Patent ID: 7089335

Claim:
A method of bridging multiple network segments and exposing the multiple network segments as a single network to a higher level networking software on a bridging computing device, the bridging computing device connected to the multiple network segments through multiple network interfaces and exposing the single network through a higher level interface, the method comprising: receiving a first packet from the higher level networking software or from one of the multiple network interfaces; determining a first destination address of the first packet; locating the first destination address in a database; determining, by reference to the database, a first port through which the first destination address can be reached; processing the first packet with reference to the first port, including: placing the first packet onto a received packet queue, requesting a first queue-servicing thread to process the received packet queue, and processing the received packet queue with the first queue-servicing thread; wherein the processing of the received packet queue is for a limited duration; and wherein the processing the first packet with reference to the first port further includes: requesting a second queue-servicing thread after the limited duration if the received packet queue contains at least one queued packet; and processing the received packet queue with the second queueservicing thread.