Patent ID: 7746949

Claim:
A communications apparatus for communicating sub-channel data using at least one of a potentially faulty first main channel and a potentially faulty second main channel between a first network node and a second network node, the apparatus comprising: a data store for temporarily storing sub-channel data; a processing resource capable of supporting, when in use, a monitor module and a diagnostic module; wherein the monitor module is arranged to monitor first data for communication between the first network node and the second network node; the diagnostic module is arranged to use at least part of the monitored first data to generate diagnostic data for identifying an operational status of at least one of the potentially faulty first and second main channels, the sub-channel data comprising the diagnostic data; and the processing resource is arranged to operate on behalf of at least one of the first network nodeand the second network node and intervene in communication of second data communicated on at least one of the first and second channels in order to provide at least temporarily a suitable channel condition on at least one of the first and second main channels for initiating transmission of the sub-channel data, wherein at least part of the second data has a reserved status for control of at least one of the potentially faulty first and second main channels, the processing resource being further arranged to identity the second data, and to send the sub-channel data in place of the at least part of the second data.