Patent ID: 7124196

Claim:
A method of processing network packets at a device, the method comprising: enqueueing entries designated as head of queue blocking for respective network packets received from network source ports in a one of a corresponding plurality of source queues in which entries are ordered based on the order of receipt of the network packets; designating respective previously enqueued entries as not head of queue blocking after determining respective destinations of the respective network packets; accessing an entry in a one of the plurality of source queues, the entry corresponding to a one of the respective network packets; and based on the accessed entry, determining whether to queue an entry for the entry's packet in at least one of a plurality of destination queues, wherein if the entry is designated as head of queue blocking, an entry for the packet is not queued in at least one of the plurality of destination queues and the accessed entry remains enqueued in the at least one of the plurality of source queues until the accessed entry is designated as not head of queue blocking.