Patent ID: 7061942

Claim:
A redundant remultiplexer comprising: (a) at least two media control modules, each having multiple ports capable of being configured to operate as inputs or outputs, and having: i) at least one port capable of receiving an externally originating sequence of one or more packets, or transmitting externally a sequence of one or more packets, ii) a clock capable of generating a time value that can be used to determine a time at which each externally originating packet is received at the port, or an approximate time for transmitting externally each packet from the port, iii) at least one processor capable of processing each packet according to the respective time value determined for the packet by the clock, to schedule selected ones of the packets for transmission, and iv) an interface for transmitting packets processed by the at least one processor to, or receiving packets to be processed by a processor from, another device, and (b) at least one switch control module, each capable of communicating packets with the media control modules via the interfaces of the media control modules, and each capable of selecting, based on address information carried within each packet present at the switch control module, a specific media control module to receive each of the packets present at the switch control module, wherein one of the media control modules operates as a primary module either in an input mode, for receiving an externally originating sequence of packets, or in an output mode, for outputting externally a sequence of packets, and wherein another one of the media control modules operates as a backup module for the primary module, wherein, if the primary module operates in an input mode, the at least one processor of the backup module performs the same processing of packets as the primary module but the interface of the backup module only transmits processed packets to each switch control module if the primary module fails, and wherein, if the primary module is operating in the output mode, the at least one processor of the backup module performs the same processing as the primary output module on the same sequence of packets received from the switch module, but the port of the backup module only externally outputs the signal if the primary module fails.