Patent ID: 7548562

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a buffer, to store a plurality of data packets until transmission; a filter to perform pattern matching and filtering of the plurality of data packets before the plurality of data packets are stored in the buffer; a line interface to extract data packets before filtering, wherein at least one of: the line interface extracts the data packets directly, the line interface extracts the data packets via AAL reassembly, or the line interface adds a length indicator to each data packet, classifies the data packet, and adds a timestamp to the data packet; a macro-packet transmitter, to prepare macro-packets from the stored plurality of data packets and operate in a UDP mode that includes a predetermined re-transmit protocol; and a processor, to stream the macro-packets to a computer/server or storage device in real time and to retransmit respective macro-packets of the stream of macro-packets via the re-transmit protocol in accordance with a request from the computer/server.