Method and apparatus for blind checksum and correction for network transmissions

An apparatus for determining a checksum for a packet to be transmitted on a network, the apparatus comprising:

• a memory access unit that retrieves packet information from a storage device, the packet information to be included in the packet to be transmitted;
• an accumulator that determines a blind checksum value based on the retrieved packet information;
• and
• a transmission unit that receives the packet information and the blind checksum value and adjusts the blind checksum value to a protocol checksum based on descriptor information describing the structure of the packet, wherein the transmission unit inserts the protocol checksum in the packet and outputs the packet for transmission on the network.