Patent ID: 8085682

Claim:
An electronic device, comprising: a plurality of processing units, a network-based interconnect coupling the plurality of processing units for enabling a first communication path between a first processing unit and a second processing unit in the plurality of processing units, a monitoring services access unit, at least one first monitoring unit and at least one second monitoring unit for monitoring data traffic of the first communication path between the plurality of processing units and for forwarding monitoring results at least temporarily via at least two separate second communication paths to the monitoring service access unit, wherein the at least one first monitoring unit and the at least one second monitoring unit are arranged at separate locations along the first communication path, and a plurality of network interfaces, wherein each network interface in the plurality of network interfaces is in electronic communication with a corresponding processing unit in the plurality of processing units, wherein the at least one first and the at least one second monitoring units are in electronic communication with a network interface in the plurality of network interfaces to forward their monitoring results via the at least two second communication paths to the monitoring service access unit, wherein a network interface in the plurality of network interfaces comprises at least two buffers for buffering data from the at least two separate second communication paths and a combination unit for combining data from the at least two buffers, wherein the combination unit combines data from the at least two buffers based on a schedule that is in synchronization with the respective monitoring of data traffic by the at least one first monitoring unit and the at least one second monitoring unit.