Patent ID: 7571258

Claim:
A method for efficiently processing layers of a data packet, comprising: defining a pipeline of processors in communication with a distributed network and a central processing unit (CPU) of a host system, the pipeline of processors consisting of multiple separate processors; receiving a data packet from the distributed network into a first stage of one of the multiple separate processors of the pipeline of processors; processing the data packet to remove a header associated with the first stage, the processing the data packet including aligning a lowest significant bit of an operand to a defined bit width for processing by an arithmetic logic unit in the processor from the multiple separate processors processing the data packet; transmitting the processed data packet to a second stage associated with another one of the multiple separate processors for processing associated with the second stage; repeating the operations of processing the data packet and transmitting the processed data packet for successive stages associated with corresponding processors until a header associated with a final stage has been removed from the data packet; and transmitting the data packet from the final stage to the CPU of the host system.