Methods and apparatus for managing a buffer of events in the background

A processing system for processing packets received from a device, the packets having a plurality of priorities, the device requiring acknowledgements (ACKS) according to predetermined restrictions associated with the priorities of the packets, the processing system comprising:

• a processor, for processing the packets;
• a memory, coupled to said processor, for storing the packets;
• a background memory manager (BMM), coupled to said memory, for performing memory management of said memory;
• and
• a background event buffer manager (BEBM), coupled to said processor and to said BMM, said BEBM having a plurality of queues for queuing the packets according to their priorities;
• wherein said BEBM manages the ACKS according to the predetermined restrictions.

A packet router for processing packets received from a device, the packets having a plurality of priorities, the device requiring acknowledgements (ACK's) for the packets according to predetermined restrictions related to the priorities of the packets, the router comprising:

• a processor for processing the packets;
• a memory, coupled to said processor, for storing the packets;
• and
• a background event buffer manager (BEBM), coupled to said processor, for managing the ACK's to the device, the BEBM comprising:
• a plurality of queues for storing the packets, said plurality of queues also storing priorities associated with the packets;
• wherein said BEBM tracks a plurality of ACK states for the packets, according to their stage of processing by said processor.

A method for managing Acknowledgements (ACK's) between a packet router, and a device, comprising:

• providing a plurality of ACK states for packets received by the router indicating the stage of processing of associated packets;
• providing a buffer manager for queuing packets received from the device, and for determining their priority;
• tracking which of the ACK states received packets are in, and sending ACK's to the device according to the ACK states;
• and
• insuring that the sent ACK states to the device are within predetermined restrictions imposed by the device.