Patent ID: 8665869

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a network captured traffic distribution device, a traffic flow of captured data packets wherein the data packets are received via at least one of a minor port resident on a source of the captured data packets and a traffic capture point located along a communication link between two communicating devices, further wherein the network traffic distribution device includes a plurality of ingress and egress ports; determining, by the network captured traffic distribution device, a time of arrival of a data packet included in the traffic flow of captured data packets at the network captured traffic distribution device; generating, by the network captured traffic distribution device, a time stamp value based on the determination including receiving a value from a first counter, receiving a value from a second counter and combining the values from the first and second counters; inserting, by the network captured traffic distribution device, the generated time stamp into the data packet; determining, by the network captured distribution device, an egress port assigned to the data packet; and transmitting, by the network captured distribution device, the data packet, including the time stamp, to the assigned egress port.