Patent ID: 7646770

Claim:
A system for supporting virtual routing of a packet comprising: a register for holding a plurality of predetermined router addresses: comparison logic for comparing an address derived from the packet with each of the plurality of predetermined router addresses held in the register, and deriving a plurality of data elements, the plurality of data elements having a data element corresponding to each of the plurality of predetermined router addresses and having a state indicating whether or not the corresponding router address matches the address derived from the packet; and assertion logic for asserting a first flag if the state of one or more of the data elements indicates a match between the corresponding router address and the address derived from the packet; wherein, if the first flag is asserted, a processor in the system executes a first program sequence to route and not bridge the packet; wherein, if the first flag is not asserted, the processor in the system executes a second program sequence to bridge and not route the packet; wherein the packet has a header and a second flag derived from the first flag is inserted into the packet header for use by downstream devices encountering the packet in performing a packet processing function.