US Patent 7567567 Network system including packet classification for partitioned resources

A network system which includes a plurality of processing entities, an interconnect device coupled to the plurality of processing entities, a memory system coupled to the interconnect device and the plurality of processing entities, a network interface unit coupled to the plurality of processing entities and the memory system via the interconnect device. The network interface includes a memory access module and a packet classifier. The memory access module includes a plurality of parallel memory access channels. The packet classifier provides a flexible association between packets and the plurality of processing entities via the plurality of memory access channels.