US Patent 11595472 Controlling packet delivery based on application level information

A network device includes a network interface, a host interface and processing circuitry. The network interface is configured to connect to a communication network. The host interface is configured to connect to a host including a host processor running a client process. The processing circuitry is configured to receive packets originating from a peer process, to identify, in at least some of the received packets, application level information that is exchanged between the client process and the peer process, and to initiate reporting of one or more of the received packets to the client process, based on the application level information.