Patent ID: 7561522

Claim:
A method of removing expired packets which are erroneously addressed or addressed to a non-existent or malfunctioning destination node from a communications network, the network including a plurality of nodes arranged in a node sequential order, wherein each expired packet has an expired packet current time phase value associated therewith, the method comprising: associating in the node sequential order, each of the plurality of nodes with a current time phase value, wherein associating each of the plurality of nodes with the current time phase value comprises transmission by a master node of a control packet carrying the current time phase value to each of the plurality of nodes in the node sequential order, and wherein the control packet carrying the current time phase value is transmitted from the master node upon arrival at the master node of an earlier control packet carrying an earlier current time phase value; comparing, at one of the plurality of nodes, the expired packet current time phase value received with the expired packet with the current time phase value held by the node at the time of receipt at the node of the expired packet current time phase value, and discarding the expired packet if the difference between the current time phase value held by the node and the expired packet current time phase value exceeds a predetermined amount.