Patent ID: 8686838

Claim:
A method of operating network interface circuitry, wherein the network interface circuitry is configured to couple a host computer, executing at least one operating system, to a network to facilitate communication over the network between the host computer and at least one peer, the method comprising: by the network interface circuitry, receiving data from a plurality of guest functions operating on the host in conjunction with the at least one operating system; processing the received data and classifying the received data at least based on from which guest function at least a particular portion of the received data was received; protocol processing with the at least one peer, including controlling the protocol processing for the received data based at least in part on a desired transmission rate characteristic for the classification of the received data, to control the protocol processing to encapsulate the data received from the host from the particular guest function into packets such that the packets are provided from the network interface device to the network with the desired transmission rate characteristic for the classification of the received data; and transmitting the packets including the received data out to the network at a nominal rate associated with the classification with which the received data has been classified.