Patent ID: 6888843

Claim:
A method for routing packets among a plurality of nodes in a computer system, the method comprising: receiving a first response packet in a first node of said plurality of nodes, said first node comprising a plurality of control packet buffers, each of said plurality of control packet buffers assigned to a different one of a plurality of virtual channels; storing said first response packet in a response buffer which is one of said plurality of control packet buffers, said plurality of control packet buffers further including at least two additional control packet buffers corresponding to at least two additional virtual channels of said plurality of virtual channels, wherein said first response packet is a response to a first control packet belonging to one of said at least two additional virtual channels, and wherein said storing said first response packet in said response buffer is independent of which one of said at least two additional virtual channels said first control packet belongs to; receiving a second response packet in said first node, said second response packet a response to a second control packet belonging to a different one of said at least two virtual channels from said first control packet; and storing said second response packet in said response buffer.