System and method for running multiple incompatible network protocol stacks

摘要

A system and method for operating a network client machine to simultaneously utilize two protocol stacks which implement the same protocol. The system and method routes incoming packets of information into the appropriate protocol stack by prescanning the incoming packet and comparing a portion of the packet with a table in memory of sockets used for one of the two stacks. If a match exists with any entry in the table, the system and method routes the packet to the appropriate stack. If no match is found between the incoming packet and the table, the packet may then be offered to the second protocol stack. The unique socket numbers are selected by one of the protocol stacks while both stacks maintain a table of active sockets.