Abstract: A method to offload a network stack connection is presented. A request, which includes a list of resource requirements from each software layer in the stack, to offload the network stack connection is sent through the stack to the peripheral device. The peripheral device is a second processor that processes the offloaded network stack connection in software, in hardware, or a mixture of hardware and software. The device allocates resources for the list and sends a handle to each of the software layers for communication with the device. The state for each layer is sent to the device that includes state variables that are classified as a constant, a cached variable handled by the CPU, or a delegated variable handled by the device.

Abstract: A method to synchronize and upload an offloaded network stack connection between a host network stack and peripheral device is presented. A state object for each layer in the stack is sent to the device that includes state variables that are classified as a constant, a cached variable handled by the host, or a delegated variable handled by the device. State that must be updated by the network stack and the peripheral device is cleanly divided. For example, statistics are tracked by the host, the device, or the host and the device. A statistic tracked by both the host and peripheral device is divided into non-overlapping portions and combined to produce the statistic. Once an upload is initiated, the device achieves a consistent state and hands delegated states to the stack. Each layer in the stack takes control of its delegated state and resources at the device are freed.