Patent ID: 8793018

Claim:
A method to operate a computer system, comprising: in a computer system having a plurality of respective interfaces, assigning each respective interface a priority level, from among a plurality of priority levels ranked from a lowest priority level to a highest priority level in a hierarchy of time-criticality for performing respective tasks among a plurality of tasks performable by said computer system, with the lowest priority level in said hierarchy designating a task, among said plurality of tasks, with a lowest time-criticality for performance thereof and the highest priority level designating a task, among said plurality of tasks, with a highest time-criticality for performance thereof; via the respective interfaces, individually receiving incoming data packets that originate externally of said computer system, and automatically assigning each incoming data packet a priority level equal to the priority level of the respective interface at which that incoming data packet was received; in said computer system, giving each incoming data packet a destination address that causes that data packet to be transferred to a destination in said computer system designated by the destination address; and processing the respective data packets at said respective destinations in said computer system in a chronological order that is dependent on the respective destination to which the respective data packets have been transferred.