Patent ID: 7865624

Claim:
A method of performing a lookup within a network interface unit, comprising: providing a plurality of memory access channels; receiving multiple packets from a network external to the network interface unit, wherein different groups of said multiple packets are part of different packet flows; for an initial packet that is a part of a particular packet flow of said different packet flows, sending that packet to a particular processing entity of a plurality of processing entities that are coupled to the network interface unit via an interconnect; subsequent to said sending, storing a mapping as data within a data structure of the network interface unit in response to receiving an indication of said mapping from the particular processing entity that received said initial packet; for each given packet of multiple other packets that are part of said particular packet flow: performing a multilayer lookup operation on the given packet that is a part of said particular packet flow wherein performing the multilayer lookup operation comprises: based on a comparison of the stored mapping to a given portion of information within the given packet, determining a particular subset including multiple ones of the plurality of memory access channels; and based on a comparison of the stored mapping to a different portion of information within the given packet, performing a selection of one of the memory access channels in said subset; and providing the given packet to the particular processing entity of the plurality of processing entities via the selected memory access channel; wherein the network and the network interface unit are distinct from each other and distinct from the plurality of processing entities.