Patent ID: 8667155

Claim:
A system comprising: a memory including a content addressable memory (CAM) having a first pointer pointing to a location in a CAM RAM containing a second pointer pointing to a location in the CAM RAM storing a plurality of instructions, the memory operable to identify the first pointer based on control data derived from a data frame being processed by the system; and a frame processing engine having: a frame parser and lookup engine in communication with the memory and operable to receive an incoming data frame, extract control data from payload data in the data flame, store the payload data, and access the memory to fetch the plurality of instructions in response to the control data of the data frame; a first frame header register in communication with the frame parser and lookup engine, the first frame header register operable to receive and temporarily store the extracted control data from the frame parser and lookup engine; a destination and tag management module in communication with the memory and the first frame header register, the destination and tag management module operable to receive the fetched instructions and execute the instructions to transform the data frame control data temporarily stored in the first frame header, wherein executing the instructions transforms the control data by inserting destination information and modifying tag data; wherein the fetched plurality of instructions has an order of execution that includes at least one conditional instruction that is non-executed because of a property of the control data during transforming the control data; a second frame header register in communication with the first frame header register, the second frame header register operable to receive and temporarily store the transformed control data; and an assemble module operable to receive the payload data from the frame parser and lookup engine, and the transformed control data received from the second frame header register, and assemble the transformed control data and the payload data.