Patent ID: 6973061

Claim:
A method comprising the steps of: receiving a first packet from a first communication unit and a second packet from a second communication unit to respectively produce a first received packet and a second received packet, wherein each of the first received packet and the second received packet comprises a packet identifier; sorting the first and second received packets according to their respective packet identifiers; forwarding the sorted first and second received packets to an upstream component of a communication system; receiving a third packet from the first communication unit and a fourth packet from a third communication unit to respectively produce a third received packet and a fourth received packet, wherein each of the third received packet and the fourth received packets comprises a packet identifier; sorting the third and fourth received packets according to their respective packet identifiers; forwarding the sorted third and fourth received packets to the upstream component; comparing, by the upstream component, the first received packet to the third received packet; and forwarding, by the upstream component, the first received packet or the third received packet based on the comparison.