Abstract: A technique for distributed packet processing includes sequentially passing packets associated with packet flows between a plurality of processing engines along a flow through data bus linking the plurality of processing engines in series. At least one packet within a given packet flow is marked by a given processing engine to signify by the given processing engine to the other processing engines that the given processing engine has claimed the given packet flow for processing. A processing function is applied to each of the packet flows within the processing engines and the processed packets are output on a time-shared, arbitered data bus coupled to the plurality of processing engines.

Abstract: A deflate decompressor includes at least one decompressor unit, a memory access controller, a feedback path, and an output buffer unit. The memory access controller is coupled to the decompressor unit via a data path and includes a data buffer to receive the data stream and temporarily buffer a first portion the data stream. The memory access controller transfers fixed length data units of the data stream from the data buffer to the decompressor unit with reference to a memory pointer pointing into the memory buffer. The feedback path couples the decompressor unit to the memory access controller to feed back decrement values to the memory access controller for updating the memory pointer. The decrement values each indicate a number of bits unused by the decompressor unit when decoding the fixed length data units. The output buffer unit buffers a second portion of the data stream after decompression.