Patent ID: 7313100
Filing Date: 2007-12-25
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. An apparatus comprising: a set of interface cards to receive packet flows from a network, wherein the packet flows include packets having at least a same source address and destination address; a plurality of accounting service cards to calculate flow statistics for the packet flows, wherein each of the accounting service cards calculates flow statistics for a subset of the packet flows; and a centralized control unit to receive the packet flows from the interface cards and distribute the packet flows across the plurality of accounting service cards such that packets of common packet flows are distributed to the same one of the plurality of accounting service cards, wherein the centralized control unit includes a forwarding engine that maintains forwarding information that associates the packet with next hops along routes through the network, wherein each of the plurality of accounting service cards includes: wherein the forwarding engine of the centralized control unit applies the forwarding information to the returned packets received from the accounting service cards to select outbound ports of the interface cards for forwarding the packets along the routes.