Patent Document ID: 20130142205
Application ID: 13746104
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method of processing data packets received by a network switch coupled to a network processor, the method comprising: determining, by the network switch, whether one or more associated rules for classifying and processing the received packet are stored in an internal classification database of the network switch; if one or more associated rules are stored in the internal classification database: updating statistics data of the network switch corresponding to each of the one or more associated rules; and classifying and processing, by the network switch, the received packet in accordance with the one or more associated rules; otherwise, if no associated rules are stored in the internal classification database: tagging, by the network switch, the received packet with metadata; forwarding, by the network switch, the packet to the network processor; determining, by the network processor, one or more associated rules for classifying and processing the forwarded packet in a classification database of the network processor; updating statistics data of the network processor corresponding to each of the one or more associated rules in the classification database of the network processor; classifying and processing, by the network processor, the forwarded packet in accordance with the one or more associated rules in the classification database of the network processor; and updating, by the network processor, the internal classification database of the network switch.