Network packet processing apparatus with multi-core parallel processing capability and packet order-preserving capability and associated network packet processing method

Abstract

A network packet processing apparatus includes a receive (RX) ring buffer, a transmit (TX) ring buffer, and a plurality of first processor cores. The RX ring buffer includes a plurality of storage blocks, each arranged to buffer an RX packet descriptor of a network packet before the network packet is processed. The TX ring buffer includes a plurality of storage blocks, each arranged to buffer a TX packet descriptor of the network packet after the network packet is processed. The first processor cores retrieve RX packet descriptors of a plurality of network packets from the RX ring buffer in parallel, process the plurality of network packets in parallel, and write TX packet descriptors of the plurality of network packets into the TX ring buffer in parallel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.