Patent ID: 8325717

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a network device, a packet fragment of a packet; determining, by said network device, if said received packet fragment is a head fragment or a non-head fragment of said packet; if the received packet fragment is determined to be the head fragment of said packet: generating, by said network device, a session associated with the head fragment; processing, by said network device, the head fragment to determine a destination address for said head fragment, said generated session being created to store forwarding information and having a period of time to store said forwarding information, including said determined destination address, for said packet or a fragment thereof; and updating, by said network device at least one non-head fragment of said packet to write said destination address, which is obtained from said generated session, into a destination address field of said at least one non-head fragment of said packet to enable said at least one non-head fragment to be forwarded to same said destination address as said head fragment; and forwarding said head fragment and said at least one non-head fragment to same said destination address for reassembly back into said packet at said destination address.