Patent ID: 8654772

Claim:
Apparatus comprising: a network device which processes a first packet before being reprogrammed and processes a second packet which is identical to the first packet after being reprogrammed, including: a reprogrammable hardware discriminator which receives the first packet and selects a first set of bits from the received first packet; a reprogrammable decision table which stores information relating to how packets are to be processed; reprogrammable hardware searching logic which accesses first information in the table associated with the received packet according to the selected first set of bits; reprogrammable interpreting logic which determines how to process the packet based on information in the table corresponding to the selected first set of bits; and a packet handler which processes the first packet as determined by the interpreting logic; the network device being reprogrammed in response to signaling from another device such that the hardware discriminator selects a second set of bits from the second packet which is identical to the first packet, where the first set of bits is different than the second set of bits.