Patent ID: 7426579

Claim:
A system for processing incoming frames in a multiple stack environment, the system comprising: a non-offload protocol stack adapted to process at least a first connection protocol layer for incoming frames received from a network interface card; and an offload protocol stack coupled to the non-offload protocol stack and adapted to process at least the first connection protocol layer for the incoming frames, at least a portion of the offload protocol stack implemented in hardware, wherein, prior to offloading, the first connection protocol layer of the non-offload protocol stack comprises one or more partially processed incoming frames, and wherein, during offloading, the one or more partially processed incoming frames are sent from the first connection protocol layer of the non-offload protocol stack to the first connection protocol layer of the offload protocol stack, via a first catch-up interface dedicated exclusively to the first connection protocol layer, to complete processing in the offload protocol stack.