A method for performing packet reorder processing is disclosed. The method comprises receiving, at a packet receive buffer, a data packet, the packet receive buffer comprising a plurality of N-sized pages. The method also comprises storing the received data packet across a plurality of pages of the packet receive buffer. The method further comprises writing, at storage of each of the plurality of pages, a pointer to a next page in which a subsequent portion of the data packet is stored. The method also comprises transmitting the pointer to a ring buffer. The method further comprises calculating an offset to the ring based on a sequence number of the corresponding packet, and storing the pointer to a first page in the calculate offset of the ring buffer.

The present invention is directed to a method and system of memory management that features dual buffer rings, each of which includes descriptors identifying addresses of a memory space, referred to as buffers, in which portions of data packets are stored. Typically, the header segment of each data packet is stored at a first set of a plurality of buffers, and the portion of the payload segment that does not fit among the buffers of the first set is stored in the buffers of a second set. In this manner, the size of the individual buffers associated with the first buffer rings may be kept to the smallest size of useable storage space, and the buffers corresponding to the second buffer ring may be arbitrary in size.

Within a networking device, packet portions from multiple PDRSDs (Packet Data Receiving and Splitting Devices) are loaded into a single memory, so that the packet portions can later be processed by a processing device. Rather than the PDRSDs managing and handling the storing of packet portions into the memory, a packet engine is provided. The PDRSDs use a PPI (Packet Portion Identifier) Addressing Mode (PAM) in communicating with the packet engine and in instructing the packet engine to store packet portions. A PDRSD requests a PPI from the packet engine in a PPI allocation request, and is allocated a PPI by the packet engine in a PPI allocation response, and then tags the packet portion to be written with the PPI and sends the packet portion and the PPI to the packet engine.

A reception buffer of a packet reception apparatus includes a plurality of storage addresses. A packet determination unit receives a packet from a plurality of lines including a main system and an auxiliary system. The packet determination unit obtains a storage address corresponding to a unique number assigned to the packet, and overwrites and stores data of the packet onto the storage address. A packet extraction/transmission unit extracts and transmits the data stored in the reception buffer.

An apparatus and method for storing data traffic on a flow basis. The apparatus for storing data traffic on a flow basis includes a packet storage unit a flow generation unit, and a metadata generation unit. The packet storage unit receives packets corresponding to data traffic, and temporarily stores the packets using queues. The flow generation unit generates flows by grouping the packets by means of a hash function using information about each of the packets as input, and to store the flows. The metadata generation unit generates metadata and index data corresponding to each of the flows, and stores the metadata and the index data.

Some embodiments provide a method for a parser of a processing pipeline. The method receives a packet for processing by a set of match-action stages of the processing pipeline. The method stores packet header field (PHF) values from a first set of PHFs of the packet in a set of data containers. The first set of PHFs are for use by the match-action stages. For a second set of PHFs not used by the match-action stages, the method generates descriptive data that identifies locations of the PHFs of the second set within the packet. The method sends (i) the set of data containers to the match-action stages and (ii) the packet data and the generated descriptive data outside of the match-action stages to a deparser that uses the packet data, generated descriptive data, and the set of data containers as modified by the match-action stages to reconstruct a modified packet.

A path fault detection method, including obtaining, by a network device, a first packet, where the first packet has a segment list, where the segment list has a plurality of sequentially arranged segment identifiers (SIDs), where the segment list identifies a forwarding path of the first packet, and where the segment list has a segment identifier of a first node and a segment identifier of a second node, forwarding, by the network device, the first packet based on the segment list, and detecting, by the network device, a status of a target path based on the first packet, where the target path is a shortest path between the first node and the second node, and where a segment identifier that is in the segment list and that identifies the target path indicates a loose path.

A network device may receive an ingress packet that includes a header and a payload, wherein the header includes data stored in a plurality of fields according to a predefined format. The network device may send different, potentially overlapping, parts of the ingress packet concurrently for independent processing by different ones of a plurality of accelerators to produce results. The network device may forward, based on the results generated by the different ones of the plurality of accelerators, an egress packet out of the network device, wherein a payload of the egress packet is based on the contents of the payload of the ingress packet.

An apparatus, a method, and a computer program for generating data packets according to a transport protocol from an application buffer comprising a plurality of data streams is provided. The apparatus comprises an input circuit configured to receive metadata comprising at least one of information about data packet types supported by the transport protocol, information about an offset and a length of the supported data packet types, and information about possible stream header start positions, possible payload start positions and possible offsets in the data streams. Further, the apparatus comprises a parsing circuit configured to identify offsets in an application buffer as possible segmentation points based on the metadata, to segment the application buffer at the possible segmentation points into segments for data packets, and to generate data packets according to the transport protocol based on the segments. Furthermore, an apparatus, a method and a computer program for processing the application buffer is provided.

Described are techniques for caching a data payload on a peripheral device for delivery to a target device. The techniques include receiving, at a peripheral device via a short-range wireless protocol, a data payload intended for a target device, where the data payload is received from a source device configured to send the data payload to the target device. The techniques further include storing the data payload in a memory of the peripheral device for a time that allows the peripheral device to be placed in network proximity of the target device and transfer the data payload from the peripheral device to the target device. The techniques further include detecting the target device via a short-range wireless network, and sending the data payload to the target device via a short-range wireless protocol used by the target device.