摘要 |
A method and apparatus for use with a computer system are disclosed. A packet is received that includes a header. The header indicates at least one characteristic that is associated with a layer of a protocol stack, and the layer is hierarchically no lower than a network layer. The packet is parsed in hardware to extract the characteristic(s), and the packet is processed based on the parsing. The computer system may be capable of executing software of a protocol stack to extract the characteristic(s) of the packet, and the apparatus may include an interface and a circuit. The interface may be adapted to receive the packet, and the circuit may be adapted to parse the header to extract the characteristic(s) without causing the computer to execute the software and process the packet based on the extracted characteristic(s).
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