Patent ID: 7852858

Claim:
A communication device comprising: multiple sockets within a communication network, wherein each socket comprises a receive list listing buffer memories containing the received data stream, said receive list having a structure in which each buffer memory comprises a “previous” pointer indicating the buffer memory that precedes the current buffer memory in the corresponding receive list, and a second “next” pointer indicating the buffer memory that follows the current buffer memory in the corresponding receive list, wherein one of the sockets is designated as configured to receive the data stream received by each socket associated with a selected process, wherein said socket thereby designated further comprises an additional receive list listing buffer memories containing the data stream received by all of the sockets involved in a selected process, and wherein the buffer memories of each socket simultaneously belong to both receive lists, and each further comprise an additional “previous” pointer indicating the buffer memory which precedes the current buffer memory in the additional receive list, and an additional “next” pointer indicating the buffer memory which follows the current buffer memory in the additional receive list, which provides access to the data stream received by the set of sockets involved in said process, in the order in which said received data stream arrived.