Patent ID: 7688821
Filing Date: 2010-03-30
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A data packets distributor for transferring a data packet from a source address to a destination address, comprising: a plurality of predefined addresses, each predefined address indicating a location of a processing unit; and a data packet distributing unit coupled to a plurality of said processing units, said data packet distributing unit for determining a set of said processing units from said plurality of said processing units to execute a set of predefined procedures on said data packet respectively and transferring said data packet to a set of said predefined addresses in sequence by using corresponding NAT operations, said set of said predefined addresses indicating said locations of said set of said processing units respectively, said data packet distributing unit further for forwarding said processed data packet to said destination address by using a final NAT operation; wherein transferring the data packet to a set of predefined addresses in sequence by using corresponding NAT operations comprises: transferring said data packet from said data packet distributing unit to one of said processing units by using a corresponding NAT operation of said plurality of said NAT operations; processing said data packet at said processing unit; receiving at said data packet distributing unit said data packet from said processing unit; determining at said data packet distributing unit whether said data packet has been transferred to each of said set of said processing units; if said packet has not been transferred to each of said set of said processing unit, transferring said data packet from said data packet distributing unit to one of the rest of said set of said processing units by using a corresponding NAT operation of said plurality of said NAT operations, then processing said data packet at said processing unit; if said packet has been transferred to each of said set of said processing unit, transferring said data packet from said data packet distributing unit to said destination address indicative of said second location by using a final NAT operation of said plurality of said NAT operations.