Patent ID: 7606245

Claim:
A method of operating a network access server, the method comprising: examining, using a first processor in the network access server, one or more header fields from one or more headers of a packet received at a packet switched network interface; determining, based on the examination of the header fields, a second processor integrated into a line interface card responsible for processing that packet, the second processor selected from a plurality of local forwarding processors that operate on a common time-domain multiplex bus as the first processor; and distributing the packet to the selected second processor; maintaining a master routing table at a route switch controller within the network access server; maintaining a distributing routing table at the first processor, the distributing routing table containing entries from the master routing table that allow determination of the appropriate second processor for packets received at the packet switched network interface; and maintaining a forwarding routing table at each forwarding processor, the forwarding routing table for a particular forwarding processor containing entries from the master routing table that allow that forwarding processor to process packets for network access sessions assigned to that processor.