Patent ID: 8175113

Claim:
A networking system comprising: a source node that supplies a first signal to at least one of a plurality of network paths; a destination node that receives the first signal, the first signal carrying a marker, the destination node configured to detect the marker; a processing circuit that processes a first one of a plurality of signal portions of a second signal; and an initialization module that selects a first one of the plurality of network paths and a second one of the plurality of network paths based on, at least in part, the timing of the detection of the marker, such that the first one of the plurality of signal portions of the second signal is supplied to the first one of the plurality of network paths, and a second of the plurality of signal portions of the second signal is supplied to the second one of the plurality of network paths, the second one of the plurality of network paths bypassing the processing circuit, wherein the destination node receives the first and second ones of the plurality of second signal portions of the signal and combines the first and second ones of the plurality of signal portions of the second signal with remaining ones of the plurality of signal portions to assemble the signal at the receiver node.