Patent ID: 7031338

Claim:
A method of optimizing the transmission of a plurality of data packets across a data network at a network traffic device, each data packet having an actual length and including a header with a field giving a total length value for the data packet and a next-hop address, the method comprising: receiving the data packets at the network traffic device; deconsolidating any consolidated data packets, including extracting the total length value from the header, comparing the total length value to the actual length, and if the actual length is longer than the total length value, removing a segment from the front of the data packet equal in length to the total length value, and then buffering the segment after deconsolidating any consolidated data packets, buffering the data packets; identifying a first data packet; identifying a second data packet with the same next-hop address as the first data packet; consolidating the first data packet with the second data packet to form a consolidated packet; and transmitting the consolidated data packet.