Patent ID: 7362761

Claim:
A packet processing apparatus, comprising: a distributor for assigning a sequence number to each of a plurality of packets input to said distributor and distributing the packets; a plurality of packet analyzing units for realizing parallel execution of information analyzing processes on the packets distributed from the distributor; and an order correction unit for receiving the packets from the packet analyzing units, rearranging the packets in order according to the sequence number assigned to each of the packets, and outputting the packets in the rearranged order, wherein the distributor includes a plurality of output buffers corresponding to the packet analyzing units to which output buffers the packets are distributed, the distributor sets a threshold value of an amount of accumulated data in each of the output buffers; and when the amount of accumulated data in at least one output buffer of the output buffers exceeds the threshold value, the distributor refrains from distributing the packets to said at least one output buffer and redistributes the packets to the output buffers other than said at least one output buffer.