Patent ID: 7616633

Claim:
A method of multiply referencing a multiple destination packet directed to more than one computing device on a network, the multiple destination packet including a plurality of data buffers disposed in a memory, the method comprising: creating, at a first computing device, a base packet descriptor of the multiple destination packet, wherein the base packet descriptor contains a counter, a first pointer to the multiple destination packet, and a plurality of buffer descriptors, the plurality of buffer descriptors pointing to a location in memory associated with each of the plurality of data buffers of the multiple destination packet; creating, at the first computing device, a child packet descriptor of the multiple destination packet, wherein the child packet descriptor contains a second pointer to the base packet descriptor, and a plurality of buffer descriptors, the plurality of buffer descriptors pointing to a location in memory associated with each of the plurality of data buffers of the multiple destination packet; modifying the counter to account for the child packet descriptor; determining the more than one computing device on the network to which the multiple destination packet is directed; determining multiple ports of the first computing device through which the more than one computing device on the network can be reached; providing access to the multiple destination packet to a first network interface by providing to the first network interface the base packet descriptor; providing simultaneous access to the multiple destination packet to a second network interface by providing to the second network interface the child packet descriptor; transmitting the multiple destination packet through a first of the multiple ports by providing to the first of the multiple ports the base packet descriptor; and transmitting the multiple destination packet through a second of the multiple ports, in parallel to the transmitting the multiple destination packet through the first of the multiple ports, by providing to the second of the multiple ports the child packet descriptor.