Efficient memory bandwidth utilization in a network device

A method comprising:

• receiving exclusively audio video (AV) traffic comprising a plurality of packets associated with a plurality of channels, wherein the plurality of packets comprise a plurality of headers and a plurality of payloads;
• storing the plurality of payloads in a plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers associated with the plurality of channels, wherein each of the plurality of payloads is stored in one of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers associated with one of the plurality of channels associated with each of the plurality of payloads;
• initiating, for each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers, a timer upon storing at least one of the plurality of payloads in each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers;
• and
• writing the plurality of payloads stored in each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers to an off-chip memory when an amount of the plurality of payloads stored in each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers reaches a threshold value and when the timer for each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers reaches a timeout value prior to the amount of the plurality of payloads stored in each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers reaching the threshold value, wherein the timeout value is set for each respective physical on-chip memory buffer of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers based at least in part on a duration of time from when a packet for each respective associated channel of the of the plurality of associated channels is received until extracted header information item for the packet is processed.

A computer program product comprising instructions stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the instructions comprising:

• instructions to receive exclusively audio video (AV) traffic comprising a plurality of packets associated with a plurality of channels, wherein the plurality of packets comprise a plurality of headers and a plurality of payloads;
• instructions to store the plurality of payloads in a plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers associated with the plurality of channels, wherein each of the plurality of payloads is stored in one of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers associated with one of the plurality of channels associated with each of the plurality of payloads;
• instructions to initiate, for each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers, a timer upon storing at least one of the plurality of payloads in each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers;
• and
• instructions to write the plurality of payloads stored in each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers to an off-chip memory when an amount of the plurality of payloads stored in each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers reaches a threshold value and when the timer for each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers reaches a timeout value prior to the amount of the plurality of payloads stored in each of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers reaching the threshold value, wherein the timeout value is set for each respective physical on-chip memory buffer of the plurality of physical on-chip memory buffers based at least in part on a duration of time from when a packet for each respective associated channel of the of the plurality of associated channels is received until extracted header information item for the packet is processed.