Patent ID: 7826486

Claim:
A dataflow device, comprising: an enqueue/frame alteration component; and a header field extraction component; wherein the dataflow device is connected to a port configured to connect to a network link, and to a network processor through a switch interface, the switch interface configured to connect to a switch fabric; and wherein the header field extraction component is configured to generate a plurality of compressed dispatch messages, one each from each of a plurality of data packets, each of the data packets comprising a data payload and a plurality of protocol headers, by classifying a data packet format by sequentially analyzing data packet protocol headers; extracting a subset plurality of fields from analyzed data packet protocol headers appropriate to the classified format, the subset having a quantity of fields less than a total of fields of the analyzed data packet protocol header plurality; and concatenating the extracted subset fields to generate a compressed dispatch message for the data packet, the compressed dispatch message associated with the classified format and with the data packet; the header field extraction component further configured to select a subset plurality of a plurality of generated compressed dispatch messages, each having a format similar to the classified format, and concatenate the compressed dispatch message subset plurality into a composite dispatch message; and wherein the enqueue/frame alteration component and the network processor are configured to process the composite dispatch message and responsively route a plurality of data packets associated with the compressed dispatch message, each of the plurality of associated data packets associated with one each of the selected subset plurality of compressed dispatch messages.