System and method for pre-fetching data based on a fifo queue of packet messages reaching a first capacity threshold

Abstract

A method is provided for pre-fetching packet data prior to processing. The method accepts a plurality of packets and writes each packet into a memory. A message is derived for each packet, where each message includes a packet descriptor with a pointer to an address of the packet in the memory. Each message is added to a tail of a first-in first-out (FIFO) queue. A pre-fetch module examines a first message, if the first message reaches a first capacity threshold of the FIFO queue. If the first message reaches the first capacity threshold, the pre-fetch module reads a first packet associated with the first message, from the memory, and the first packet is loaded into cache memory. A processor reads the first message from a head of the FIFO queue, and in response to reading the first message, reads the previously loaded first packet from cache memory.