Patent ID: 6918005

Claim:
A method of caching free cell pointers pointing to memory buffers configured to store data traffic of network connections, the method comprising: storing free cell pointers into a pointer random access memory (RAM), wherein each free cell pointer points to a memory buffer that is vacant and available for storing data traffic; temporarily storing at least one free cell pointer from the pointer RAM into internal cache configured to assist in lowering a frequency of reads from and writes to the pointer RAM; receiving a request from an external integrated circuit for one or more free cell pointers; sending one or more free cell pointers to one or more queues of the external integrated circuit, the one or more free cell pointers including the at least one free cell pointer temporarily stored in the internal cache, wherein each free cell pointer in the one or more free cell pointers in the one or more queues is configured to become a write cell pointer; receiving at least one write cell pointer and a corresponding cell descriptor from external integrated circuit; and calculating free cell pointer counter values in order to keep track of the free cell pointers.