Patent ID: 7787400

Claim:
A passive full-duplex bidirectional zero packet loss (ZPL) network tap comprising: first and second network ports configured to operably connect with first communication cables, the first communication cables configured to carry full-duplex bidirectional data signals comprising first and second data components to and from the network tap device; a first tap port configured to operably connect with second communication cables; a signal separator configured to have a first node operably connected to the first network port and a second node operably connected to the second network port, wherein the signal separator is configured to pass through the full-duplex bidirectional data signals from the first network port to the second network port and from the second network to the first network port, and wherein the signal separator is further configured to obtain a first signal portion comprising at least the first data component; a first digital signal processing (DSP) stage configured to be operably connected to the signal separator, wherein the first DSP stage is configured to receive the first signal portion, wherein the first DSP stage is further configured to substantially remove at least a portion of any second data component included in the first signal portion; a first receive only physical interface device (Phy) configured to be operably connected to the first DSP stage and to the first tap port so as to receive the first signal portion from the first DSP stage and provide the first signal portion to the first tap port.