Patent ID: 7779340

Claim:
A data capture and analysis device, comprising: a first tap for receiving data, wherein the tapped data represents data communicated in a first communications link at a rate between about 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps, wherein the data in the first communications link is allowed to continue on to its intended destination; an interface configured to receive the tapped data; a logic device configured to receive the tapped data and to interleave timestamps received from a timestamp source into the tapped data; and a processor configured to receive the tapped data and the timestamps from the logic device and perform a linear or non-linear interpolation between at least two timestamps and to calculate intermediate timestamps and associate intermediate timestamps to at least portions of the tapped data, wherein the data capture and analysis device is configured to capture data at a rate between about 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps, wherein the interpolation conducted in the data capture and analysis device takes into account compression of the tapped data.