Patent ID: 7603418

Claim:
A method for synchronizing transfer of sequence numbers over a digital network, wherein an expected sequence number is compared to a received sequence number to determine if the received sequence number is acceptable, wherein a sequence number is acceptable if the sequence number is within a group of sequence numbers defined with respect to the expected sequence number, the method comprising: determining first and second sequence numbers for communication from a sender, the first and second sequence numbers being in a range from a minimum value to a maximum value, wherein a value difference between the first and second sequence numbers is greater than one, and wherein neither the first sequence number nor the second sequence number has a value of one; sending the first sequence number to a receiver, wherein the receiver includes an unknown expected sequence number; sending the second sequence number to the receiver, wherein the first and second sequence numbers have values such that a subsequently sent starting sequence number is guaranteed to be acceptable by the receiver regardless of a value of the unknown expected sequence number in the receiver; and sending the starting sequence number to cause a resetting of the receiver to the starting sequence number, the starting sequence number being equal to one.