Patent ID: 8488449

Claim:
A method comprising: upon receiving a first packet of information on a first port, storing a first time stamp, represented in a floating point format, and a first connection value in a first entry of a first sorter, wherein an exponent component of the first time stamp is stored at a first memory location, and a mantissa component of first time stamp is stored at a second memory location, a first memory structure comprising the first memory location points to an address of the second memory location; upon receiving a second packet of information on the first port, storing a second time stamp, represented in a floating point format, and a second connection value in a second entry of the first sorter; upon receiving a third packet of information on a second port, storing a third time stamp, represented in a floating point format, and a third connection value in a first entry of a second sorter; and upon receiving a fourth packet of information on the second port, storing a fourth time stamp, represented in a floating point format, and a fourth connection value in a second entry of the second sorter.