Patent ID: 7213077

Claim:
A network apparatus for providing performance enhancements of a communication network, comprising: a plurality of communication interfaces configured to receive and to forward messages according to a prescribed protocol; a plurality of modules configured to process the messages to effect performance enhancing functions, wherein the plurality of modules comprises a spoofing module configured to perform selective spoofing of one or more connections within the communication network by adding information to or deleting information from the messages to enhance performance of the communication network, a connection module configured to multiplex the connections over a common backbone connection established over the communication network, a prioritization module configured to prioritize the connections for access to the backbone connection, and a path selection module configured to determine a path among a plurality of paths supporting the connections over the communication network; and a plurality of buffers configured to store the received messages and messages that are generated by one of the plurality of modules, wherein a portion of the plurality of buffers is shared by the plurality of modules based upon execution of a particular one of the performance enhancing functions, each of the plurality of buffers has a data structure that includes an expandable header to accommodate different message types.