Patent ID: 7389315

Claim:
A method for converting a file access data structure from a first endianness to a second endianness by a processor, comprising: determining if the file access data structure is a critical path data structure, where the critical path data structure includes commonly utilized data structures; in response to determining that the file access data structure is the critical path data structure, performing byte swap operations using specific code functions and placing a converted data structure in an output buffer to make the converted data structure available for further processing; in response to determining that the file access data structure is not the critical path data structure, calling a byte-swapping engine to perform the following: a.) identifying, from a descriptor look up table, a series of actions to perform on elements of the file access data structure; b.) performing the identified series of actions on the elements of the file access data structure to convert the file data structure from the first endianness to the second endianness; and c.) placing a converted data structure in an output buffer to make the converted data structure available for further processing.