Patent ID: 8718281

Claim:
A method comprising: a first node participating with a second node in a key generation exchange to thereby allow the first node to transmit secure packets to the second node; during participation in the key generation exchange, obtaining at the first node key generation information that includes a plurality of current security associations that differ from each other; after the key generation exchange, sequentially sending, from the first node to the second node, a first set of secure packets that each include a first one of the plurality of current security associations, the first set of secure packets further comprising different incremented packet numbers, wherein the different incremented packet numbers are contained in a packet field that is sized to hold values in a range from a minimum value up to a maximum value; and after sending a last packet of the first set of secure packets, wherein the last packet has a packet number that is a predefined amount from the maximum value, sequentially sending, from the first node to the second node, a next set of secure packets that each include a next one of the plurality of current security associations, the next set of secure packets further comprising different incremented packet numbers, wherein the sending of the next set of secure packets that each include the next one of the plurality of security associations is accomplished without the first node participating with the second node in another key generation exchange or a communication regarding the next one of the plurality of security associations.