Patent attributes
Packet processors may implement burst absorption for processing network packets. Network packets may be processed at a packet processor according to a packet processing rate. For network packets that do not exceed the packet processing rate, processing of the network packets commences without an intervening buffer to store packet metadata. For network packets that exceed the packet processing rate, control metadata may be stored in a buffer at the excessive processing rate separate from packet data until removed from the buffer for processing according to the packet processing rate. In some embodiments, pipeline bubbles may be inserted by delaying the removal of packet metadata from the burst absorption buffer in order to start a pipeline bubble through forwarding stages of a packet processor.
