Network communication redundancy method

1. A method for node to node communication comprising:

providing each packet of a data stream to be transferred with a respective identifier, wherein the identifier corresponds to a relative position of a packet in said data stream;

transporting over at least two links replicated data of said data stream from a transmitting node to a receiving node; at said receiving node,

receiving and buffering packets from said at least two links for subsequent forwarding of said data stream;

wherein indentif said buffering includes reconstructing a predetermined portion of said data stream in a single common indexed buffer, based on received packets from at least one of said at least two links.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of reconstructing includes,

selecting only one received packet with a specific identifier for writing to each indexed position of said buffer.

3. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

for each received packet,

determining a corresponding buffer index, based on the identifier of said received packet;

checking if data has been written to the corresponding buffer index position, based on the determined buffer index, and

writing the received packet or a corresponding pointer to said received packet to its determined buffer index position, based on a determination that the data has not been written to the corresponding buffer index position.

4. A method according to claim 2 , wherein simultaneous selection and writing to said buffer of received packets having different identifiers and being received on different links is supported.

5. A method according to claim 2 , further comprising:

for each received packet, setting a valid bit entry corresponding to a determined buffer index and link.

6. A method according to claim 5 , further comprising:

monitoring a current redundancy of said node to node communication based on said valid bit entries.

7. A method according to claim 5 , further comprising:

dropping any received packet arriving after a received packet with the same identifier is recorded.

8. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

at said receiving node and for each received packet,

recording an inter-packet arrival time;

wherein said forwarding of said data stream is performed with an output rate, the output rate being determined based on recorded inter-packet arrival time data.

9. A method according to claim 8 , wherein,

said output rate is determined packet by packet, such that for a packet of a specific buffer index,

the output rate is selected based on a recorded inter-packet arrival time of one of the received packets, the one of the received packets having an identifier corresponding to said specific buffer index.

10. A method according to claim 8 , wherein the output rate when forwarding the data stream is selected based on recorded inter-packet arrival times from one of said at least two links.

11. A method according to claim 1 , wherein forwarding of said data stream is initiated a predetermined time after a first packet of said data stream has been received on at least two links.

12. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said method is used for hitless disconnection of an intermediary node arranged in one of said at least two links.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform the method according to claim 1 .

14. A node in a communication system arranged for node to node communication over at least two links, the node comprising:

a memory storing computer-readable instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,

receive packets of a data stream, wherein each packet includes a respective identifier, and wherein said identifier corresponds to a relative position of a packet in said data stream;

buffer the packets of the data stream, wherein said buffering of packets includes reconstructing a predetermined portion of said data stream in a single common indexed buffer, using received packets from at least one of said at least two links; and

transport replicated data of said data stream over said at least two links to a receiving node.