System for early packet steering and FIFO-based management with priority buffer support
AssigneeSonicWALL, Inc.
InventorsPaul B. Vincent, Bryan A. Ford
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A network interface card (NIC) with FIFO-based packet memory management including priority queues for controlling scheduling of network traffic to thereby prioritize packet transmission for time-critical applications. Furthermore, the invention comprises a system for early packet steering, wherein a packet header is analyzed without having to store the entire packet and before a packet payload arrives, thereby making it possible to make steering decisions before the complete arrival of the packet.
Claims15
A method for early packet steering by examining a packet as it is received at a routing location, thereby avoiding having to store the entire packet in memory prior to processing, said method comprising the steps of:
- (1) parsing the packet as it is received to thereby extract portions of a packet header;
- (2) processing the packet header in parallel before the arrival of a packet payload being carried by the packet;
- and
- (3) steering the packet to a correct address without storing the entire packet payload in memory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.