Patent ID: 6775283
Filing Date: 2004-08-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of processing a frame of data having a header containing address and status information and data in a network interface card of a switch of a data communication network, the method comprising:receiving the frame from a network link in a network interface card in the switch; determining tag status of the frame with regard to a virtual local area network (VLAN) tag that may be contained in the header; recording the tag status of the frame in a descriptor containing an address of an available buffer in a system memory of the switch; if the tag status of the frame indicates that the frame contains a VLAN tag, copying a VLAN identifier from the VLAN tag in the frame into a predetermined field of the descriptor; writing the frame into the system memory of the switch at the location corresponding to the address of the available buffer; modifying the descriptor to indicate to a central processor of the switch that the available buffer has been loaded with a frame corresponding to the descriptor; and processing the frame through the switch from the buffer based at least in part on the tag status recorded in the descriptor.