal and return signal on the primary link (RTT-PL) is greater than the roundtrip time for said signal and return signal on the backup link (RTT-BL), then transmitting a portion of the data stream packets from the source device to the destination device on the backup link using a second set of communications protocols associated with said backup network link, said second set of protocols being different from said first set of protocols.