Patent ID: 8804738

Claim:
A network interface controller, comprising: a receive media access controller for receiving data, received by the network interface controller, to be stored in a memory of the network interface controller, the receive media access controller configured to receive, from a first port external to the network interface controller, a frame of data transferred from one of a plurality of second ports, wherein the frame of data includes a first steering header identifying the one of the plurality of second ports; a header decoder configured to direct the frame of data to the memory based on the first steering header; and a transmit media access controller for receiving data from the memory to be transmitted from the network interface controller, the transmit media access controller configured to i) receive the frame of data from the memory based on the first steering header, and ii) transmit the frame of data, with a second steering header, from the network interface controller to a destination port based on the second steering header.