A router may induce a reflected interrupt to indicate to a processor in the router
to execute encryption or decryption commands on packets in an input queue. The
reflected interrupt may have a lower priority than interrupts generated for the
processing of time-critical packets. This prevents starvation of potentially important
packets while still providing for the security of a critical section for encryption
and decryption commands. The router may also be designed to detect when a predefined
event occurs and stop the execution of encryption or decryption commands accordingly.
This is especially useful for preventing the starvation of lower priority packets,
as the encryption or decryption processing loop may be stopped intermittently to
allow the processor to perform other tasks. Scheduling of the encryption or decryption
process may also help prevent traffic-related problems.
