Patent ID: 8804733

Claim:
A centralized packet processor device for use in a communication system, the centralized packet processor device comprising: a plurality of first physical ports to couple the centralized packet processor device to a plurality of network devices; a port manager coupled to the plurality of first physical ports and configured to form a virtual port identifier (ID) for a packet received at the centralized packet processor device, the packet including a tag with at least one of i) a) a device ID field for indicating a particular one of the network devices from which the packet is received, and b) a source port ID field for indicating a second physical port of the one network device, or ii) a trunk ID field for indicating a trunk via which the packet was received, wherein the port manager is configured to form the virtual port ID using at least one of i) a) bits from the device ID field, and b) bits from the source port ID field, or ii) bits from the trunk ID field; and a packet processor unit coupled to the plurality of first physical ports, wherein the packet processor is configured to process the packet using the virtual port ID for the packet.