Patent ID: 7817555

Claim:
A method for a network diagnostic component that is placed in-line between first and second nodes in a network to reorder network traffic, the method comprising: an act of receiving a network data frame from the first node for communication with the second node, the network data frame including a plurality of data units interspersed with one or more non-data units that interrupt the proximity and flow of the data units; and an act of reordering the network data frame by removing or moving at least some of the non-data units that are interspersed with the plurality of data units, wherein the network diagnostic component includes a first and a second First In, First Out (FIFO) buffer and at least one counter, the act of reordering the network data frame comprising: an act of placing a predetermined number of the plurality of data units in the first FIFO buffer; an act of placing at least the predetermined number of the data units and the one or more interspersed non-data units in the second FIFO buffer; an act of incrementing the counter every time one of the predetermined number of data units is placed in the first FIFO buffer; an act of replacing with other non-data units the predetermined number of data units and at least some of the non-data units as they are read from the second FIFO buffer if the counter has not incremented to the predetermined number and the end of the frame has not been detected; an act of passing the data units placed in the first FIFO buffer when the counter has incremented to the predetermined number or the end of the frame has been detected, wherein at least some of the non-data units are no longer interspersed with the predetermined number of data units; and an act of passing the contents of the second FIFO buffer unaltered after passing the data units from the first FIFO buffer.