$.fn.dataTableExt.oApi.fnFakeRowspan = function ( oSettings, iColumn, bCaseSensitive ) {
	/*
	 * Type:        Plugin for DataTables (http://datatables.net) JQuery plugin.
	 * Name:        dataTableExt.oApi.fnFakeRowspan
	 * Requires:    DataTables 1.6.0+
	 * Version:     1.0.1
	 * Description: Creates rowspan cells in a column when there are two or more
	 *              cells in a row with the same content. It only works for 
	 *              server-side processing as cells are removed and can't be 
	 *              sorted by DataTables.
	 *              
	 * Inputs:      object:oSettings - dataTables settings object
	 *              integer:iColumn - the column to fake rowspans in
	 *              boolean:bCaseSensitive - whether the comparison is case-sensitive or not (default: true)
	 * Returns:     JQuery
	 * Usage:       $('#example').dataTable().fnFakeRowspan(3);
	 *              $('#example').dataTable().fnFakeRowspan(3, false);
	 *
	 * Author:      Fredrik Wendel
	 * Created:     2010-02-10
	 * Language:    Javascript
	 * License:     GPL v2 or BSD 3 point style
	 */
	
	/* Fail silently on missing/errorenous parameter data. */
	if (isNaN(iColumn)) {
		return false;
	}
	
	if (iColumn < 0 || iColumn > oSettings.aoColumns.length-1) {
		alert ('Invalid column number choosen, must be between 0 and ' + (oSettings.aoColumns.length-1));
		return false;
	}
	
	var oSettings = oSettings,
		iColumn = iColumn,
		bCaseSensitive = (typeof(bCaseSensitive) != 'boolean' ? true : bCaseSensitive);

	oSettings.aoDrawCallback.push({ "fn": fakeRowspan, "sName": "fnFakeRowspan" });

	function fakeRowspan () {
		var firstOccurance = null,
			value = null, 
			rowspan = 0;
		jQuery.each(oSettings.aoData, function (i, oData) {
			var val = oData._aData[iColumn],
				cell = oData.nTr.childNodes[iColumn];
			/* Use lowercase comparison if not case-sensitive. */
			if (!bCaseSensitive) {
				val = val.toLowerCase();
			}
			/* Reset values on new cell data. */
			if (val != value) {
				value = val;
				firstOccurance = cell;
				rowspan = 0;
			}
			
			if (val == value) {
				rowspan++;
			}
			
			if (firstOccurance !== null && val == value && rowspan > 1) {
				oData.nTr.removeChild(cell);
				firstOccurance.rowSpan = rowspan;
			}
		});
	}
	
	return this;
}