Patent ID: 7990987

Claim:
A network processor comprising a receiver to receive data units configuration information received from an external host, wherein the configuration information is stored in a dedicated configuration storage, wherein the configuration information is used to evaluate whether the data units require processing, and wherein the configuration information comprises a port identifier of a virtual channel to identify the data units that require processing a processor core to process data units that require processing a bypass store to hold those data units which do not require processing by the processor core and which await delivery to a splicer an arbiter to evaluate whether a port is available to receive the data units from the bypass store or the processor, the arbiter further configured to receive a request for an available port from the processor core generate and send a signal to the processor core when a port is available the splicer to receive a port reservation request from the arbiter send a pull signal to the bypass store to cause the bypass store to transfer a bypassed data unit to the splicer transfer the bypassed data unit to a transmitter, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the data units.