Forward error correction based data recovery with path diversity

A method for operating a network processing device, comprising:

• sending source packets over a first network path, the generated source packets for transmitting media;
• generating Forward Error Correction (FEC) packets from the media for repairing the source packets;
• sending the generated FEC packets over a second network path;
• identifying a change in an outage duration Q for the first network path;
• adjusting a number of the source packets sent over the first network path according to the change in the maximum outage duration Q;
• adjusting a number of the FEC packets sent over the second network path to repair the adjusted source packets;
• and
• transmitting the adjusted source packets and the adjusted FEC packets using the second network path;
• wherein no FEC information for the source packets is transmitted using the first network path.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a receiving network device configured to receive, from a server, a first media stream on a first interface of a plurality of network interfaces of the receiving network device;
• the receiving network device configured to receive, from the server, on a second interface of the plurality of network interfaces, a first set of Forward Error Correction (FEC) packets for repairing the media stream;
• and
• in the event of a repairable transmission error, the receiving network device configured to repair the first media from the first interface using the first set of FEC packets from the second interface, wherein the server is further configured to:
• determine a duration Q of the repairable transmission error for the first interface;
• adjust a number of source packets sent to the first interface according to the determined duration Q;
• adjust a number of FEC packets sent to the second interface to repair the adjusted source packets.