Patent ID: 7953885

Claim:
A network element comprising: a control processor having a plurality of virtual interfaces, wherein each of said plurality of virtual interfaces is associated with a corresponding quality of service level among a plurality of quality of service levels; a line interface configured to: determine a redirect cause of a received data unit, wherein said received data unit is received by said network element, and in response to determining said redirect cause, modify said received data unit to include a redirect cause field value corresponding to said redirect cause, wherein said line interface comprises a forwarding engine configured to determine, using a first mapping, said redirect cause from an item of data of said received data unit; and a control processor interface circuit coupled to said control processor and to said line interface, and configured to: make a selection of a virtual interface from said plurality of virtual interfaces based at least in part on said redirect cause field value, and a second programmable mapping between redirect cause field values and said plurality of virtual interfaces, and transfer, based at least in part on said selection, said received data unit to said virtual interface.