Patent ID: 7911940

Claim:
A method for adaptive redundancy protection, the method comprising: at a network processing device connected to an Internet protocol (IP) network and including a primary network interface card and a secondary network interface card, the primary network interface card being connected to the network via a first path using a first Ethernet switch and the secondary network interface card being connected to the network via a second path using a second Ethernet switch, wherein the first path includes a first router connecting the first Ethernet switch to the IP network and the second path includes a second router for connecting the second Ethernet switch to the IP network, the primary network interface card being connected to the secondary network interface card via a cross-link coupling the Ethernet switches so as to provide a redundant pathway from the network to each of the primary and secondary network interface cards: sending a protection packet from the primary network interface card of the network processing device to the secondary network interface card of the network processing device using the cross-link, the protection packet having a hardware address of the primary network interface card as a source address and a hardware address of the secondary network interface card as a destination address; determining whether the secondary network interface card receives the protection packet from the primary network interface card; operating the primary network interface card as an active network interface card and the secondary network interface card as a standby network interface card in response to the secondary network interface card receiving the protection packet, wherein operating as an active network interface card includes transmitting, receiving, and processing data packets from the network and wherein operating as a standby network interface card includes not transmitting, receiving, or processing data packets from the network; operating both the primary and secondary network interface cards as active network interface cards, wherein the primary network interface card can send and receive packets to and from the network using the first path and the secondary network interface card can send and receive packets to and from the network using the second path, and bypassing the cross-link in response to the secondary network interface card not receiving the protection packet; and providing the hardware address of the active secondary network interface card to devices coupled thereto, wherein the primary and secondary network interface cards are components of a media gateway and wherein a control module within the media gateway instructs the primary and secondary network interface cards to operate as active network interface cards in response to the secondary network interface card not receiving the protection packet.