NETWORK PROCESSOR FOR FORWARDING PACKETS IN AN IP NETWORK

A network processor, including: a programmable Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) module, with one or more main forwarding hardware pipelines for a main forwarding upon packet; a MicroEngine (ME) module, including one or more programmable ME's for an assistant forwarding through software; designated Steps in the main forwarding hardware pipelines are further connected with each other through a judging unit which is correspondingly connected with the designated ME in the ME module, for judging whether a packet processed by the Step in the main forwarding hardware pipeline ahead of the judging unit needs assistant forwarding, if it needs, the judging unit informs the corresponding ME to perform the assistant forwarding, otherwise, notifies the Step behind the judging unit to perform the main forwarding. The present invention provides high flexibility and reliability, avoids negative influences when adding new services and does not require much instruction space.