SUBMISSION AND RESPONSE ARCHITECTURE FOR ROUTE LOOKUP AND PACKET CLASSIFICATION REQUESTS

Packet processing logic includes a request queue for receiving lookup reques ts from a packet processor, where each request includes information elements fr om a received packet and indicates that a route lookup and a packet classificatio n are to be performed based on the information elements. Both a route lookup engine (RLE ) and a packet classification engine (PCE) have respective inputs coupled to the request queue for receiving selected information elements from the requests. Based on the information elements in each request, the RLE searches for forwarding information indicating how the packet corresponding to the request should be forwarded, and the PCE perform s a classification process and generates classification information about the packet corresponding to the request. For each request, the forwarding information from the RLE and the classification information from the PCE are combined into a single result stored in a result queue. Each result is provided to the packet processor in a single communication transaction therewith.