Patent ID: 7140021

Claim:
A method for operating a computer connected to a network, the computer having a network protocol that processes information transmitted over the network trough a plurality of connections, the method comprising: a) mapping a set of virtual processing units to a set of physically installed processing units; b) creating a plurality of network communication management structures, each network communication management structure storing information about a connection of the plurality of connections and having at least one field for storing data accessed by any processing unit in the set of physically-installed processing units when processing a network protocol request relating to the connection; and c) processing a network protocol request from the network protocol, the network protocol request being associated with a connection of the plurality of connections, the processing comprising: i) accessing a virtual processing unit of the set of virtual processing units; ii) determining a physically installed processing unit of the set of physically installed processing units to which the virtual processing unit is mapped; and iii) directing the network protocol request to the determined physically installed processing unit, wherein the determined physically installed processing unit accesses a network communication management structure associated with the connection.