Systems and methods for processing packet streams in a network device

A method for processing streams in a network device, comprising:

• storing data and addresses corresponding to the streams received by the network device, the addresses storing pointers to the data;
• determining whether one of the stored addresses is required to be fetched;
• when no stored address is required to be fetched, reading stored data;
• and
• when one of the stored addresses is required to be fetched, fetching the one stored address and reading stored data using the fetched address.

A network device, comprising:

• a memory configured to store data and addresses corresponding to a plurality of input streams received by the network device, the addresses storing pointers to the data;
• a notification buffer pool configured to store notifications corresponding to the input streams;
• a pointer queue configured to identify ones of the notifications in the notification buffer pool to be processed, the pointer queue including a prefetch pointer that identifies a notification that has one or more associated addresses stored in the memory;
• a notification buffer configured to store notifications from the notification buffer pool that are identified by the pointer queue;
• and
• an address buffer configured to:
• store a pointer to an address in the memory that corresponds to a notification stored in the notification buffer,
• determine free space status of the address buffer, and
• store a pointer to an address in the memory that corresponds to the notification identified by the prefetch pointer in the pointer queue.

A method for processing streams by a network device, comprising:

• storing data and addresses corresponding to a plurality of input streams received by the network device, the address storing pointers to the data;
• storing, in a notification buffer pool, notifications corresponding to the input streams;
• storing notification pointers that identify ones of the notifications in the notification buffer pool to be processed;
• providing one or more prefetch pointers that identify one or more of the notification pointers that identify notifications that have an associated stored address;
• storing, in a notification buffer, notifications from the notification buffer pool that are identified by the notification pointers;
• storing address pointers to the stored addresses that correspond to the notifications stored in the notification buffer;
• determining whether any additional address pointers can be stored;
• and
• storing one or more address pointers to the addresses associated with the notifications and corresponding to the one or more prefetch pointers when additional address pointers can be stored.

A network device, comprising:

• a memory configured to store data cells and address cells corresponding to a plurality of packets of different size in a plurality of input streams received by the network device, at least some of the data cells having associated address cells, the address cells storing pointers to the data cells;
• and
• output logic configured to:
• determine whether a packet has an associated address cell,
• prefetch address cells from the memory for packets having associated address cells, and
• read data cells from the memory using the prefetched address cells.

Apparatus for retrieving transmission data, comprising:

• a memory configured to store data for transmission and addresses identifying data for transmission;
• and
• output logic including an address buffer configured to store at least one pointer to the addresses, the output logic being configured to:
• initiate processes for reading transmission data from the memory,
• transfer a first pointer to the address buffer, the first pointer being associated with an initiated process for reading transmission data from the memory,
• read from the memory one of the addresses using the first pointer from the address buffer, and
• read the data identified by the one address from the memory.

A method for retrieving transmission data, comprising:

• storing data for transmission and addresses identifying data for transmission;
• storing in an address buffer at least one pointer to the addresses;
• initiating processes for reading out transmission data;
• transferring a first pointer to the address buffer, the first pointer being associated with an initiated process for reading transmission data from memory;
• reading from the memory one of the addresses using the first pointer from the address buffer;
• and
• reading the data identified by the one address from the memory.