Patent ID: 7848331

Claim:
A network interface card (NIC), comprising: a plurality of receive rings (RRs); a flow table comprising a plurality of flow table entries (FTEs); a first sub-flow table comprising a first plurality of sub-flow table entries (SFTEs); wherein the NIC is configured to: receive the packet wherein the packet comprises a header; and traverse the flow table; for each FTE encountered during the traversal: obtain a packet matching function associated with the FTE; apply the packet matching function associated with the FTE to the header to determine whether the packet matches the FTE; if the packet matches the FTE: send the packet to one selected from a group consisting of one of the plurality of receive rings (RRs) associated with the FTE and the first sub-flow table, wherein the first sub-flow table is associated with the FTE; and stop the traversal of the flow table; and if the packet does not match the FTE: continue the traversal of the flow table.