Patent ID: 7764709

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a plurality of packets associated with a plurality of protocols, wherein the plurality of packets are to be processed by a plurality of processors; sending packets associated with a first protocol to be processed by at least one of the plurality of processors before sending packets associated with a second protocol to be processed, in response to determining that the packets associated with the first protocol have a higher priority for processing than the packets associated with the second protocol; determining a least loaded processor among the plurality of processors, wherein determining the least loaded processor includes tracking load statistics on the plurality of processors by a device driver and a plurality of deferred procedure call management objects, and determining from the load statistics the least loaded processor; and reassigning at least one packet of the packets associated with the first protocol to the least loaded processor, wherein reassigning the at least one packet further comprises retargeting a deferred procedure call management object corresponding to the packets associated with the first protocol to the least loaded processor.