Patent ID: 7548995

Claim:
A method for disseminating information to a target entity, the method comprising: transmitting, from a source entity to the target entity a plurality of received redundant streams, wherein the plurality of received redundant streams includes at least a primary stream of information on a first network connection and a backup stream of information on a second network connection; selecting the primary stream of information from the plurality of received redundant streams, wherein selecting includes selecting from the plurality of received redundant streams the stream that arrives first and designating it as the primary stream of information and selecting a later arriving stream and designating it as the backup stream of information; monitoring the quality of the primary stream of information and the backup stream of information, wherein monitoring includes calculating an error rate for the primary stream of information and the backup stream of information over a predetermined period of time, wherein monitoring includes determining if the quality of the primary stream of information warrants reassigning the designation of primary stream of information to one of the received redundant streams; redefining the primary stream of information as a stream of information having the best quality, wherein redefining includes changing the designation of primary stream of information from a faltering primary stream of information to one of the received redundant streams and designating the faltering primary stream of information as the backup stream of information; receiving, at the target entity, the primary stream of information and the backup stream of information; identifying whether the primary stream of information includes missing information, wherein identifying includes flagging a discontinuity in the primary stream of information if the missing information does not arrive within a predetermined period of time; determining if the missing information is obtainable from the backup stream of information to repair the discontinuity in the primary stream of information; and supplying the missing information to repair the discontinuity in the primary stream of information from the backup stream of information.