Patent ID: 8645556

Claim:
A method of forwarding messages over a network, comprising: creating a first TCP/IP connection between a network device and a client; creating a second TCP/IP connection between the network device and a server; storing essential TCP/IP connection information associated with each of the first TCP/IP connection and the second TCP/IP connection in a connection object; allocating a memory for, and storing therein, non-essential TCP/IP connection information in the connection object; forwarding a first message between the client and the server using the connection object; saving on a computer storage medium accessible by the network device the essential TCP/IP connection information that was stored in the connection object and freeing the memory allocated in the connection object for non-essential TCP/IP connection information; receiving, at the network device, a second message from the client; copying the saved essential TCP/IP connection information into a new connection object; and forwarding the second message to the server using the new connection object.