Patent ID: 8295292

Claim:
A machine-implemented method in a network processor for reassigning nodes between a plurality of linked lists, each linked list representing a reorder context identified by a context identifier (CID), each context used to group packets and determine the order for processing the packets within each group, each linked list having a sequence of nodes, and each node being identified by a unique global identifier (GID), the method comprising the steps of: receiving by one of a plurality of linked list processors a reassign command for reassigning a first of the nodes that is identified by a first of the GIDs from a first of the linked lists identified by a first of the CIDs to a second of the linked lists identified by a second of the CIDs, the first and second linked lists representing a first and a second of the contexts, respectively; issuing a walk-the-chain (WTC) command specifying the first GID and the first CID to a first of the linked list processors, wherein the first linked list processor is configured to dequeue the first node from the first linked list; and issuing an enqueue command specifying the first GID and the second CID to a second of the linked list processors, wherein the second linked list processor is configured to insert the first node into the second linked list, and wherein the first and second linked list processors are cascaded to form a pipeline, wherein the linked list processors are configured to access a set of one or more tables that are shared by the linked list processors and that store data identifying the sequence of the nodes in each of the linked lists and a status of each of the nodes, whereby separating the first node's reassignment into the two commands executed in a pipelined manner by two linked list processors cascaded to form a pipeline reduces reassignment based pipeline stalls.