A method for employing a driver in a router to communicate between the
router's operating system and network processor. The driver appears to
the operating system as a device driver for a conventional network
interface. The driver also registers with the network processor and
appears itself as a forwarding interface. Control information received
the network processor is forwarded to the operating system by way of the
driver using the network processor's existing forwarding mechanisms, and
control information from the operating system is sent to the network
processor by way of the driver.