Patent ID: 7706409

Claim:
A method for parsing, filtering, and computing a checksum using a host Ethernet adapter (HEA) coupled to a host computer, the method comprising: receiving a part of a frame with the HEA, wherein a plurality of parts of the frame constitute an entire frame; parsing the part of the frame with the HEA before receiving the entire frame; computing a checksum of the part of the frame with the HEA before receiving the entire frame; filtering, with the HEA, the part of the frame based on a logical, port-specific policy before receiving the entire frame, wherein a plurality of parts of the frame are received to constitute the frame, and wherein at a time when a last part of the frame is received, the parsing, filtering, and computing the checksum is performed on the last part of the frame with no additional parsing, filtering, and computing the checksum needed for the frame; transmitting the checksum with the HEA to the host computer; and during reception of one or more initial parts of the plurality of parts of the frame with the HEA, performing pre-filtering processing with the HEA including loading the logical, port specific filter policy into one or more registers of the HEA for use with the filtering.