Patent ID: 6990100
Filing Date: 2006-01-24
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of converting a packet of data from a source format to a target format, the packet comprising a type indicator and at least one data field, the method comprising the steps of: storing a table for each packet type, each table comprising for each data field of that packet type a value representative of a storage requirement in memory and a corresponding field descriptor denoting the nature of the data field; receiving a packet in a source format; identifying the type of packet from the type indicator; accessing the stored table for the type of packet identified and thus obtaining for each data field a value representative of a storage requirement in memory and a field descriptor for that field; using the value and the field descriptor to load the packet into a target memory according to the target format specified by the field descriptor; and wherein the field descriptor denotes the nature of the data field as one of a used field and an unused field.